Break Ke Baad

Plot

Abhay Gulati (Imran Khan) and Aaliya Khan (Deepika Padukone) have been friends since childhood. Aaliya has always loved acting, since her mother is an actress. Her father left her and her mother. Abhay likes cooking but his father wants him to take care of his business. Eventually Abhay and Aaliya start dating but Aaliya does not want to marry. An opportunity comes for Aaliya to go to Australia for acting school which she takes. She goes to Australia where she has to live with her strict aunt. She then moves into a bungalow where a bunch of young people live for cheap. Abhay gets paranoid and comes to Australia, annoying Aaliya because she feels he doesn't trust her and they break up. Abhay opens a restaurant and it becomes a big hit. Aaliya and Abhay slowly become friends again. Aaliya finishes acting school and Abhay's father finds out about his restaurant. Abhay and Aaliya's mother, Ayesha (Sharmila Tagore) come for Aaliya's graduation. Aaliya gets an opportunity to work in a movie and signs the contract without telling her mother, thereby enraging her. Soon Abhay leaves Aaliya too, because she is selfish. Realizing she is wrong and that she can't go on without her mother's support, she quits the movie and rushes back to India to get back things on track with her mother. Soon, her mother realises that Aaliya is strong to face the world and can come to terms with her mistakes rather easily than her mother herself was capable of, so she allows her to act in the movie and sends her back again. However, soon she return to the same Australian city for shooting her movie, and meets Abhay, who tells her he still hasn't moved on. She apparently, convinces him to move on and get married. However, she is stunned when she comes to know from another friend that Abhay is going to be married. Puzzled as to why he didn't tell her first about the news, Aaliya rushes to Abhay's house and finds him getting ready to get married. Aaliya begs him to re-think his decision, proposing to him with the very ring he was considering for her once upon a time. She confesses her love to him and tells him that she is really in love with him. Abhay, realising Aaliya's regret and love for him, shows her his wedding invitation which has her name, implying he intended to marry her all along. She is happy and they embrace, making up. The end credits show that the two are married, and have a daughter named Sara.

Cast

Soundtrack

The music of the film composed by Vishal-Shekhar and it received positive reviews from critics. NDTV described the album as consisting of "A robust mix of songs that are hummable and will be enjoyed by a majority of people." Abid, from Glamsham, predicted that "The success story that Vishal-Shekhar wrote starting with I Hate Luv Storys and Anjaana Anjaani this year will surely carry on with Break Ke Baad." Joginder Tuteja from Bollywood Hungama called it "An unconventional album, especially when one looks at it from the Bollywood standpoint" while giving it a 3.5/5 star rating.

Critical reception

Break Ke Baad met with mixed reviews from critics. Filmfare critic Sukanya Venkatraghavan gave it its best review, calling it "possibly the best love story we have seen all this year and maybe last year too.".

Positive reviews included critics Rohit Sukhwani, who tagged the movie as a very pleasant and matured Love Story and Deepika Padukone was again at her best. Rajeev Masand, who said that director Danish Aslam "makes a respectable debut with a reasonably engaging film." and Anupama Chopra, who praised Deepika Padukone's performance as "her best to date".

Negative reviews included Taran Adarsh, who stated that even though the movie had a "vibrant Imran and Deepika as its USP", it also had a "faulty and an unpersuasive screenplay as is its major stumbling block".

Box office

Break Ke Baad grossed Rs. 205 million over its first weekend. In the US, the collections over the first two days were about $114,742 as compared to lead actor Imran Khan's previous release I Hate Luv Storys which collected $50,176.

Even though the overall business done by the movie was strictly average, it managed to recover its production cost of Rs. 18 crore even before it was released, thanks to the sale of satellite TV rights and marketing tie-ups.