‘Love
Action Drama’ a cocktail that has little to applaud for
By
Mythily Ramachandran
Dhyan Sreenivasan’s directorial debut ‘Love Action
Drama’ disappoints with an insipid and unconvincing film. Touted as a rom-com,
‘LAD’ came with great expectations with its lead pair-Nivin Pauly and
Nayanthara,’ but ends as a case of talent wasted.
Dinesh (Nivin Pauly) pines for his cousin, even on
the eve of her wedding. He has been in love with her since childhood, despite
her making it clear that she was not interested. She is now marrying another
man.
An incurable alcoholic who smokes too, Dinesh believes
that life is a party all the time. With
a family business and enough wealth to bank on, he does nothing beyond annoying
others with his uncouth attitude and irresponsible ways.
So, it is really hard to believe when a beautiful and confident woman like
Shoba (Nayanthara) who is managing an NGO in Chennai-falls in love with Dinesh.
They meet at his cousin’s wedding in Kerala. Shoba is his cousin’s friend.
When
Dinesh’s ploy to take revenge on his cousin’s groom goes wrong on the wedding
eve, it’s Shoba who ends injured and in hospital. Love was just waiting to
happen or so it seems. Dinesh is entrusted to take care of Shoba. And, instead
of being angry with him for her situation, she finds him innocent. On her
return, she even sends him a ‘missing you’ message on Whatsapp. Reason enough
for Dinesh to pack bags and reach Chennai to win her love. Assisting him in
this endeavour is his friend Sagar (Aju Verghese)- playing accomplice and
advisor in this love game.
The audience is forced to believe that love brews
between the two. That this love story applauds stalking is another matter. Here
love is more about impressing through deceit and less about honesty in a
relationship. There is nothing compelling about the characters that makes you
invest in their lives and their relationship. Clearly the script required
better writing and seems to be hastily done with an urge to fill it with as
many commercial elements possible. The resulting cocktail tastes insipid.
Pauly succeeds in making Dinesh as someone with no
redeeming trait to be worthy of Shoba’s love. His scenes with Aju Verghese are often
loud and drenched in booze banter. Verghese’s expressions are exaggerated. Humour
is completely forced and slapstick.
It is Nayanthara who keeps the sagging script afloat completely. Looking stunning in glamorous attires, it’s a change after her recent experiments in Tamil cinema, where she has played more performance backed characters.
When Shobha slaps Dinesh in a scene, he tells her that even his mother has never done that. I was almost tempted to say aloud-‘that’s where she erred Dinesha.’
LAD gets long drawn out with scenes of barely any significance to the story. Like the scene where a foreigner consoles Dinesh in her accented Malayalam after he leaves Shoba. And, why are children shown in romantic relationships? Seriously it’s not funny.
The screenplay is erratic, new characters surface to add drama to the love tale and there is action, as promised in the title-winding up the story in a hurried manner.
LAD is all frills with little substance.