What can you say about a newcomer who gets called Susu in his first outing at the turnstiles. The odds get stacked heavily against Aayush Sharma right with his character’s name in Loveyatri. Not that he has any spark to rescue himself from a tepid mess of this love story either. He can barely do with a bit of garba and consistently sports one expression on his face through the film.
The only time he looks relaxed is in the company of his brothers-in-law, Sohail and Arbaaz Khan. Matching him step for step in the garba and singularity of expression department is Warina Hussain — the impossibly pretty and pouty Lisa Ray lookalike. Between the two callow youngsters no sparks ever fly in the two and a half hour of screen time.
- Director: Abhiraj Minawala
- Cast: Aayush Sharma, Warina Hussain, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan
- Storyline: Boy meets girl. Falls in love. Girl’s father disapproves. Misunderstanding. Separation. Reunion. And they live happily ever after.
Love stories that are a launch pad for debutants rarely offer anything radical. They are more platforms for them to showcase their talent — dance, drama, action, comedy. Loveyatri does nothing different. But without the backing of even a few good moments, there is no drama, no passion, no fun, no spirit, no spunk. The film matches its lead players — bland for bland — both deserve each other.
To cash in on the festive season, everything is hung on the garbas and navratri celebrations. Susu teaches garba and wants to set up an academy for it in Vadodara. Michelle, formerly known as Manisha, is set to study in a business academy in London. Her dad who calls himself Sam (Ronit Roy) runs some drycleaning company in London and is in the habit of getting on to ferris wheels to teach life lessons about class divides to his daughter’s boyfriend. In the middle, there is some added tadka of Bhartiya sanskriti (Indian culture), how Indians believe in saat janmon ka pyaar (love that lasts for seven lifetimes). Eventually the lovers are united. And all ends well. Not for the tortured audience though.
