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Love Today (2022 film)

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Love Today
Poster
Directed byPradeep Ranganathan
Written byPradeep Ranganathan
Ajay Gurunadhan
Based onApp(a) Lock
by Pradeep Ranganathan
Produced byKalpathi S. Aghoram
Kalpathi S. Ganesh
Kalpathi S. Suresh
StarringPradeep Ranganathan
Ivana
Raveena Ravi
Yogi Babu
CinematographyDinesh Purushothaman
Edited byPradeep E. Ragav
Music byYuvan Shankar Raja
Production
company
Distributed byRed Giant Movies
Release date
  • 4 November 2022 (2022-11-04)
Running time
154 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget₹5 crore[1]
Box officeest. ₹100 crore[2]

Love Today is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Pradeep Ranganathan and produced by AGS Entertainment. The film stars Pradeep (in his debut as lead actor), alongside Ivana, Raveena Ravi, Yogi Babu, Sathyaraj, Radhika Sarathkumar, Akshaya Udayakumar, Prathana Nathan, Adithya Kathir and Aajeedh Khalique. It is an adaptation of Pradeep's short film App(a) Lock (2020). The film follows a youngster who must swap his phone with his girlfriend for 24 hours before their marriage under the command of the girl's suspicious father.

The film was officially announced in October 2021 under the tentative title AGS 22, as it is the production banner's 22nd venture, and the official title was announced in July 2022. Principal photography commenced in December 2021. It was predominantly shot in Chennai, and wrapped by late-July 2022. The film has music composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematography handled by Dinesh Purushothaman, and editing by Pradeep E. Ragav.

Love Today was released theatrically on 4 November 2022, and received widespread critical acclaim from critics and the audience praising the direction, story, music, editing, cinematography, humour, social message and cast performances. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing ₹100 crore against a budget of ₹5 crore. Though it was a huge success in its theatrical run, it drew criticism after its streaming debut due to the sexist nature of the protagonists.[3]

Plot

[edit]

Uthaman Pradeep is a 25-year-old support engineer working at Cognizant in Chennai. He lives with his widowed mother Saraswathi and elder sister Divya. He is in a romantic relationship with Nikitha, a software engineer working at Infosys who is the daughter of Venu Sastri, an orthodox and sly lawyer. They believe they know each other well, are made for each other and are ready to take their relationship to the next level (i.e. marriage), but Pradeep hesitates a bit due to Nikitha's strict father. But Venu eventually finds out about his daughter's relationship with Pradeep and invites Pradeep over to his house, ostensibly to discuss about the marriage. However, during their meeting, Venu toys around with Pradeep and then proposes a strange deal with him: he should exchange his mobile phone with that of Nikitha's for 24 hours, along with full access. At the end of the said time, if they still feel that they are in love, Venu will not object to their union or else they must go their separate ways. Both Pradeep and Nikitha agree to this decision half-heartedly and exchange their phones. Pradeep is a bit relieved because he had sanitised his WhatsApp messages before coming there.

Pradeep then returns home to manage Divya's upcoming marriage to Dr. Yogi, a dentist, which is to take place in four days' time. On the goading of his friends, Pradeep goes through Nikitha's mobile phone, where he sees a WhatsApp conversation with Revi, Nikitha's male best friend, who has a one-sided love for her. Pradeep is upset that Nikitha has a strong relationship with Revi, despite knowing about his one-sided love, and do many activities together. He further finds out that Nikitha is still friends with her ex-boyfriend Mamakutty and had gone on a night drive with him to Puducherry a few days earlier by lying to Pradeep. He confronts Nikitha on both Revi and Mamakutty, leaving her in tears and driving a wedge into their hitherto perfect relationship. The next day, Pradeep proposes to Venu that both he and Nikitha will keep each other's phones until Divya's marriage is over to know more about Nikitha's relationships, to which Venu agrees readily. However, unknown to Pradeep, Venu asks Nikitha to restore Pradeep's WhatsApp messages from backup to know about Pradeep's true colours.

Meanwhile, Divya and Yogi seem to get along very well, as Yogi is a cultured and mild-mannered man who treats Divya as an equal, but Yogi is secretive regarding his mobile phone and does not let anyone, including Divya, touch or even come near him while he is using it, which upsets Divya and causes her to turn suspicious about him. She comes to know about Pradeep's phone swap with Nikitha, and wants to do the same with Yogi, but Yogi rebuffs her at first instance. She and her friends, as well as Pradeep, unsuccessfully try multiple times to get Yogi's phone, open it and check its contents. This further contributes to the growing wedge between her and Yogi.

