Love You To Death Review

 'Love You To Death' is an ensemble affair but one tends to observe that of late, the very charm around bringing together actors and characters from different stream of life has become more or less passe. Especially in films being churned out in Bollywood today, perhaps a film or two is finding some visibility but then that too is mainly in case of comic entertainers like a 'Golmaal' or a 'Dhamaal' or a 'Housefull'. However the moment unknown cast members come together, the interest level amongst audience isn't ignited optimally enough to make them stop by for a dekko.

This was seen a few months back in 'My Friend Pinto' as well which had a similar setting, if not the storyline, as 'Love You To Death'. Now that film, despite the backing of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, had failed miserably as well with the ensemble characterisation turning out to be caricature instead of enticing. Thankfully characterisation isn't as weak in 'Love You To Death' but if one was looking for a slide splitting comedy here, the expectation isn't quite well set.

The film is about a young woman (Yuki Ellias) who is handling not just crores but also her husband (Chandan Roy Sanyal) who is further controlled by his video game loving mother (Suhasini Mulay). There are business plans being made and while Chandan wants his wife's crores, she has different plans. Frustrated, a plan is hatched by the 'maa-beta jodi' to murder Yuki. With other characters entering the fray (a doctor, arms businessman, tarot card reader, contract killers, theatre artists), 'Love You To Death' turns out to be one ensemble piece which threatens to crack up, only to find a reasonably clean landing in the end.

Yes, there are sequences where you do tend to smile and even laugh out loud. What leads the pack is Chandan's inability to 'perform'. Even the plans hatched by him and his mother have their moments and so is the case with the sequences where Yuki is either caressing her dog or exchanging insightful talks with her tarot card reader. Also, another reason why the film still doesn't end up being a complete downer is its well filmed and edited climax.

However, this doesn't necessarily make you believe though that Rafeeq Ellias has made a stunning debut as a director here. Yes, he has chosen a different subject while following an abstract narrative as well. However the buck stops there because as an overall product too, 'Love You To Death' doesn't quite qualify as one of those top films that you need to see before you die.

This reminds me of a film called 'Snip' (2000) that had released a little over a decade ago. A Nikhil Chinappa-Saurabh Shukla-Makrand Deshpande starrer, it was a quirckie Hinglish movie which had a weird plot to boast and was a fair entertainer. Since those were the times when multiplexes were in their infancy, 'Snip' suffered at the box office. Circa 2012 and things don't seem to be any different with 'Love You To Death'. This one too is a Hinglish film, has a weird storyline, is made of largely unknown actors and arrives in the time when even multiplexes are happy earning moolah from the likes of massy entertainers like 'Agneepath'.

Rating: **