Love Today - A partly enjoyable coming-of-age romantic comedy.
Romantic comedies have always been the favourite genre of youngsters. 'Love Today' directed by Pradeep Ranganathan is the latest addition to the list. This is Pradeep's second film as a director and first film as a lead actor. It is worth mentioning that Love Today is developed from Pradeep's old short film 'App(a) Lock'. Yuvan Shankar Raja composed music for this movie produced by AGS Entertainment. Does Love Today get into the good book of the audience?
The story is about a happy couple - Uthaman Pradeep (Pradeep Ranganathan) and Nikitha (Ivana). Nikitha's dad Venu Shastri (Sathyaraj) finds out that his daughter is in love and asks Pradeep to meet him. When Pradeep asks Nikitha's hand in the marriage to her father, he challenges them to exchange their phones for 24 hours. The two misunderstand each other due to this challenge and get estranged. Meanwhile, Pradeep's sister Divya (SR Raveena) likes the match made by her family and is set to marry Doctor Yogi (Yogi Babu). Pradeep's family grows suspicious of Dr. Yogi's personal life as the plot progresses. The rest of the story answers the fate of Pradeep's love and Divya's marriage.
Pradeep Ranganathan as Uthaman Pradeep easily gets into his character as he played the role in his short film as well. He has delivered an organic performance but one can't avoid the feeling that he is imitating popular actors in some scenes. Ivana expressed a variety of emotions that her character with much expertise. On the other hand, Yogi Babu, Raveena, Sathyaraj and Radhika Sarathkumar (Pradeep's mother) win our hearts for sure though they have a limited screen space.
The best thing about Love Today is that it has heartwarming characters and a dignified message amid a predictable story. The laugh-worthy humour is just sugarcoating to keep the people engaged. The film has well-written sequences in both comedy and emotional genres which adds strength to a rom-com entertainer. The scenes featuring Yogi Babu and Radhika Sarathkumar were so moving.
While some of the comedies were fresh and amusing, several sequences felt like we've seen them already in social media memes, Youtube videos and short films. Also, Love Today relies much on the subplots which in turn feels generic after a certain point. The final act of the movie is nice yet it feels a bit too lengthy.
Yuvan Shankar Raja's songs hardly make any impact but the veteran has done an applaudable job in the background scores. Cinematographer Dinesh Purushothaman's vibrant and colourful visuals with Pradeep Ragav's editing are the backbone of the film.
Verdict: Love Today is a nice time pass entertainer for the weekend amid its shortcomings.
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