Loveyapa Movie Review: A predictable remake that misses the heart of Love Today!!

A movie named Loveyapa had been released in theatres. In case you didn’t know, there was some controversy surrounding it during the promotion. The song used to play went like "L O V E Yapa Love Yapa Yapa." The hero didn’t know how to dance, so his moves looked quite awkward. Yes, that very "L O V E Yapa Yapa Love Yapa." Another interesting thing you might like to know is that the movie’s main leads are actress Khushi Kapoor, who is producer Boney Kapoor and Sridevi’s daughter, Janhvi Kapoor’s sister, and actor Junaid Khan, who is Aamir Khan’s son. So you know which word you have to use here and for new actors, that’s right. But if you’re expecting me to only criticise the movie because of the ‘N’ word or marketing mishaps, then listen to the movie’s premise first. Both the characters love each other very much and want to get married. When the boy goes to meet the girl’s father, played by Ashutosh Rana, whose character is very dangerous and menacing, you get the feeling that if the money isn’t paid, he would beat him up badly.

But he doesn’t say that. The girl prepares the boyfriend thoroughly, telling him what to wear, what to say, what not to say, that he is vegetarian, that he is going to the US. The father sets only one condition, they exchange phones for 24 hours, his phone with the boy and the boy’s phone with him. If after that, they still want to get married, the father will give his approval. This basically means the movie is about today’s generation, their phone addiction, internet use, and dating lives. No matter how much they trust each other, would you be willing to exchange phones for 24 hours, unlocking passwords so that all messages, calls, gallery, archived chats, and apps hidden in app lockers are visible to the other person? Naturally, both characters get upset because they each have their secrets, small things that ideally shouldn’t be done but technically don’t count as cheating. When these things start coming out slowly, the apparently perfect relationship begins to show cracks. You might think this is a big issue, and we’ll talk more about it later.

First, the story is quite good. And if you are one of those who don’t inherently hate nepotism, especially in the Hindi film industry (we all know how infamous it is), there is a good chance you’ll find this movie decent to good. The biggest reason behind this is the story and the writing of the movie. If you are 30 or younger, you will relate to it a lot. So if you have ever been in a relationship and got hurt, don’t feel bad. Sorry, but the movie’s premise is so good that even if you don’t directly relate one-to-one, you can imagine yourself in that situation and immediately connect, thinking, “Bro, if I were in that position, I would have lost it or I would have had to hide that.” Talking about the acting – if you found the promos cringe-worthy, wondering what kind of actor he is and thinking he only got the role because he is Aamir Khan’s son, let me tell you that there is a song in the movie where he actually dances.

Even there, it’s not very good, but in terms of acting, he was actually better than the other person. Khushi Kapoor and Junaid Khan felt more natural than others. Before this, I had seen another debut movie, "Sky Force," by Veer Pahadia, and I would rank these two above that. Again, it’s not a brilliant or deeply moving performance, but it was better than what I expected. Khushi Kapoor, on the other hand, felt more like a South Bombay girl than a middle-class Delhi family girl. And the chemistry between the two was okay. I would say there is an emotional scene in the climax, but even more impactful is the sister’s marriage side track, for which having Kiara Sarda was a good decision. They didn’t slow down the movie with too many songs. As far as I remember, there was only one. From camerawork to the overall presentation, the team took their assignment seriously because it’s a youth-focused story dealing with contemporary times.

So you get to see agile, energetic movements throughout. Here and there, they used many emojis and animated graphics on the screen to express the characters’ inner feelings. A funny scene was when Khushi Kapoor’s character got angry and smoke was shown coming out of her ears, because it wasn’t visible otherwise. But at the end of the day, these things work. I would place this movie in the okay-good category. Now about the “elephant in the room” that I mentioned earlier – that still needs to be addressed. "Loveyapa" is a Hindi remake of a Tamil movie "Love Today," with the same writer, director, and lead actor, Pradeep Ranganathan. He started as a YouTuber, made short films, got a big break with "Love Today," and now this Hindi remake.

When the original came out in 2022, I had already seen it and it was really good. I thought, “Go watch it, you’ll get a better experience and a better movie.” But if you can’t watch movies with subtitles and want a Hindi film only, you can compromise a bit on quality and give it a chance in theatres. The story is good enough. Advait Chandan, the director of this "Loveyapa," earlier made "Secret Superstar" and "Laal Singh Chaddha." He played a smart move by not tampering much with the original but making it fresh. The story’s strength is there and he worked on that. It’s just that if the main leads had been better, the chemistry between them would have been stronger. But it’s not so bad as to warrant spreading hate. So that’s about the movie.