Jude Anthany Joseph
Director
Bestselling novel-turned-Hollywood love story P.S. I Love You is one of my favourites because it talks about a love that transcends physicality. It’s about how a man who is so madly in love with his wife that he doesn’t want her to be alone after his death. He sets things up in a way that it encourages her to move forward to a new life. I think it’s a beautiful concept, to want someone to not wallow in sorrow and lead a happy life. When it comes to Malayalam, my favourite love story has got to be Thenmavin Kombathu . It’s not the usual love-at-first-sight kind of story. As the story unfolds, the protagonists, who are initially at loggerheads, get to know each other, and fall in love unwittingly. Of course, I like my own love story too. I met my fiancée, Diyana, online through the Om Shanti Oshaana page on Facebook. She had posted a query about the lyrics of a song in the film and we got chatting, which eventually lead to love. We are getting married today!
Rex Vijayan
Guitarist and composer
My Cousin Vinny is the first film that comes to my mind. It’s not a love story per se but I could see it as one. The film actually deals with two youngsters who are put on trial for a murder they did not commit. Their cousin, Vincent Gambini, a newly minted lawyer, comes to defend them, with his fiancée Mona Lisa in tow. The sizzling chemistry between the two contrasting characters, the diminutive and soft-spoken Vincent and the svelte, brash and intensely loyal Mona Lisa is something that always stays in the mind.
Aju Varghese
Actor
I’m a huge fan of the Mohanlal-Shobhana combination. My favourite love story of theirs is Pavithram . It doesn’t have a happy ending but the love is so poetical that it’s inspiring. Love doesn’t need to have a happy ending, does it? As they say, it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Thenmavin Kombathu comes a close second, particularly the scene, where Manickyan invites Karthumbi to come home with him. It’s one of my favourite scenes ever; one that I don’t mind watching over and over. It’s been shot so beautifully – the characters first take a deep breath and then gaze at each other as if opening their minds to each other, ending in Manickyan’s dialogue, ‘ Porunno ente koode ?’ Now, that’s romance.
Vidhu Pratap
Singer
My all time favourite love story would be that from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (DDLJ). I watched the movie at the theatre and fell in love with it. When the movie came out on disc, I bought it and watched it several times. I know each scene, shot and dialogue by heart. The movie has something for everybody – romance, comedy, drama… The songs were a hit with me too and I recall singing some of those songs at various stages. This is one movie I don’t mind watching repeatedly. The famous tagline of the movie, ‘Come…fall in love’ holds true as I return again and again to fall in love with the charming rouge Raj (Shahrukh Khan) and the spirited Simran (Kajol).
Aparna Gopinath
Actor
I would say right away that mine is Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. It has got everything – romance, humour, tragedy, melodrama, fights… I love it because there is so much of action and an interesting lot of characters who stay in your mind. My mum first told me the story and then I read it. Petruchio, the lead character who tames the shrew is my favourite character. He is as mad as Katherine, his shrew. I like the love he has for her…a weird fondness! He wants all the world to love her as he does. But I must add that I don’t believe in this Valentine’s Day!
Parvathy
Actor
My favourite love story off the top of my head is Same Time Next Year , my favourite movie in this genre, which is close to what I believe in and is thoroughly enjoyable as well. Book is harder but Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Love In The Time of Cholera would be my pick.
Jyotsna
Singer
I would recommend all of you to read The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa. It is about a man who is head over heels in love with this girl, who keeps on ignoring him. I always think how can somebody love someone so much! He almost worships her and it so happens that she keeps coming back to his life at various points. The book is so beautifully written. It is funny and at the same time gut-wrenching. You feel so sorry for him.
Job Kurian
Singer-composer
Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam is among my favourite movies and favourite love story. The bond shared by the characters played by Nedumudi Venu and Sarada warms your heart. Their love is unconditional and pure. Even though they are aged, that doesn’t come in the way of the love they have for each other. True love is something which doesn’t wither away with time and this movie is a fine example for that.
Anoop Menon
Actor
It’s got to be Bridges of Madison County . Set in the 60s, it narrates the doomed love story of a photographer, Robert Kincaid, who wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days. I love it simply because it has Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood as lovers destined not to be together.
Amala Paul
Actor
I don’t have to think. My choice is The Notebook , an English film that celebrated eternal love and trust and how true love always wins.