A girl and a guy are engaged to be married but don’t want to marry each other. They plot to sabotage their own wedding by calling each other names. As soon as their families break off the arrangement, the girl and boy fall in love. Read the review of Love Express to find out what happens next.
Business rating: 0.5/5 star
Cast: Om Puri, Sahil Mehta, Mannat Ravi.
What’s Good: A few comic scenes.
What’s Bad: The unoriginal story; poorly written screenplay; average performances; poor direction.
Verdict: Love Express has nothing to offer by way of entertainment. Flop.
Loo break: Several.
Watch or Not?: Decide for yourself!
Mukta Searchlight Films’ Love Express (UA) is the story of girl and a boy who are engaged to be married, but want to break off their impending marriage as they don’t know each other and also don’t want to get married to one another.
Ashneet (Mannat Ravi), a young girl from Amritsar, Punjab, and Kanav (Sahil Mehta), a boy from London, are engaged to be married by their fathers, who are fast friends. The duo’s parents and Ashneet’s aged grandfather (Om Puri) are very happy with the union. The entire marriage party is travelling by train from Amritsar to Mumbai, where the young couple’s wedding is scheduled.
Ashneet and Kanav are travelling in the same train cabin and have nobody else for company in that cabin. Kanav soon reveals to Ashneet that he is being forced into the marriage. On her part, Ashneet, who loves one Kuljeet (Siddhartha Chaudhary) back in Amritsar, says that she had agreed to the marriage only because of the wishes of her elders. Realising that they both don’t want the marriage, they plot to sabotage it.
They start telling lies about each other to their own parents. The parents initially ignore their complaints, but when Ashneet and Kanav start raising suspicion about each other’s character, their marriage is called off during the train journey itself. Ashneet’s mom, worried about Ashneet’s future, tries to commit suicide by jumping off the train. Even Kanav’s father is heartbroken as he feels that he has been cheated by his best friend, Ashneet’s dad. In all of this, the guests in the marriage party, unaware of the fractured relations between the two prospective in-laws, start gossiping about what is happening. Soon, Ashneet’s paternal grandfather finds out that something is amiss. He makes a few mysterious calls in a bid to set things right.
Even as things get out of hand, Kanav and Ashneet realise their folly after seeing the pain their lies have caused their parents. They also start missing each other’s company. Soon, they confess their love for each other. Kanav even promises Ashneet that he will find a way out of the situation they have landed themselves and their families in.
To everyone’s surprise, Kuljeet (Ashneet’s lover from Amritsar) arrives on board, claiming that Ashneet’s grandfather has decided to marry her to him. What happens next? Are Ashneet and Kanav able to get out of this conundrum they have created for themselves? What about the role Ashneet’s grandfather plays in all of this? The rest of the film answers these questions.
Love Express Review – Script Analysis
The story of Love Express is ordinary and far from novel as similar plots have been the base of many films (most recently, Tanu Weds Manu). The screenplay writers (Gayatri Gil and Divya Nidhi Sharma) have failed to create any drama or many worthwhile comic situations in the narrative. There are a few funny moments when the grandfather tries to flirt with Ashneet’s maternal grandmother, that too, in front of his own wife. The basic setting of the film (a marriage party on board a train) could have provided for many interesting scenarios but the screenplay is riddled with boring exterior shots of the train and inane dance sequences inside it! The lies Kanav and Ashneet resort to to prejudice their family members against each other are so childish that they hardly seem believable. And yet, after a point of time, the parents get so affected that they call off the marriage! Again, why the two youngsters start loving each other is not clear and also their love does not ring true. The climax, where Ashneet and Kanav create melodrama for the sake of their love, is unintentionally hilarious because it is so poorly conceived. Since the love and the fake tension are both, half-hearted, the audience does not pray for the lovers to come together and also does not rejoice when they make an attempt to, in fact, come together after drifting apart. Even the fun and frolic which the family members have in the train, is hardly entertaining or enjoyable. All in all, the screenplay is kiddish, weak and uninteresting.
Moreover, the track of Ashneet and Kanav’s best friends being long-lost lovers (who are reunited on the train) is just too convenient to be believable. Three songs in the film (lyrics by Kumaar and music by Jaidev Kumar) add no value to the narrative. This is a major minus point for a love story. Dialogues are below average.
Business rating: 0.5/5 star
Cast: Om Puri, Sahil Mehta, Mannat Ravi.
What’s Good: A few comic scenes.
What’s Bad: The unoriginal story; poorly written screenplay; average performances; poor direction.
Verdict: Love Express has nothing to offer by way of entertainment. Flop.
Loo break: Several.
Watch or Not?: Decide for yourself!
Mukta Searchlight Films’ Love Express (UA) is the story of girl and a boy who are engaged to be married, but want to break off their impending marriage as they don’t know each other and also don’t want to get married to one another.
