Recently, GenZ has had its fair share of films made around them in Bollywood. Lifestyle, relationships, activities and engagements, social life driven by mobile devices, aspirations and dreams, and complex behavioural patterns have all been captured intricately by many films and web series like Call Me Bae, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, or Zara Hat Ke Zara Bach Ke, among others.
Advait Chandan directed Loveyapa is another brilliant film that focuses on GenZ and is made around the mobile mania that our young generation is gripped with. The story also reminds us of the mayhem caused by each other’s mobile content in the married lives of a few friends in the film Khel Khel Mein, but this time the avalanche hits the loving couple before they get married.
Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor both prove to be highly talented next-generation actors and come out as very promising ones in the future of Bollywood. Ashutosh Rana again makes an impact in his role as Khushi’s father and the one who triggers an opening of a can of worms as far as the couple’s past relationships are concerned.
Gaurav Sachdeva (Junaid Khan) and Baani Sharma (Khushi Kapoor) and madly in love with each other. The film opens up with Gaurav blowing up his entire savings and borrowings from his close friends to fund a new mobile for Baani, who is too scared of her Shuddha-Hindi-speaking, Indian orthodox father Atul Kumar Sharma (Ashutosh Rana).
The father catches the love birds and asks Baani to invite Gaurav to meet him, where Baani preps Gaurav on how to handle her father in talks. When Gaurav visits Baani’s home, her father proposes to swap the mobile phones of Gaurav and Baani, which they reluctantly agree, as they weren’t left with any choice.
This mobile swap unleashes a slew of emotional events between the couple as they delve into the darker side of each of them, being revealed moment by moment turning their passionate love into the wall of hatred as the story unfolds. Unwilling to accept that there are many experiences this generation goes through in their lives in this digital age, and most of them come from purely a need to have fun, emotional support, and bonding, and probably arising out of FOMO syndrome and not from an act of malaise.
In parallel, there are other family events unfold like Gaurav’s sister Kiran Sachdeva (Tanvika Parlikar) is getting married to Anupam (Kiku Sharda), and this mobile phone brings the marriage to almost a halt, until an open conversation between Gaurav and Anupam clears the airs for Kiran.
In the first half the film revolves around the life and lifestyle of GenZ playfully, but it turns into an emotional melodrama as the layers keep opening up in the second half. Junaid Khan has done justice to his character of a funny and hyperactive young boy to a mature and emotional person ready to accept the challenges of marriage and responsibility. Khushi Kapoor is very promising as she comes across the girl next door without any cosmetic filmy glamour, and surely many hearts will throb for her.
Loveyapa is a great family entertainer and a must-watch, especially for the current generation.
STARS: 4 out of 5.
In Theatres on Friday, 7TH February 2025.
