In the end when the two sets of parents are still squabbling over them, he and she are busy locking lips inside. Just moments back she was getting married to someone else and he was flying off to London. Just weeks back they were almost killing each other. Just months back they were running away from their homes.

There are no spoilers here because the boy and girl of Lekar Hum Deewana Dil are so temperamental and moody that if the film ran a little longer they might be again beating each other up. In fact, I am not even sure that they will take the same decisions if I went in to watch the film a second time. And that is exactly what’s new and fresh about Arif Ali’s directorial debut.

There’s no mention of Facebook or Twitter, no SMS or WhatsApp, no yuppie lingo to flaunt and yet Lekar Hum Deewana Dil manages to capture the flaky attitude of today’s youth. To whom nothing matters more than the moment they are in. Living in the moment. Living for the moment. Living off the moment.

Also, while they do start off as just college buddies, the film is not so much about their finding out whether they are actually in love with each other. That’s the easy part for them. They just go to their favourite bar, down bottles of beer and conclude that they are made for each other and are ready to stay together for janam-janam.

So, Dinesh aka Dino (Armaan Jain) and Karishma aka K (Deeksha Seth) elope. With the little cash they had, they thought they could go and live in Goa forever. But since the parents are looking for them, they have to keep moving. Gradually the bike made way for bus and the bus made way for a shared Jonga while the luxury villa got replaced by a dingy hotel room and finally by a stay in the jungle as they travelled to Raipur and finally to Bastar and Dantewada to shake a leg with Maowadis, a word they picked up on the road.

In the process, they learnt that staying together is not exactly the fun and games they thought it would be. But they have also gone on and signed up legally as husband and wife and now they don’t want to be with each other. And it’s just the interval point.

Arif, who is Imtiaz Ali’s younger brother and has also collaborated with him officially on the script of Ahista Ahista, has very similar sensibilities and in many ways Lekar Hum Deewana Dil is a distillation of Imtiaz’s films, which deal with journeys and realisations and two hearts not always beating at the same time.

What works most for Arif is that it’s not only his first film but also the first film for his two leads, Armaan and Deeksha. There’s a certain rawness and unpredictability not only in the way he handles his scenes but also in the performances that make the characters and the film that much more real and relatable.

Armaan takes time to grow on you. While it’s difficult to say whether the film was shot chronologically but he seems to be trying too hard in the initial scenes. That forced exuberance can be a little off-putting but once he settles down and you get used to his nervous energy, you actually like the bloke.

Compared to the cheap, use-and-throw plastic being dished out every Friday, Deeksha looks real and fetching. Unlike Armaan, she never tries too hard and is sometimes a tad too casual in her dialogue delivery.

The big hero, like in most A.R. Rahman films, is A.R. Rahman. The maestro sets the stage for every situation without fail. Whether it’s Khalifa which opens the film or Maaloom the love ballad or Mawali qawwali the mad jungle boogie or Alaahda the sad ditty, Rahman creates the perfect world for the boy and girl to love and fight, laugh and cry.

And trust songwriter Amitabh Bhattacharya to imbibe the spirit of the film in his words. “This thing kabhi that thing... Karein one thing karein in thing... But nothing nothing nothing much!”

So, before their mood changes again, go watch Dino and K ride their deewana dil.