Written and directed by Sourabh Doke, a reunion turns into a nightmare as secrets unravel, lives collide, and a disastrous future looms. Betrayal and tragedy haunt Nakul and Vikrant, leaving them unprepared for the consequences of their past actions. Starring: Aniket Jain and Rishabh Sarwate.

Within film and television there is still a much larger conversation to be had about homophobia in different countries. Society is largely represented as being open-minded in this day and age but that’s sadly not the case for many places, so it’s always good to have stories which explore that, like Love. However, while it’s clear that Sourabh Doke had the best of intentions, the tone that the film sets misses the mark. It takes on an aggressive note, going for something heavier than it handle and things become confused along the way. Especially as the overall tone of the film is quite laidback which doesn’t match the intensity and harsh consequences that the story is going for.

That tonal mismatch is something that it struggles with throughout. It includes some strange shot choices which feel somewhat like commercial, archive footage and they distract from the story. As well as dipping into a use of black and white which comes across more akin to a music video. Some scenes are simply too structured which restricts the flow of the story. The cinematography also struggles, a lot of the core scenes have an unusual colour mixing which doesn’t quite fit.

One of the core issues is that it’s pushing for an emotional level that it’s not prepared to deliver. It’s dealing with a topic that requires a decent amount of grit and tension which the style can’t provide. Unfortunately, the same can be said of the performances which don’t feel organic, there’s an over-theatricality to them. The way that they communicate the emotions of the story is overt, there are some things that didn’t need to be said and could have purely been implied or left for the viewer to interpret. As well as that the development of the story in its latter moments has a sinister quality which isn’t fully embraced, leaving it to add an odd note to the atmosphere.

Love simply misses the mark, it had good intentions but for an LGBTQ+ story, it feels somewhat derogatory. Not quite expanding itself enough to show both sides, instead remaining too long on the negative. The visual struggles, there’s a number of different tones at work and some technical issues. Ultimately, it was pushing for something with an intensity, drama and emotion that it didn’t yet have the skills to pull off.

Verdict: ✯✯ | 4/10