The comedy which was a rage in the Tamil film Love Today, is a hit and a miss in Loveyapa. This may partly have had to do with the fact that I was familiar with the beats of the original and the gags too. Despite that, I was impressed with the youthful setup in Loveyapa that truly validated the current vibe of the Gen Zs. It was hip, urban and colourful even with its opening graphics that correctly hinted at the ‘Love-Tech’ theme of the film. So you are introduced to Gaurav ‘Gucci’ Sharma (Junaid Khan) who is in a relationship with his Babbu Baani Sharma (Khushi Kapoor). Their love relationship is established early on in the film when Gaurav buys Baani a brand new phone. The mild economic differences (which were better highlighted in the original) are most due to cultural references – Gaurav belongs to a typical Punjabi household that featuring his loud and nagging mother (a phenomenal Grusha Kapoor). And Khushi belongs to a more sedate household featuring her sitar playing father (a wonderful Ashutosh Rana), that doesn’t take her daughter’s relationship with Gaurav too kindly, while one day flirting with the idea of the two exchanging their mobile phones for a day. This, until all hell breaks loose between the couple.

Much of the humour in the drama originates from the characters around Gaurav and Khushi. For instance, Gaurav’s mother nagging him about his excessive screentime is a valid one, one because it is relatable, and two because the tonal accuracy of a Punjabi household wonderfully translates into humour. This is also extended with Gaurav’s friends featuring Lamba (Aaditya Kulshreshth aka Kullu), Nikhil Mehta (Shanky), Jason Tham (Bobby) and Yunus Khan (Jaggi) who play on the rhythm of the drama really well. In fact, they manage to steady a wobbly boat during situations of lags in the writing, by literally awakening the comic hotspots in the drama. Likewise, the Sanskrit speaking father of Baani, creates a wonderful mix of humour and wisdom through the lines that he utters, that automatically allows the viewers to react in a similar way that Gaurav does in front of him. The point being that much of the characters do just enough to keep the drama sailing even amidst some lags.

Some of the more poignant moments in the screenplay emerge through its subplot involving Gaurav’s sister Kiran (Tanvika Parlikar) and her to-be husband Anupam (Kiku Sharda). There is an organic energy that is exchanged in scenes featuring them, that makes you instantly connect with their characters. There is a mild emotional streak in the writing, just like in the original that gives both the characters an arc to play with, particular Anupam. And for those who are aware about the original source material, know exactly how this would end. Meanwhile, another little tick for me remains the graphical representation of chats being exchanged between two characters, at any given point of time. They automatically hold your attention while doubling up as bouts of humour that are prevalent for most parts of the first hour. Unfortunately, much of the papered cracks emerge in the second hour.

One of the major reasons why the second hour doesn’t work is because it gets preachy and melodramatic. If you remember the original source material, there was a beautiful track that involved a character sowing a seed, only for it to bear fruit years later. It was a representation of how spending your time and energy while nurturing your relationship, would eventually bear you fruits with communication being the key (one thing that the Gen Zs lack is patience). This, as opposed to characters actually laying out the dos and donts of a relationship here in Loveyapa, that didn’t necessarily carry the same impact. It was all too vanilla with its commentary that lacked a deep emotional quotient. Another issue remained on how disconnected the later conflicts in the film emerged. They just felt so random with not enough time to connect with the conflict or even the characters at the center of them. This, apart from having considerable lag in its final act that not only dried out the humour but made for a convenient watch. The screenplay also being mostly faithful with the original source material, did not necessarily have any new takeaways, while being a significant downgrade of sorts due to its tonal inconsistencies at the end.