Love Aaj Kal all set to take you to this lovely village in Himachal

If you know Imtiaz Ali’s work well, you would also know that his films are larger than life, closely resembling a travel journal. Ali takes his audience to places that feel more like extensions of his characters, the landscape often turning sombre when his characters ponder over the lull in their life.

Or, streets bursting into colours to reflect the soaring of his protagonists’ emotions; or perhaps, a wild river doing all the explaining for the unreasonable joy that has his characters laughing and weeping in a 20-second scene; or the same character living her version of unadulterated freedom, Wanting to mash up, by the road near Reckong Peo in Kinnaur, a road I’ve known well, remember Highway?
His latest directorial venture, Love Aaj Kal, is an odyssey yet again. It is perhaps Ali’s keenness to delve deeper into the wonders of Kinnaur. That because this time, Ali has taken us back to the mountains; cue, the track titled Mehrama.


If you have seen the music video and are wondering where that fairyland is, we have you covered. This time, Ali has taken us deep into Himahchal’s Kinnaur, to Chitkul (mark our words), one of the most stunning places in the region. A typical Himalayan village, it sits by the wildly-roaring River Baspa.
It is also the last point on the Hindustan-Tibet road that you can travel to without needing a permit. Another random fact that can stoke your curiosity further the Indo-China border lies at a meagre 90 km from Chitkul.


A perfect escape for the Imtiaz Ali school of romantics, Chitkul is largely untouched from mass tourism. In fact, the unlaid road leading to Chitkul from Sangla, the nearest bigger hamlet, wades through dense pine forests, often resembling the fairytale forests of Bavaria.
While the wonder of Chitkul can hardly be explained in words or the silver screen, it would suffice to write that this place will have you fall for it, as ardently and irrevocably as Ali’s love stories.