Ashneet (Mannat Ravi), a young girl from Amritsar, Punjab, and Kanav (Sahil Mehta), a boy from London, are engaged to be married by their fathers, who are fast friends. The duo’s parents and Ashneet’s aged grandfather (Om Puri) are very happy with the union. The entire marriage party is travelling by train from Amritsar to Mumbai, where the young couple’s wedding is scheduled.
Ashneet and Kanav are travelling in the same train cabin and have nobody else for company in that cabin. Kanav soon reveals to Ashneet that he is being forced into the marriage. On her part, Ashneet, who loves one Kuljeet (Siddhartha Chaudhary) back in Amritsar, says that she had agreed to the marriage only because of the wishes of her elders. Realising that they both don’t want the marriage, they plot to sabotage it.
They start telling lies about each other to their own parents. The parents initially ignore their complaints, but when Ashneet and Kanav start raising suspicion about each other’s character, their marriage is called off during the train journey itself. Ashneet’s mom, worried about Ashneet’s future, tries to commit suicide by jumping off the train. Even Kanav’s father is heartbroken as he feels that he has been cheated by his best friend, Ashneet’s dad. In all of this, the guests in the marriage party, unaware of the fractured relations between the two prospective in-laws, start gossiping about what is happening. Soon, Ashneet’s paternal grandfather finds out that something is amiss. He makes a few mysterious calls in a bid to set things right.
Even as things get out of hand, Kanav and Ashneet realise their folly after seeing the pain their lies have caused their parents. They also start missing each other’s company. Soon, they confess their love for each other. Kanav even promises Ashneet that he will find a way out of the situation they have landed themselves and their families in.
To everyone’s surprise, Kuljeet (Ashneet’s lover from Amritsar) arrives on board, claiming that Ashneet’s grandfather has decided to marry her to him. What happens next? Are Ashneet and Kanav able to get out of this conundrum they have created for themselves? What about the role Ashneet’s grandfather plays in all of this? The rest of the film answers these questions.
Love Express Review – Script Analysis
The story of Love Express is ordinary and far from novel as similar plots have been the base of many films (most recently, Tanu Weds Manu). The screenplay writers (Gayatri Gil and Divya Nidhi Sharma) have failed to create any drama or many worthwhile comic situations in the narrative. There are a few funny moments when the grandfather tries to flirt with Ashneet’s maternal grandmother, that too, in front of his own wife. The basic setting of the film (a marriage party on board a train) could have provided for many interesting scenarios but the screenplay is riddled with boring exterior shots of the train and inane dance sequences inside it! The lies Kanav and Ashneet resort to to prejudice their family members against each other are so childish that they hardly seem believable. And yet, after a point of time, the parents get so affected that they call off the marriage! Again, why the two youngsters start loving each other is not clear and also their love does not ring true. The climax, where Ashneet and Kanav create melodrama for the sake of their love, is unintentionally hilarious because it is so poorly conceived. Since the love and the fake tension are both, half-hearted, the audience does not pray for the lovers to come together and also does not rejoice when they make an attempt to, in fact, come together after drifting apart. Even the fun and frolic which the family members have in the train, is hardly entertaining or enjoyable. All in all, the screenplay is kiddish, weak and uninteresting.
Moreover, the track of Ashneet and Kanav’s best friends being long-lost lovers (who are reunited on the train) is just too convenient to be believable. Three songs in the film (lyrics by Kumaar and music by Jaidev Kumar) add no value to the narrative. This is a major minus point for a love story. Dialogues are below average.
Love Express Trailer
Love Express Review – Star Performances & Direction
Sahil Mehta (as Kanav) and Mannat Ravi (as Ashneet) do ordinary jobs. However, they don’t look like lead players as they are not hero-and-heroine material. Om Puri (as Ashneet’s grandfather) does a fair job in the small role he has to play. Vikas Katyal (as Kanav’s friend), Priyum Galav (as Ashneet’s friend) are so-so.
Anil Mange and Roobie (as Ashneet’s father and mother respectively), Gireesh Sahedhav and Silky Khanna (as Kanav’s father and mother respectively), Siddhartha Chaudhary (as Kuljeet), Daljeet Kaur (as Ashneet’s paternal grandmother) and Alka Mehta (as Ashneet’s maternal grandmother) have done average jobs. Nishi Singh Bhadli (as Ashneet’s maternal aunt), Neeru Chopra (as Savita Maami), Nandinii Sen (as Kanav’s paternal aunt), Chaitanya Chinchlikar (as Chokhani), Rekha Desai (as Rubina) and Kareema (as Rosy) support well.
Sunny Bhambani’s direction is very poor. He has neither been able to extract good performances from the cast nor has he been able to maintain the tenor of the drama. Kabir Lal’s cinematography is average. Yashashwini’s editing is shoddy.
Love Express Review – Verdict
On the whole, Love Express does not entertain at all because as a film, it fails to express anything. The film will prove to be a disaster at the box-office.
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