‘Loveyatri’ Needs To Move On

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If the first movie character you play on screen is called “Susu”, it cannot portend well for the future. For all the effort that seems to have gone into Aayush Sharma’s Bollywood debut, the makers of “Loveyatri” overlooked one aspect – the leading man is called by a name that is a synonym for peeing.

And that’s not the only problem. The film was supposed to be a launchpad to stardom for Salman Khan’s brother-in-law, but he seems to be woefully lacking in talent, namely in the acting department. This is truly a throwback to the 80s when big stars used to “launch” their children and relatives, where the quality of the film was secondary.

So, in “Loveyatri”, everything and everyone but Sharma is incidental. He plays Sushrut (but everyone called him Susu because his name is apparently unpronounceable), a slacker who shines only on the dance floor. Much to his harried parent’s disapproval, Sushrut dreams of opening a garba (a traditional dance form) school. But when he falls in love with Michelle (Warina Hussain) an NRI visitor to his city, everything else ceases to matter.

Michelle’s father plays the spoilsport in the love story, but the film doesn’t even put up a good pretense of having any conflict at its centre. For a film that is about a dancer, neither Sharma’s dancing talent nor the song sequences have any energy. The acting is equally sub-par and both Sharma and Hussain are unable to muster up more than one-and-a-half expression each. Their chemistry is non-existent and you have to wonder how Michelle can fall for Sushrut.

The only bright spots are provided by Pratik Gandhi and Sajeel Parakh, who play Sushrut’s friends and get the best lines. Everything else about this film seems dated and out of fashion, especially the morality.

Sushrut thinks it is perfectly fine to shame Michelle for choosing to earn money and work at a fancy bank than come back to her homeland. Her father thinks it is his right to decide his daughter’s course in life without asking her. And oh, Sushrut’s uncle keeps encouraging his nephew to pursue Michelle even though she shows no interest initially.

This film truly belonged to the 80s. It’s a shame that Bollywood hasn’t moved on when audiences clearly have.