July 1, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): If Bollywood’s future for the second decade of the millennium is to be gauged, 2010 is just the right year. Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan and Neil Nitin Mukesh are said to be the future of Hindi film industry and each of the actors has prestigious films lined for release this year. Shahid Kapoor has got success in the form of ‘Badmaash Company’ while Neil Nitin Mukesh is gearing up for ‘Lafange Parinde’. Meanwhile Ranbir Kapoor has seen a blockbuster for himself in the form of ‘Raajneeti’. Now it’s the turn of Imran Khan to repeat the same with ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ which is carrying very good reports.

This young love story should open quite well at the box office (over 70% at the very least) and there are a number of reasons that should make it happen. First and foremost the promotion from the house of Karan Johar has been on the mark from the word “go’ and the film has managed to catch the attention of its target audience - youth. That’s strike one! Secondly the songs by Vishal-Shekhar are pretty popular which has helped the film gain an audio-visual appeal. Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor are a new couple and the youth is willing to grab them with both hands. Lastly, and very importantly, the film releases a full month after ‘Raajneeti’. For the entertainment starved audience, ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ is just the right film to make them head to theaters all over again and catch this romantic comedy.

What also makes the film a candidate for definite success is the price at which it has been sold. An economical film, especially after the high price tag that Karan’s earlier films like ‘My Name Is Khan’ and ‘Kurbaan’ came with, ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ is what is known in industry parlance as, a safe film. This Punit Malhotra film has to be extremely terrible (which one believes is not the case) to find rejection from the audience. In fact one never knows, if the film will stick with the audience, it could well be ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa’ revisited for Imran especially since it is also the solo release of the week.

– Joginder Tuteja/Sampurn Wire