Love Today: What Made Pradeep Ranganathan's Rom-Com Work So Well With The Audience

Pradeep Ranganathan's debut directorial Comali gained much appreciation and praise. For his next film, Love Today, the director chose to play the male lead as well. He has been receiving heaps of applause for his acting and film-making in Love Today, and the film is doing exceptionally well at the box office. Let's take a look at what made the film this appealing and entertaining for the Tamil audience.

Comedic Timing:

Love Today, is situational comedy at its best. The way the characters behave and react to the situations in their life is funny and relatable. The film focuses on little details that make the interactions more real.

For instance, there is a shot where Uthaman Pradeep, played by Pradeep himself, Nikitha, played by Ivana, and Nikitha's dad, played by Sathyaraj are having a conversation. Nikitha's dad is sitting on a swing, and to his sides, Pradeep and Nikitha are seated. The gap between the swing and the seats is not much. Pradeep needs to use the restroom and he has to go toward the other end of the swing and go behind it, and he has to move through the small gap. The way he lifts his leg and carefully finds a gap, and maneuvers himself across, is so weird and detailed that it brought a smile.

The ringtones that the two leads have on their phone and the way they make the situations funnier worked really well. Also, it was nostalgic to rediscover the classic Prabhu Deva song 'Kadhal Nee Dhaana' thanks to Pradeep.

Flawed Characters:

We are so used to flawless, templated lead characters that to see characters that are flawed and real felt refreshing. Love Today offers such characters.

Uthaman Pradeep is a flirt, a prankster, and quite a mean person when he is triggered. He believes that there are things that are wrong but are within permissible boundaries. He understands that these things won't sit well with many people in society. He has the maturity to realize that many people who go as far as he goes, won't probably stop within such boundaries, and that is what scares society.

Nikitha is quite emotionally dependent, and when she gets attention from different men, she tends to lean on them emotionally. She is quite judgemental about very basic things like him watching porn. But she is loyal to her relationship and is mostly a sweetheart.

When writers write very predictable characters the possibilities of what that character can do become quite limited and the interactions lose a sense of realism as well. Having flawed characters elevates the engagement factor of a story any day.

Engaging Screenplay:

The way the scenes are sequenced and staged leaves little room for the audience to think about what is about to happen next. The moments have the ability to hold attention, and not let the audience wish the scene was over so they could move on to the next. There are tiny little surprises throughout the film, that keeps you excited and looking forward to more. While the plot is quite simple and is explained quite early in the film, the way the story moves is fresh and quite suspenseful.

The writing definitely demands appreciation. Plot points are properly built-up and escalated optimally. Wherever the plot builds tension, there is usually a rewarding high point, followed by another sequence that starts building up.

Pradeep is a gifted storyteller and we are looking forward to more from him in the forthcoming years.