Openly supported and promoted by Salman Khan, LOVE YATRI is the debut film of three young aspirants namely Aayush Sharma, Warina Hussain (as the lead couple) and Abhiraj K. Minawala as the director beginning their journey with a love story.
To give you the gist, it’s a wafer-thin kind of story-plot told in a too simple way without any engaging novel insertions which is both odd and strange considering the experienced support it had.
Why Salman Khan backed the project is a well-known fact for all, but why they chose such a ‘nothing at all’ kind of storyline for a launch-pad really amazes you as a viewer, looking at the available resources and the influential status of the icon. To state the truth, either something novel in the plot or an unusual outstanding execution can only lift up a love story in the present times with so much already exploited and done with. But why the makers still chose to remain stuck with the same old filmy clichés is nothing less than a worthless mystery that doesn’t even need to be solved.
The film typically begins introducing the hero with a dance track as a Gharba dance teacher and then he even dares to declare Gharba as the original source of all dance forms within the country and world over. In fact this one dialogue and then later the forced references of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Veer-Zaara and Tere Naam (during the second half) clearly reveal the amateurish writing without any set road map for the film. Spending a good 40-50 minutes in the build-up around the Navratri celebrations in Gujarat, LOVE YATRI keeps moving without any focused direction and has no interesting conflict or clashes in its screenplay leading to boredom.
It has the look and feel of a colourful, charming film due to a noteworthy cinematography, production design, costumes and choreography, but they remain helpless in absence of any appreciable emotional drama or story progression. A few songs do timely grab your attention due to their catchy beats and lyrics becoming a big saviour, but here too its weird to see Punjabi lyrics being sung by all Gujarati characters.
In the performance department, Ram Kapoor emerges as the only likable character in the whole film along with Ronit Roy once again playing the disapproving father and both Arbaaz and Sohail Khan coming in too late before the climax bringing in the much needed smiles.
As the beautiful lead couple, Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain do have their screen presence and charm, showcasing confidence in their dances too. But they still have to go a long way in terms of acting and emoting making it a career ahead. At the same time, I sincerely wish they were given the backing of good writers in the film to display their inner talent.
In all, LOVE YATRI has nothing new or inviting in terms of either content or execution except two fresh faces. Besides, the project once again reminds us the fact, that at times, Luck and Destiny do play much bigger roles in this stream than anything else.
However, ending with a weird mention, I frankly couldn’t understand what the makers found so funny or cool naming their lead hero with the nick name of 'Susu’ - as an abbreviation of Sushrut. Honestly for me, it was the worst part of the film right from the word go. Moreover, this is yet another example depicting our present state of social living, when the makers had to change their title due to objections raised by religious organisation from LOVE-RATRI (on the lines of NAVRATRI) to LOVE-YATRI, just a couple of weeks before the release.
Rating : 1 + 0.5 / 5 (with the additional 0.5 for the few good tracks led by ‘Akh Lad Jaave’)
