It has to be a strong movie to leave an impression even after 21 hours have passed since the movie got over. Even if the strongest urge is to yell at the makers of the movie asking them, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" The love is as drab and unengaging as could be. 2050 looks appealing for about 5 seconds. And what story they were talking about here?

I need an explanation. How can a movie set in 2050 have a song every 15 minutes? The phenomenon has reduced in the last few years. Are we going to do a full circle? At least, I hope by then, we'll have an "ignore" button lurking around somewhere that can be pressed whenever chords play together in the name of music. At the very least, maybe all songs can be played together during interval. What bliss! In queue for coffee instead of listening to lulling music you would hate to get up from.

Anyway, time travel can be made to twist your gray cells in ways unknown to them. But, here they actually manage to make it boring by showing us how 48 years from now, we'd have a hologram irritate us while we are shopping, and how product placements are going to get only worse. I actually had enough time amidst the super-slow proceedings to actually pray that I'd be no more by 2050.

To be honest, I hadn't gone in with any major expectations from the story. I was hoping for many firsts as far as technical wizardry in Hindi cinema goes. Zilch. I thought a sci-fi movie would mean mind-boggling action. There was action, but 'mind-numbing' would describe it better. I was intrigued by the decision to open with Dalip Tahil and a random woman playing secretary, both of whom have no relevance to the rest of the story. I was shocked at the pace of the first few minutes in an action movie.

I revised my expectations right there. Who said action movies have to move at a fast pace? They are defying the narrative style of the genre, why walk towards slamming the door at them in just 15 minutes. Yet, I couldn't help smirking at the fluttering animated butterfly. The smirk turned to an eye-roll the second time, to a 'no way' the third and an exasperated helplessness overtook after that.

When the script is so loose...did I just call something non-existent 'loose'?...anyway, when the script is such, I think it is unfair to judge the performances. Lousy lines cannot make even the best of actors woo their audience. Yet, Priyanka Chopra did a relatively decent job of portraying the duality in her two characters. I seriously don't want to make a call on Harman Baweja just yet.

The Baweja family must have poured their heart into this one, but I can see only brickbats coming their way. For a story that, according to director's note at the official site, was conceived 9 years ago, the way the movie was shot felt very superficial. Throughout I got the feel that a location or stunt was chosen and the story was more or less woven around that.

Also, I think it is the disproportionate amount spent on marketing to be blamed. Had they not created such hype, the shock of watching a bad movie might have softened. On the other hand, had they not created a movie with such random logic, goofed-up concept, fake romance, token villain (geez) and....aah too late for such wishful thoughts!

You know what the silver lining is though? Poverty will be eradicated 42 years from now - I couldn't spot Dharavi in Mumbai (the largest slum in the city). Three cheers to that one!