Love Today (2022 film)

Love Today
Poster
Directed by	Pradeep Ranganathan
Written by	Pradeep Ranganathan
Based on	App(a) Lock by Pradeep Ranganathan
Produced by	Kalpathi S. Aghoram Kalpathi S. Ganesh Kalpathi S. Suresh
Starring	Pradeep Ranganathan Ivana Raveena Ravi
Cinematography	Dinesh Purushothaman
Edited by	Pradeep E. Ragav
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production company	AGS Entertainment
Distributed by	Red Giant Movies
Release date	4 November 2022
Running time	154 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹5 crore[1]
Box office	₹50 crore[2]

Love Today is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Pradeep Ranganathan of Comali fame, and produced by Kalapathi S. Aghoram under the banner of AGS Entertainment.^[3] The film stars Pradeep Ranganathan himself (in his acting debut), Ivana and Raveena Ravi in lead roles.^[4] The film's music and score is composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, with cinematography handled by Dinesh Purushothaman and editing done by Pradeep E. Ragav. It is an adaptation of Pradeep Ranganathan's own short film App(a) Lock.

This is the second collaboration of Yogi Babu, Pradeep Ranganathan and Pradeep E. Ragav after 2019 film Comali. The film was predominantly shot in Chennai and Pondicherry.

Love Today was released by theatrically on 4 November 2022. The film was a commercial success at the box office.

Plot

Uthaman Pradeep is a 24 year old Lead Developer in CTS Chennai. He lives with his mother and sister Divya, who is engaged to a Dentist Yogi for 8 months and is about to get married in 4 days. Pradeep is in a relationship with colleague Nikhita, whose father Venu sastri is a very strict person. Pradeep goes to her house to meet and convince Venu for their marriage in future. Venu, who seems to be an orthodox man, plays around with Pradeep for a while and puts forward a strange deal : Pradeep and Nikita must immediately exchange their mobile devices for one day along with respective mobile's unlocking key. After the end of the period, if they still feel that they are in love, Venu will not object their union. Else, they can go their seperate ways. Both Pradeep and Nikitha agree to it half heartedly and Pradeep comes back home to manage his sister's wedding event. Due to some revelations, Pradeep goes to Venu's home the next day and extends the exchange until end of his sister's wedding, and venu agrees. Pradeep also gets into trouble, as Venu finds a way to bring back all the messages which Pradeep had deleted from his phone, since Pradeep cleaned his chats every week.

Meanwhile, Divya and Yogi seem to get along very well, as Yogi is a cultured mild mannered man, who treats Divya as equal. One day, during a botched group call with Divya, Yogi overhears Divya's mom and aunt insulting his physical features when Divya is not around. During the wedding rituals in present, he becomes moody and does not allow anyone to use his phone. This puts a lot of doubt in minds of Divya and her friends. They repeatedly try to get his phone, open it and check the contents, but they are thwarted by Yogi.

Yogi suddenly butchers Venu's ear until Pradeep stops him.But the next day Pradeep meets Nikhita to apoligize and she tells him she is dating her friend Revi until Pradeep assualts Revi and suddenly Nikhitha's ex mamakutty calls and 6 months later Nikhitha and Pradeep get engaged until Venu and Saraswathi have to exchange phones where the film ends for a sequel hint

Cast

Production

The project was tentatively titled as AGS 22. Later, the title was announced to be Love Today, which was taken from the 1997 film of the same name starring Vijay. It marked Pradeep Ranganathan‘s debut as an actor in a leading role. The shooting of the film was reported to begin on December 2021.^[5][6] The makers unveiled the first look poster of the film on 4 July 2022.^[7]

Music

The music and original score is composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Release

Theatrical

The film was released theatrically on 4 November 2022.^[12][13] The trailer of the film was released on 5 October 2022.^[14] The distribution rights of the film in Tamil Nadu were acquired by Udhayanidhi Stalin under the banner of Red Giant Movies.^[15]

Home media

The digital rights of the film has been bagged by Netflix,^[16][17] while the satellite rights of the film is sold to Kalaignar TV.^[18]

Reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics.^[19] Logesh Balachandran of The Times of India rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Overall, Love Today is an entertaining watch and is a perfect outing for the weekend."^[20] Vishal Menon of Film Companion wrote "But by settling for instant gratification from its comedy rather than investigating in its broader, more meaningful themes, Love Today too settles for the ordinary."^[21] Behindwoods rated 3 out of 5 and wrote that "Love Today's humour quotient and Yuvan music will make sure you go back home highly entertained."^[22] Bharath Vijayakumar of Moviecrow rated the film 3.25 out of 5 and wrote "Love Today is a lot of fun. The film also pleasantly surprises on how it tackles a very relevant topic of today."^[23] Vignesh Madhu of Cinema Express rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "It is a film about today's love, and Pradeep does a great job of ensuring that it’s a story for everyone."^[24] Srivatsan S of The Hindu wrote "For a film that claims to be about modern-day relationships, you scratch your head thinking if there is anything modern. But you cannot complain — the 2K Kids are entertained."^[25] Soundarya Athimuthu of The Quint gave the film’s rating 3 out of 5 and wrote "This new age romantic entertainer emphasizes the age-old fact that "trust" is the foundation of a relationship."^[26]

Kirubhakar Purushothaman of The Indian Express gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "The film conveniently deals only with softcore issues that are palatable for the mainstream audience… But what about their search history, their kinks, and the truths that only our mobile phones know? Maybe, those are too dark for this film, which wants to end on a rosy note."^[27] A critic from Behindwoods rated the film 3 out of 5 and wrote "Love Today's humour quotient and Yuvan music will make sure you go back home highly entertained."^[28] A critic for Cinema Vikatan wrote "In general, not only the lover, the beloved, but also the love changes its images and characteristics in all periods."^[29] Dinamalar rated the film 3.25 out of 5 stars.^[30] Akshay Kumar of DT Next gave 3.5 out of 5 gave the film’s rating 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Love Today is unique for its light treatment while not getting restricted to being called a 'timepass' film."^[31] Thinkal Menon of OTT Play gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Director-actor Pradeep had mentioned in one of his movie promotions that the film has been made for 2K kids. It looks like he is completely aware of his target audience and has exactly served what they need."^[32]

References

External links

• Love Today at IMDb