To love or not to love ‘Love Guru?’ That is the question! Read on for the answers.
It must be so scary to release a movie after a two year gap, and also post the Pakistan-India war, which ignited the passion in people from both nations. Now you find the entire nation pinning their hopes on you, on anticipating a great movie, helping them redeem a sense of pride in their film industry, and telling their neighbours across the border – look at us. This is us. We’re thriving. Our cinemas are back in business!
I imagine how the entire LG team held their breaths to see the very first few reviews coming in the hours and days post-release…
The good news is that Love Guru is performing really well in terms of audience reviews and box office numbers. There were likely many sighs of relief. The surprising thing is that LG is getting two kinds of reviews; people are loving it, or people are very critical of it. Keeping this reaction in mind, I finally went to watch LG with a half full cinema on a weeknight. So, what is the FUCHSIA verdict? Well read on and find out…
I have to admit, I was scared that I would be disappointed and find lots to criticise so I watched the entire movie anticipating that it would happen any minute…
I also went with extremely low expectations…
To begin with, let’s talk about what I loved about Love Guru…
BTW, spoiler alert… because this review cannot be penned without spoilers.
Two things I want to say about LG… despite its many weaknesses, despite it feeling like a spin-off of multiple Bollywood movies, despite it being a case of many lost opportunities, LG still ends up giving audiences a fairly decent film and making it a relatively good comfort watch. Even if you read this review with spoilers, you will still enjoy watching Love Guru.
Watching LG as a viewer is a strange case, you know exactly what will happen next, but instead of thinking: “Oh how predictable,” you anticipate what is about to happen and totally enjoy it when it does happen. Yes, we have that curious case of enjoying the predictable…
The story and some scenes are nothing new, but the execution is great, making it a good watch. What I particularly loved is the spy thriller angle to the romance. The movie establishes Adil’s profession in the first few moments and dives right into the main story, which is a perfect start. You know Adil is going to convince Sophia to work with him, but you wonder how he will get there.
Once Sofia agrees, viewers are ready to see the two of them embarking on a journey to get to know each other and fall in love. And that’s exactly what you get, incidents and plotlines that show Sophia and Adil spending a lot of time together.
The cinematography is great. Hit pause, (and a refreshing one), from your typical cinema or drama screen to see Adil and Sophia exploring Britain. The scenic locations, the winter feel, the historic British architecture, are pure pleasure to watch on the big screen.
Some parts of the movie and some scenes will just win you over, like Humayun and Mahira reciting Munir Niazi poetry to each other. Oh, what a treat it was to watch your favourite stars spin a romantic aura to it. When Sophia discovers the truth about Adil, she confronts him. Her words to him are poignant, and the song “Toot Gaya” is suitably placed to evoke emotion. In addition, the picturisation is beautiful, especially the bench scenes. The magic of Yashal Shahid and Farhan Saeed vocals resonating in the cinema with those dreamy visuals give you goosebumps, making you live in this heartbreak era.
The movie excels with a well-thought-out storyline, where 95% of the twists are convincingly supported – how Sophia finds out about what Adil is really all about, how they place cameras in her room, how they mistake her fiancé – this is a significant reason why this movie has been well-received by audiences, as is it does not underestimate their intelligence. Love Guru expects them to expect that they will get a well-knit story… and it almost does.
Call it nostalgia or whatever, watching Mahira Khan and Humayun Saeed together on screen has a feel of its own and if you are their fan, you will enjoy watching them together. Mahira has come out looking fabulous in all her looks and that is another reason to watch the film, she has in fact slightly pushed the boundary with her outfits, but it is done aesthetically, carefully and sensitively, so that it does not irk a conservative audience. She is wearing short dresses but then there are long boots and long coats, she is wearing a deep neck-line but the angle is always such that it just falls short of revealing too much.
If you’re not listening to the songs yet, you will start liking them now as each number is well-placed in the storyline and carefully curated.
Love Guru addresses themes deeper than romance, it touches upon the topic of being a green flag, people pleasing and then our deep need to love someone who truly completes you, protects you and stands up for you. How the habit of pleasing people that you might take as a positive, turns against you when the same person fails to protect you in the moment you need it most, like how Ahmed fails to stand up for Sophia and her father and only does so after she shows him the mirror. Even though the initial scenes and Adil’s conversation with Sophia under the tree was meant to make those girls move away from the wrong person, in truth, those dialogues were a harsh reality of various relationships that girls must face and recognise.
Another thing I loved was that Love Guru presents a parallel hero who is not all negative. So you cannot turn against Ahmed in the film just to wish Sophia to be with Adil. That makes the choice a bit difficult and while you do want Sophia and Adil to be together, an inner voice tells you that it is not fair to Ahmed and you keep hoping the film will give you a reason to go against Ahmed and not just say no to him simply because his character is simpler as opposed to Adil.
And now that we’re over with the ‘good stuff’, let’s dive into what could have been better.
The very points that are strengths of Love Guru also become its weaknesses and pitfalls. As I mentioned earlier, it touches on topics deeper than romance, however the movie fails to explore these themes in-depth, or to integrate them in the storyline in such a way that make Love Guru more than just any other love story, but one that carries a vibe and life of its own. Right now, the movie is merely a rom-com watch with no soul. In an era where audiences identify their needs, feelings, and vibes with onscreen content, this becomes one of many lost opportunities for the film. Why a certain story wins us over in present times is because those films are no longer just giving us romance, but they tend to carry a soul.
