Cinemaah

When They Danced

The best thing about Love Yatri is the timing of its release—a film set during Navratri, out just before nine days of dandiya madness hit Mumbai, Gujarat and maybe some other towns where it has caught on.

The 'hero' of this film, directed by Abhiraj Minawala has the unfortunate nickname, Susu (Aayush Sharma), the college duffer, who has no ambition except to teach garba to kids. But the film’s plot demands that this guy with no discernible qualities, should woo and win a fair NRI business school topper, Michelle aka Manisha (Warina Hussain).

Susu’s uncle (Ram Kapoor), a dandiya singer, fills his head with romantic nonsense, and even when the chap sees that he is clearly out of his league, tells him Indians learn love from the movies and make it last for seven births.  Which is a scary thought!

For some reason, Michelle also falls in love with Susu, as he takes her on a foodie tour of Varodara. But her scowling daddy (Ronit Roy), who runs a chain of laundries in London called Lord Of The Rinse (seriously!), takes Susu atop a giant wheel to tell him that he is no match for his daughter, who is about to earn a  £ 85000 salary package. Susu gets all huffy over this, and Michelle leaves to go back to London.

Susu (always accompanied by irritating friends) is ready to give up, but the uncle takes him to London and lets him loose to stalk Michelle. (Okay, she blocked him on phone and FB, but he never heard of email?)

Love Yatri is an old fashioned love story, a poor man’s DDLJ, so to say. Aayush Sharma with his big hair and gleaming smile can dance; this film was not meant to display his acting skills. Warina Hussain is pretty in a bland kind of way, and she will also need another film to prove that she can act.

The soundtrack of the film used the thumping dandiya beats and some popular garbatunes; the bright costumes have enough mirrorwork to sink a ship. Youngsters with nothing better to watch might just go for this generic Bollywood romance that dances around aimlessly while smarter filmmakers are experimenting with fresh content.