Pradeep and Nikitha's relationship worsens by the day, with Nikitha finding out about Pradeep's porn addiction as well as his conversations with multiple girls on WhatsApp (he had even managed to get them to send their photos based on the excuse of giving them an opportunity to act in a web series). She gets angry on Pradeep as he had used same flirting techniques with multiple girls, and also frequently tries to contact his ex-girlfriends. Unknown to Nikitha, Pradeep has a second Instagram account on his phone, which he and his friends had created in college to message sexually explicit content using a fake female identity, for years. The same account was used to perversely message Nikitha as well as her younger sister Shwetha (though Pradeep did not send the messages). Pradeep and gang realise the danger and fear that they might get arrested if that account is publicised. Pradeep meets Nikitha at a restaurant to try and convince her to hand over his phone to log out from that second account. Yogi overhears Pradeep's friends and tells them that they can log in another device and log out from all devices, thus saving Pradeep. As Pradeep is informed about this, he tries to end their meeting and leave. As the boys try to log out from all devices, an OTP reaches Pradeep's phone, but Revi, who has accompanied Nikitha, discovers the account and exposes Pradeep. This leads to a big fight between Nikitha and Pradeep, which ends with them breaking up. Further, Pradeep beats up Revi for interfering in their relationship, only to be stopped by the restaurant staff. During Divya's wedding reception, he enters angrily suspecting that his close friend Mani is behind the messages and fights with him as well, despite his pleas that he did not send the messages.

Pradeep notices both Divya and Yogi arguing over the latter's phone secrecy, and in anger, he tries to snatch Yogi's phone, only to be angrily stopped by Saraswathi. Pradeep breaks down and reveals to her about his break-up. Saraswathi consoles him and tells him that trust in relationship is all that is needed, which he realises when he finds the tree he had struggled to grow in his childhood. Later, while catching a smoking Pradeep, Yogi reveals that the reason he hesitates to share his phone is due to others e-mocking him for his appearance. He feared that if he had shared his phone with Divya, she would have rejected him as well or would have been hurt seeing his suffering. Divya overhears their conversation, and, contrary to Yogi's fears, respects Yogi even more for his confession, and they both reconcile, with Divya deciding not to look at Yogi's phone. Pradeep also reconciles with Mani and his friends.

Meanwhile, a porn clip, apparently involving Nikitha, goes viral, causing her father to assault and disown her, despite her pleas that the video was doctored. Heartbroken, Nikitha leaves her house. Pradeep locates her sitting alone at a beach and consoles her. He reveals that he and his friends had managed to track the perpetrator of the video: Nikitha's publicity loving colleague Kaushik, who created a deepfake of Nikitha and inserted it into a random porn video for the purpose of creating a trending video. Kaushik is arrested by the police, while Pradeep and Nikitha reconcile and rekindle their relationship. Venu apologises to Nikitha for misunderstanding her and then reveals to her and Pradeep the real reason for the phone swap; he wanted to check how strong their relationship would be despite the hurdles, and informs them that they have succeeded, thus approving their marriage.

The film ends with Pradeep's family asking Nikitha for alliance and in turn Venu asks Saraswati's phone for exchange and in return giving his own and a message that trust is all that is needed in order to find peace in today's society.

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]

Development

[edit]

After the success of Comali (2019), Pradeep Ranganathan announced his next project which would be produced by Kalapathi S. Aghoram under the banner of AGS Entertainment under the tentative title as AGS 22.[4] It was reported that the project would be an adaptation of Pradeep Ranganathan's short film App(a) Lock.[5] Later, the title was announced to be Love Today, which was taken from the 1997 film of the same name and would mark Pradeep Ranganathan's debut as an actor in a leading role.[6] The makers unveiled the first look poster of the film on 4 July 2022.[7]

Casting and filming

[edit]

Ivana who previously appeared in films like Naachiyaar (2018) and Hero (2019) was signed in to play the female lead,[8] while Yogi Babu who previously collaborated with the director in Comali was signed on to play a supporting role while at the same time Raveena Ravi, and veteran actors Sathyaraj and Radhika Sarathkumar were also confirmed to be a part of this film.[9] Principal photography began in December 2021.[10] On 22 July 2022, it was announced that the entire shooting of the film was wrapped.[11]

