Love is Forever, Overview: Unrequited love, unimpressive expression

If one were to take a count of films made on the theme of love, in all its splendour, one might find that the overwhelming majority of films made in the past 100 years have love at their core: filial love, maternal love, paternal love, love between spouses, flirtation, love as lust, love as a pursuit, patriotic love, spiritual love, love of a game, platonic love, sublime love, triangular love and unrequited love, are some examples of the storylines these films have taken. Of these, many have succeeded in hitting all the right chords, and being either both, meritorious or hitting the tills at the box office, or both. There is no need to name names, but a few might help: Andaz, Sangam, Darr, Do Badan, Saajan, and on. For its choice, the Love is Forever choses unrequited, obsessive and destructive love at its core. There is no problem in the story idea, but the screenplay and direction of this amateurish attempt will not remain forever in the viewers’ minds.

A contrived beginning shows a man arriving in a car at a place that looks like the exterior of an airport, where three people are waiting for him: a woman and her parents. Post haste, they rush to the Registrar of Marriages’ office to perform the task for which the rendezvous was arranged: the registered marriage of the couple, Rohit and Simran. The Registrar, who not so much as offers chairs to the marriage party, does, however, ask whether the marriage is being performed under any kind of duress, to which the folks obviously say “no”. Who would admit in a quasi-judicial ceremony that the marriage was being held under duress, even if it were? That would put paid to all chances of the event being recorded.

It is then revealed that the boy’s father wanted to hold the marriage ceremony as a big fat Indian wedding, but the couple chose to keep it simple. It is also revealed that the said gent is now no more and the son thinks that his stepmother has bumped him off. The couple want to go to Europe for their honeymoon, but the script and the budget might have found the prospect too pricey, so they settle for Shimla, although the choice is made by Rohit’s stepmother. Rohit has some vague business interests in Shimla, but it appears that this is the first time he has visited the place. At Shimla, Simran’s past catches up with her, a past in which a college classmate called Raj (another R factor!) was obsessed with her in a one-sided affair. He appears and disappears at will and haunts the couple individually, even sending flowers with a warning to Rohit not to touch Simran.

A spooky sequence of events follows, that are neither investigated nor successful, and these include attempts to kill the two. Hanging around are some vague characters, like the completely over the top servant Dhaniram, the business manager Prakash, a mad man, a cycle repairer and the servant’s love interest. The couple goes about their honeymoon as any honey-mooning couple should, but their love-play is punctuated with horrible near fatal misses triggered by an unseen, or disappearing, entity. It is strange that neither do they inform the police, nor does Rohit confront his stepmother, whom he suspects of foul-play, even on the phone. A lot of things happen on the phone, both mobiles and land-lines. Many of them are calls where the caller remains silent in response to a succession of “Hellos” from Rohit or Simran.

Shimla is beautifully captured and the drone shots of the cars and car chases are interesting, but there is little lese to hold the interest. The hooded shadower, and plotter, appears and appears at will, and it is only at the intermission point that we see him coming out of a car and removing his dark glasses, the millionth time a character is so introduced in Hindustani cinema.

Direction is often heading in the wrong direction, much more old-time theatrical than modern cinematic. Characters keep mum and staring while waiting to speak their lines. The entire trach of the servant as a bumbling drunkard and besotted lover of a curvy maiden, is over, and moreover, the top. There is a cycle puncture scene which makes you squirm in your seat. Casting is clearly in favour of older actors, with the female actresses appearing past their prime, with a lot of extra baggage. The male lead needs to correct his diction in a hurry, while the others are just about okay on that front. There are vibrant colours and a duet song, in lip-sync, lingers in your psyche for a while. Treatment is more like and extended song-video. There is not much else to say about the film, which is 125 minutes long, with a PG certificate.

If you can sit through the entire film, pat yourself on the back, with the reverse palm of your hand, for you would have achieved something, however dubious a distinction that might be. From my side, it is “better luck next time.”

To sign off, meet the team behind Love is Forever.

1) Ruslan Mumtaz [ HERO] Rohit Mehra

2) Karnika Mandal [ HEROINE] Simran Chopra

3) Rahul B. Kumar [ 2ND HERO] Raj Varma

4) Chandraprakash Thakur [ 2ND HERO FATHER] Mahendra Varma

5) Mushtaq Than [ HEROINE FATHER] Dhanraj Chopra

6) Gargi Patel [ HEROINE MOTHER] Sarita Chopra

7) Javed Haider [ DHANIRAM]

8) Garima Agarwal [ MAYA MEHRA]

9) Chandraprakash Thakur [ RAJ FATHER]

10) Saleem Mullanavar [ Supporting ACTOR] Rana

11) S. Srinivas [ DIRECTOR]

12) Raj Shekhar Naidu [Choreographer]

13) Kausar Shaikh [Producer]

Trailer:

https://in.bookmyshow.com/pulivendula/movies/love-is-forever/ET00423097/multimedia