Love 24×7

The major low point of the latest Dileep movie Love 24×7 is that it released at the wrong time. It is a movie that doesn’t necessarily follow the usual pattern of happy ending, but has some really open and sensible conversations about romance. With a majority expecting something typical, it is possible that the people may not feel it as a conventional entertainer.

Roopesh Nambiar is one of the main journalists in the news channel Naalamidam. He is a popular face and hosts many good shows for the channel. A new girl Kabani joins the news channel as an intern. The movie’s focus is on the incidents that happens in the office after her joining. The relationship of Kabani and Roopesh and what all complications happen in it are what the movie trying to essay.

While Mani Ratnam tried to preach realistically to his protagonists in OK Kanmani by showing them the story of Ganapathi, here Sreebala K Menon tries to communicate something like that in a partially realistic manner and it is not to the lead pair, but to us. Set in the backdrop of the modern day news channel business, it genuinely exposes the issues faced by most media people. The good part of Love 24×7 is in its conversations. Most of the conversations between Roopesh and Kabani had that genuine freshness I personally wished to hear in Malayalam movies. They are frank, they are confused and they know their faults. The parallel love story between the senior doctor couple is a bit too dramatic when compared to the positivity of the remaining portion. Too much focus was given to the couple.

Sreebala K Menon who comes from Sathyan Anthikkadu School of film making is definitely following a treatment that will remind you of the recent Anthikkadu movies. Unlike the veteran, I think she got a better subject that had some fresh subplots. Screenplay at times becomes too dramatic which kind of spoils the rhythm the movie had. There are no deliberate attempts to showcase the movie as a feministic one. As I already mentioned the conversations were quite interesting, except for a few written for the doctor duo. The songs were good. Good cinematography and art direction.

Dileep was very comfortable playing the role of Roopesh Nambiar and the usual overdose of expressions wasn’t there and that made the character more graceful and natural. New face Nikhila Vimal surprised me. The actress handled the slang and dialog delivery very nicely (if it was dubbed by her). This pretty face expresses very well and looks like a good prospect for the industry. Sreenivasan was really good. Through that character, Sreebala kind of justifies the forced double face of people in this field and there also the drama is quite less. Suhasini was fine and Sashi Kumar wasn’t finding it easy. Lena did her part very nicely. It was good to see Manju Pillai after a long time. Small roles for Sudhy Koppa, Anjali Aneesh Upasana, Dinesh Prabhakar, Sidharth Siva, Krishnapriya, Alencier Ley and a few more.

So overall it’s a good attempt that tells a story without much exaggerations and with sensibilities. It may not fit in to the category of being a festival entertainer, but still Love 24×7 has something which keeps it on the good zone. Rating is a generous 3/5. Recommended for a relaxed watch.