Music

[edit]
Love Today
Soundtrack album cover
Soundtrack album by
Yuvan Shankar Raja
Released8 November 2022
Recorded2022
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length17:52
LanguageTamil
LabelSony Music
ProducerYuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Naane Varuvean
(2022) 		Love Today
(2022) 		Coffee with Kadhal
(2022)
External audio
audio icon Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The music and original score is composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja.[12][13][14][15] The music of Love Today was acclaimed by critics and the audience.[16]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Saachitale"Pradeep RanganathanYuvan Shankar Raja3:59
2."Enai Vittu"Pradeep RanganathanSid Sriram4:06
3."Pacha Elai"Pradeep RanganathanMathichiyam Bala3:30
4."Mamakutty"Pradeep RanganathanPradeep Ranganathan, Savitha Reddy, A.U. Navin Krubhakar4:32
Total length:17:52

Release

[edit]

Theatrical

[edit]

Love Today was released theatrically on 4 November 2022.[17][18] The distribution rights of the film in Tamil Nadu were acquired by Udhayanidhi Stalin under the banner of Red Giant Movies.[19] The film was distributed and released in the UK by Ahimsa Entertainment.[20][21]

Home media

[edit]

The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film were sold to Netflix,[22] while the satellite rights were sold to Kalaignar TV.[23] The film began streaming on Netflix from 2 December 2022 in Tamil language and in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi as dubbed languages.[24][25]

Reception

[edit]

Critical response

[edit]

Love Today received positive reviews from both critics and audience.[26]

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."[27] 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."[28] 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."[29] 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."[30] 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."[31] 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."[32] 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."[33] 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."[34] A critic for Cinema Vikatan wrote that in general, not only the lover, the beloved, but also the love changes its images and characteristics in all periods.[35] Dinamalar rated the film 3.25 out of 5 stars.[36] 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."[37] 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."[38]

Box office

[edit]

