Harman Baweja says his debut film Love Story 2050 was ‘ahead of its time’

Harman Baweja is finally receiving the recognition he always longed for. The actor's performance in the web series Scoop is being widely appreciated.

By: Entertainment Desk

Kochi | Updated: June 8, 2023 05:33 AM IST

3 min read

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Love Story 2050, starring Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles, was scripted and directed by the former's father Harry and bankrolled by his mother Pammi. (Express archive photo)

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Though Harman Baweja received a massive launch in the film industry through Love Story 2050, a big-budget science-fiction romantic film, his career failed to take off. Harman followed Love Story 2050 up with three other box office duds, before deciding to step back from acting.

In spite of sharing the screen with Priyanka Chopra, one of Bollywood’s most coveted actors at the time, Love Story 2050 (2008), turned out to be a commercial and critical disaster. He subsequently took on a behind-the-scenes role at his home production company.

Post Credits Scene | Scoop: Hansal Mehta’s Netflix show works better as a character study than a crime drama

The actor, however, has now said that the film was “ahead of its time,” especially with respect to its technical aspects. “It was challenging. I think it was, from a VFX post and from an idea perspective, well in sync or may be marginally ahead of its time when it came out,” Harman told Film Companion, elaborating on Love Story 2050. “I don’t think that level of VFX and the level of intimacy of completely creating CGI worlds, we haven’t even done much of it in the past few years actually, if you think about it. So it was a big leap, I remember I spoke to so many studios and really worked hard on it,” added the actor, whose web series Scoop is currently streaming on Netflix.

Following his debut in Love Story 2050, scripted and directed by his father Harry and bankrolled by his mother Pammi, Harman Baweja did a sports drama titled Victory (2009) with director Ajit Pal Mangat, starring alongside Amrita Rao and Anupam Kher. Though this film flopped as well, the actor received another chance the same year, and that too in an Ashutosh Gowariker film, immediately after the filmmaker created waves with Jodhaa Akbar. Despite having some of Bollywood’s biggest names associated with it, What’s Your Raashee? (2009) also turned out to be a box-office bomb, forcing Harman to take a long break from acting.

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However, over 15 years after his debut, Harman is finally receiving the recognition he always longed for. His performance in the Hansal Mehta-directed web series, Scoop is being widely appreciated.

In a recent interview with ETimes, Harman spoke about how it feels surreal to get so much love for the show. The Netflix drama is an adaptation of journalist Jigna Vora’s biographical book Behind The Bars In Byculla: My Days in Prison. Karishma Tanna plays the ambitious crime journalist, who becomes a murder suspect. He added that he’s amazed at how audiences invested and related to every character.

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