Love Mocktail 2 review: Darling Krishna’s Adi is on a quest to find Nidhi

3/5

Story: Two years since he lost his wife Nidhima (Milana Nagaraj) to cancer, Aditya/Adi (Darling Krishna) is yet to come to terms with it. His friends Vijay (Abhilash) and Sushma (Kushi Achar) remain his pillars of strength during these tough times. Determined to get Aadi to move on in life, Vijay gets match-maker Jankana (Sushmitha Gowda) to set him up. But when he finally agrees to get married again, there’s an obstacle. Will Adi find his happily-ever-after?

Review: When I spoke to actor-director-producer Darling Krishna a couple of days ago, he reiterated multiple times that Love Mocktail 2 was as simple tale that could be split in two halves – the first he said was for die-hard fans of the original Love Mocktail , and the second for more discerning viewers to see how the story progresses. And let me tell you, he wasn’t kidding.

Personally, I thought the first half was quite pointless – a supposedly fun flashback of sorts of the events of Love Mocktail. In fact, I walked out of the theatre last night thinking that if I had caught it from the interval onward that would have sufficed. The thing about both Love Mocktail and Love Mocktail 2 is that these are films based on wafer-thin plots. It’s the presentation that clicked with audiences the first time around and Krishna, it seems, is counting on that again.

While the first film was a mostly fun film about his character Aditya/Adi’s quest to find love, in school, college and as a working professional, with a tragic ending, Love Mocktail 2 explores if time can heal the wounds caused by the loss of a loved one and if a new beginning is on the horizon for Adi. Yes, he does get a new beginning, but it’s not what many of you would expect and you will have to watch the film in theatres to find out what and how.

Since there’s not much by way of a story, it makes no sense delving into that and giving away spoilers. So, let’s look at whether the presentation and the characters click this time around. Last night, the movie hall was almost packed and it seemed that a majority of the audience (mind you, this was a paid premiere) enjoyed the film, especially the first half. I thought that the forced humour in a police station with a female constable who sticks out her tongue and winks at her superior officer after everything she says was in bad taste, but hey, everyone around me was rolling around in peels of laughter.

Love Mocktail 2 brings back most of the principal cast from the original film. Vijay, Sushma, Nidhi, Aditi, and Jo are all there, and the film actually doesn’t benefit much from the inclusion of the last two. Aditi (Rachana Inder) gets one terrible scene and Jo’s (Amrutha Iyengar) arc feels forced in the narrative, only to cater to Love Mocktail fans. The stand-out performers are Rachel David as Sihi, who makes her Kannada film debut with Love Mocktail 2 and Shwetha as Renu. Rachel brings the right amount of cute to her character and is the best thing about Love Mocktail 2. But despite all these cast members and a comedy track with Giri Shivanna, this film is from start to finish about Nidhi (Milana). There’s just a wee bit too much of her in Love Mocktail 2. In fact, Krishna had told me that as a next directorial he’d like to make an intense love story starring him and Milana, considering that she got only one half of the movie in Love Mocktail. But haven’t you already done that with Love Mocktail 2, Krishna?

The actor-filmmaker even manages to throw in a few subtle messages about not taking loved ones for granted, realizing the value of someone only after you’ve lost them, the importance of the tireless work put into running a household by a homemaker, etc. There’s a nod to mental health and the need to seek help too, but that isn’t explored well enough.

Verdict: Truth be told, I have mixed feelings about Love Mocktail 2. But in the larger scheme of things it feels that Krishna played safe by incorporating elements that will appeal to various segments of audiences. What worked for me, may not for another and vice versa. And even though I thought that it was only the last 30-odd minutes that pulled the film together, audiences may find elements that appeal to them at various points of the narrative. That’s why, Love Mocktail 2 may just find takers.