AGS Entertainment and Phantom Studios’ Loveyapa (UA) is a youthful love story.
Gaurav, also known as Gucci (Junaid Khan), and Baani (Khushi Kapoor) are in love but their love is not as pure as love used to be in the good old days. Gucci loves to flirt with other girls while Baani has other boyfriends too. Their relationship shatters when they are made to swap their cell phones for just 24 hours, because their secrets unravel and their trust in one another crumbles. What happens thereafter?
The film is a remake of Tamil film Love Today which was written and directed by Pradeep Ranganathan. The screenplay has been adapted for the Hindi remake by Sneha Desai who has done a good job of the adaptation. The first half is full of light moments which tickle the funny bone. The drama actually moves on two tracks — of Gaurav and Baani, whose phones have been exchanged, and of Gaurav’s sister, Kiran (Tanvika Parlikar), and her fiancé, Anupam Mehra (Kiku Sharda). Anupam is constantly on his cell phone, which he very religiously guards from Kiran, making her suspect that he is having an affair on the sly. The second half has less entertainment value but the drama is more in the second half. It must be added here that the first half will appeal mainly to youngsters and people who are conversant with WhatsApp and cell phone features and social media. Those who are not too tech-savvy may actually find the drama boring, especially before interval. The second half’s drama should’ve been more emotional and solid. Unfortunately, it doesn’t evoke heartfelt emotions of any kind — and that’s a negative point. Sneha Desai’s dialogues, with additional dialogues by Sidhant Mago, are excellent and they often raise laughter.
Khushi Kapoor, as Baani, acts with admirable ease. Her voice modulation deserves special mention. Junaid Khan is endearing and free in front of the camera in the role of Gaurav a.k.a. Gucci. Grusha Kapoor is first-rate as Gaurav’s mother. Ashutosh Rana lives the role of Baani’s strict father. His tongue-in-cheek humour is fabulous. Kiku Sharda leaves a fine mark as dentist Anupam Mehra. Tanvika Parlikar is alright as Gucci’s sister, Kiran. Devishi Madaan lends lovely support as Pinti Sharma. Aditya Kulshreshth has his moments as Lamba. Nikhil Mehta makes his mark as Shanky. Jason Tham is cute as Bobby. Yunus Khan (as Jaggi), Yuktam Khosla (as Karan), Kunj Anand (as Puneet), Bhawya Chawla (as Coochiepoo), Aarav Sharma (as little Bunty), Shivani Sopori (as Anupam’s mother), Deepti Sahani (as Rani maasi), Tripti Shankhdhar (as Kiran’s friend), Akanksha Sandil (as Kiran’s friend), Chhaya Vora (as Baby aunty), Sahil Sharma (as Tharkee Tejas), Anurag Banga (as Baani’s colleague), Navneet Sharma (as Gucci’s friend), Devendra Patel (as the water delivery boy), and the others lend fine support.
Advait Chandan’s direction is mature. The best part is that he has narrated a youthful story in a language which the youth will understand. Split screens, fast cuts, etc. will be loved by the youth. Having said that, it must be added that like the script, the narrative style, too, will not appeal to the older generation and to the masses. Music (White Noise Collective, Tanishk Bagchi, Suyyash Rai and Siddharth Singh) is fairly nice. The title song is racy while the other songs are also well-tuned. Lyrics (Som, Gurpreet Saini and Dhruv Yogi) are appropriate and go well with the mood of the drama. Song picturisation of Rehna kol (by Farah Khan) is nice. Ketan Sodha, Aman Pant, Suyyash Rai, Siddharth Singh, Viplove Rajdeo and Bharath-Hitarth’s background music is effective. Rajesh Nare’s cinematography is quite eye-filling. Parvez Shaikh’s action and stunt scenes are functional. Chayati Kaushik’s production designing is of a fine standard. Antara Lahiri’s editing is crisp.
On the whole, Loveyapa is an entertaining fare for the youngsters mainly. It has a city flavour to it, of course. Since it stars relative newcomers, it would require time to grow by word of mouth, but the start today is so frighteningly dull that it may vanish from the cinemas without making a noise.
Released on 7-2-’25 at Inox (daily 6 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Zee Studios. Publicity: quite good. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was very weak everywhere.