On the first day of its release the film collected over ₹6 crores worldwide.[39] After three days of its release, the film grossed over ₹19 crore at the box office.[40] On the 11th day of its release, the film grossed ₹50 crores worldwide.[41][42] On the first week of its release, the film grossed ₹70 crore at the worldwide box office.[43] On 25 November 2022, it was reported from Pinkvilla that the film grossed over ₹50 crore from the state of Tamil Nadu.[44] The film is estimated to have grossed closer to ₹100 crore against a budget of ₹5 crore and became one of the highest grossing Tamil films of 2022.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "இன்று வெளியான சமந்தாவின் 'யசோதா' படத்திற்கே டஃப் கொடுக்கும்... 'லவ் டுடே' 7 நாள் வசூல் எவ்வளவு தெரியுமா?". Asianet News (in Tamil). 11 November 2022. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b "'Love Today' (Telugu) Box Office: The Pradeep Ranganathan and Ivana starrer inches towards Rs. 100 crore". The Times of India. 1 December 2022. Archived from the original on 29 August 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  3. ^ U, Saradha (2 December 2022). "Love Today: Why Pradeep's film needs to be called out for normalising sexism". The News Minute. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  4. ^ "Love Today is a very close-to-heart film: Pradeep Ranganathan". Cinema Express. 4 July 2022. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Love Today OTT release: Here's all you need to know about the Pradeep Ranganathan rom-com". The Economic Times. 28 November 2022. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  6. ^ "Love Today Is My Second First Film: Pradeep Ranganathan". Film Companion. 2 November 2022. Archived from the original on 29 May 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Director Pradeep Ranganathan to Play Lead in His Next Directorial Love Today". News18. 8 July 2022. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Ivana expresses excitement over the success of Love Today, thanks audience, co-stars and crew members". OTT Play. 12 November 2022. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Love Today release date: When and where to watch Pradeep Ranganathan, Ivana's super hit rom-com online". OTT Play. 29 November 2022. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  10. ^ Madhu, Vignesh (5 October 2021). "'Comali' director Pradeep Ranganathan to make his acting debut". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  11. ^ Kanagaraj, Christopher [@Chrissuccess] (22 July 2022). "#LoveToday | Shoot Wrapped. 'Comali' Pradeep Ranganathan, Ivana. AGS Production" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ "First single from Pradeep Ranganathan's Love Today, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, is out". Cinema Express. 2 August 2022. Archived from the original on 2 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  13. ^ "Ennai Vittu (From "Love Today") Song". Gaana. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Saachitale (From "Love Today")". JioSaavn. 2 August 2022. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  15. ^ "Pacha Elai song from Love Today out". Cinema Express. 17 October 2022. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  16. ^ "'Love Today' completes 100 days; A major look back at the film's successful journey". The Times of India. 12 February 2023. Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  17. ^ "Pradeep Ranganathan's 'Love Today' gets U/A certiification". The Times of India. 27 October 2022. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Pradeep Ranganathan's Love Today passes through the censors". Cinema Express. 26 October 2022. Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  19. ^ Udhay [@Udhaystalin] (24 October 2022). "A love story that's so funny, guaranteed gonna make u fall off your seat in laughter. #lovetoday hide your phones :) A @pradeeponelife show✨ A @thisisysr Vibe 🥁" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  20. ^ "Love Today". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  21. ^ Sri Venkateswara Creations [@SVC_official] (8 November 2022). "We are elated to present the blockbuster #LoveToday, a youthful laugh riot in Telugu in association with @Ags_production. Coming to theatres very soon. A @pradeeponelife show✨ A @thisisysr Vibe 🥁" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  22. ^ Menon, Thinkal. "Love Today: THIS leading OTT platform has acquired the digital rights of Pradeep Ranganathan's rom-com". OTT Play. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Thiruchitrambalam to Love Today: These Tamil films are all set to premiere on TV for Pongal". OTTPlay. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  24. ^ "Love Today OTT release plans out". Cinema Express. 27 November 2022. Archived from the original on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  25. ^ "Latest: Love Today locks its OTT release date". 123 Telugu. 27 November 2022. Archived from the original on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  26. ^ "Love Today Review: Critics Give Thumbs Up for Pradeep Ranganathan's Romantic Comedy Drama!". Latestly. 13 November 2022. Archived from the original on 25 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022. The romantic comedy drama has opened to positive reviews from critics
  27. ^ Balachandran, Logesh (4 November 2022). "Love Today Movie Review : A fun and quirky tale of modern-day romance". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  28. ^ Menon, Vishal (4 November 2022). "Love Today Movie Review: A TikTok-Era M.Rajesh Film With A Few Wild Laughs". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  29. ^ "LOVE TODAY MOVIE REVIEW". Behindwoods. 4 November 2022. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  30. ^ Vijayakumar, Bharath (4 November 2022). "Love Today Review – A Fun Take On A Relevant Topic That Is Pleasantly Surprising". Moviecrow. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  31. ^ Madhu, Vignesh (4 November 2022). "Love Today Movie Review: A rollicking new-age entertainer". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  32. ^ S, Srivatsan (4 November 2022). "'Love Today' movie review: Boomers, stay away. This is a watchparty for 2K Kids". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 November 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  33. ^ Athimuthu, Soundarya (4 November 2022). "'Love Today' Review: Pradeep Ranganathan Takes You on a Weird Joy Ride With Love". The Quint. Archived from the original on 5 November 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  34. ^ Purushothaman, Kirubhakar (8 November 2022). "Love Today review: An enjoyable feature-length meme with a moral science lesson". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  35. ^ "Love Today Review: செல்போனால் காதலுக்கு வரும் சிக்கல்... இது 2K கிட்ஸின் ரகளையான லவ் ஸ்டோரி!". Cinema Vikatan (in Tamil). 4 November 2022. Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  36. ^ "லவ் டுடே - விமர்சனம்". Dinamalar (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  37. ^ Kumar, Akshay (4 November 2022). "Love Today review: A joyride that entertains till it lasts". DT Next. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  38. ^ Menon, Thinkal (4 November 2022). "Love Today movie review: Pradeep Ranganathan, Ivana's rom-com is an exhilarating ride targeted at young audience". OTT Play. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  39. ^ "'Love Today' box office collection day 1: Pradeep Ranganathan's directorial gets an excellent opening in TN". The Times of India. 5 November 2022. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  40. ^ "'Love Today' box office collection day 3: Pradeep Ranganthan's film mints Rs 19 crore". The Times of India. 7 November 2022. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  41. ^ "'Love Today' box office collection: Pradeep Ranganathan's second directorial enters the Rs.50 crore club". The Times of India. 16 November 2022. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  42. ^ "Pradeep Ranganathan's Rom-Com Love Today To Soon Cross Rs 50 Crore At Box Office". News18. 14 November 2022. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  43. ^ "'Love Today' box office collection: The comedy entertainer reaches 70 crores worldwide". The Times of India. 24 November 2022. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  44. ^ Singh, Jatinder (25 November 2022). "Love Today box office collections: Pradeep scores a big Hit with debut, Crosses 50 crores in Tamil Nadu". Pinkvilla. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
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