While people have been talking about ageism with regards to the lead couple, I did not feel anything like that. The film saves itself by not placing the characters in college or university life, and you can safely enjoy the movie and characters without wondering about their age. The real issue is the presentation of the two lead actors, especially Humayun Saeed. Unfortunately, he appears constantly tired and drained, his makeup, especially the blush and lipstick are right in your face. Additionally, several scenes feature extreme zoom-ins on the lead actors, which can be quite distracting for the viewer. It baffles you and you question; how did this happen, why did it happen at all in the first place and then, why could it not have been improved with color-grading or maybe downplayed a bit.
It is only Mahira Khan who stands out in the film in terms of her overall look and style. The rest of the cast is a failed attempt in the wardrobe department due to lack of proper styling and makeup. There is little or no coordination between the main character, i.e. Sophia, and the ensemble cast styling, and it is disappointingly evident.
Plus, it is but expected that if you are making one movie which is supposed to be huge then you throw everything at it, you give it your best; you get into shape and you pay attention to each and every detail, you let nothing fall short of the final look you plan to reveal to your audiences. Both Mahira and Humayun needed to do that.
The story features several themes that are commonly found in Bollywood movies. Sometimes you will find yourself remembering DDLJ, sometimes Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, or Tu Jhooti Mein Makkar, whose main concept is the main theme of Love Guru as well. Just like Mickey Arora played by Ranbir, Adil’s character essayed by Humayun is also in the business of making relationships break.
The similarity in many scenes we might have watched previously onscreen made me wonder at one point if the film is in a way, a tribute to Karan Johar or SRK films; the drive in Europe reminds you of the ride Raj and Simran took in DDLJ, the violin-playing scene reminds you so strongly of SRK in exactly the same pose in Mohabbatein, the final dialogues from Adil to Sophia when she is about to get married, felt like a spin-off of countless Bollywood last-minute love confessions.
Also, while we get how Sophia starts to fall for Adil, the movie never shows why Adil falls for Sophia – that is perhaps one of the biggest flaws in the script, because we know he is only trying to make her break her engagement and that is the reason he knows her well. We wanted to see Adil discover things that melt his heart, make him drawn towards her, small yet heartwarming realizations or moments that make the audience root for the feelings he develops for Sophia, feelings that surprise him too – isn’t that what falling in love is all about? It hits you when you least expect it. We would have loved scenes where Adil would have been shown to do spontaneous, unplanned things (and no, we don’t mean the million or so times cliched concept of a theme park, that’s not what makes you fall in love with one another), something that reveals deeper, more personal layers to Adil beyond his master-minding. We only find out something about him towards the end.
We guess we have become a victim of lazy content creation, we fail to challenge ourselves and take the easy route of showing a much-used concept, like Love Guru chose to use the many times repeated idea from this theme park adventure, planned robbery, to last minute wedding cancellation, just to mention a few.
The film runtime could be 20 minutes shorter. The adventure park scene could have been excluded without affecting the overall narrative. The seductive song by Ramsha Khan was in a bad taste and didn’t make sense. One would ask what the purpose of that whole segment was, what was the purpose of Ramsha Khan’s character. If you really wanted to attract the masses, it could have been done in a classier, or more sensational way. Either would have worked. Right now, it seemed a little out of place that why Sophia’s friend who also belongs to a reputable family would do a cheap dance number. The dressing, the makeup and the overall vibe made it awkward to watch and borderline cringe.
But despite all the setbacks, and while I enjoyed the entire movie, I found the final scene rather disappointing. I wish we could have been more creative in curating better scenes. That is why I always say we desperately need script doctors. Just when you got me to enjoy the wedding visuals, the movie took me to a completely dry and unappealing scenario – Adil and Sophia finally get a happy ending. But the frames gave me major viewer cognitive discomfort.
Finally, how can we not mention the elephant in the room, the ‘Bekhabreya’ song with the Bekhabreya part being exactly like Ve Kamleya from Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. It has been a source of great disappointment to see the best of our industry falling victim to a lazy copy-paste strategy.
‘Sada Ashna’ seemed to fall victim to cultural misrepresentation and weak visuals, production-wise. We never get to see the grandeur of the set or witness the impact of this being a grand, festive family dance.
But despite all these limitations, there is something about the film that still wins by way of execution. Nadeem Baig delivers a comfort watch with standout scenes that leave you with a feel-good takeaway. Our verdict is to go watch Love Guru with your family and enjoy a well-made film.
To the creators, we would like to say, you are more talented and creative than this. Trust yourself and understand that it is time to evolve. You must inject fresh ideas and thoughts in your creative process as well as in every aspect of movie-making. If we can make a film such as Love Guru which carries a fresh feel despite all the lost opportunities, we can do wonders if, and only if, we choose to be original and reject everything that comes even close to anything that feels like Bollywood.
Credits
Love Guru is executive produced by Salman Iqbal and produced by Humayun Saeed, Shahzad Nasib, and Jerjees Seja. The film is directed by Nadeem Baig and written by Vasay Chaudhry. The cast includes Humayun Saeed, Mahira Khan, Marina Khan, Javed Sheikh, Ahmed Ali Butt, Mani Liaquat, Ramsha Khan, Varda Aziz, Usman Peerzada, Momina Iqbal, Sohai Ali Abro, and Natalia Janoszek.
