Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The romantic-comedy ‘Loveyapa’ is a glossy, shiny, Bollywood version of Pradeep Ranganathan’s ‘Love Today’, and is almost as entertaining, with a few aspects improved, and some other elements watered down. I could pretty much copy-paste my old ‘Love Today’ review, because ‘Loveyapa’ is quite faithful to the original in terms of core plot, big twists, and themes.
Directed by Advait Chandan, Loveyapa is an official remake of Love Today, with Pradeep Ranganathan serving as one of the producers. It stars Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor as lead couple Gaurav Sachdeva and Baani Sharma. The plot is the same: when Baani’s strict father, Atul Kumar Sharma (Ashutosh Rana), finds out that she is dating Gaurav, he challenges the young couple to swap their phones for 24 hours to see if they still trust each other enough for marriage after the exchange. Their future at stake, the young couple reluctantly agrees to the idea. But will their love survive all the digital secrets hidden in their cell phones?
The premise was fresh and fun when Love Today came out, and Loveyapa benefits from the zany plot, managing to be just as comedic in the first half, with the lovers scrambling to get their phones back, and then fighting over their discoveries. One of the few things Loveyapa does better than Love Today is the interactive graphics used to show the chats, messages, and other exchanges on Baani and Gaurav’s phones. These improvements are largely due to the fact that Loveyapa has a much bigger budget, 60 crore INR versus Love Today‘s modest 5 crore INR. So, the sets are also shiner, grander, and unlike the more relatable middle-class settings of its Tamil counterpart.
Ashutosh Rana is excellent as Baani’s strict father, who stirs up trouble in the couple’s cutesy, cringe-y love life by forcing them to exchange their phones, thereby exposing their double digital lives. Grusha Kapoor also hilariously plays Gaurav’s loud, dominant Punjabi mom, who is constantly upbraiding him for being glued to his phone all the time. One of the funniest montages in Loveyapa shows Grusha’s character repeatedly snatching Gaurav’s phone at various moments, right after he wakes up, at the dining table, in the bathroom, even while driving, chiding him each time with lines like “Not while eating!”, “Not in the bathroom!”, and “Not while driving!”.
Like the original, a crucial subplot in ‘Loveyapa‘ focuses on Gaurav’s older sister Kiran (Tanvika Parlikar) and her engagement to a dentist called Anupam (Kiku Sharda), who wins her heart with his kindness and transparency, while everyone else is skeptical of the match due to his being overweight. However, the misunderstandings and fights that erupt between Gaurav and Baani over their phone chats spill over to Kiran, as she begins to get suspicious of Anupam’s possessiveness about his phone. The diversity and differences between the two couples adds a fun touch to the runtime. The creators sprinkle in some fun Bollywood easter eggs: Gaurav and Baani are seen dancing in front of a screen playing Aamir Khan’s iconic Pehla Nasha, while Anupam and Kiran channel Raj and Simran from DDLJ in their pre-wedding shoot.
Junaid Khan’s debut film ‘Maharaj‘ saw him on more solid footing with a serious script, while the romantic comedy ‘Loveyapa‘ sees him falter here and there, even though overall, his performance is passable as a creepy guy who messages girls at random, asking for their photos. Comedy of course, is much more difficult to pull off than serious dramas. I said it in my review for ‘Love Today‘, and I’ll say it again: the lead ‘hero’ is made to look like a decent human being through the introduction of creepier dudes. So, what if Gaurav pretends to be single and flirts with women, asking them for their photos – at least he isn’t blackmailing them. L-O-L.
Baani, on the other hand, is naive, yet smart enough to keep her options open, never actively discouraging the male attention she receives online, keeping some of her guy friends on ‘the hook’. Khushi Kapoor’s portrayal of Baani has more life than her performances in ‘Nadaaniyan‘ and ‘The Archies‘, but her act is still not convincing or confident enough to pull off lead roles. The onscreen chemistry between Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor is lukewarm, although their bickering garners laughs, courtesy some casual, witty dialogues.
If you haven’t seen the Tamil original and are a Bollywood fan with a soft-spot for romantic-comedies, ‘Loveyapa’ is an entertaining affair, thanks to its funny, modern script that pokes fun at the dual lives people live online.
Rating: 6 on 10. You can watch ‘Loveyapa’ on Jio Hotstar.
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