With Love movie review: Abishan Jeevinth-Anaswara Rajan’s breezy romantic drama that only thrives in its simplicity

With Love plot:

After his sister’s persistence, Sathya (Abishan Jeevinth) meets Monisha (Anaswara Rajan) on a blind date. As they get chatting, the duo realises that they studied at the same school. While Sathya had an unexpressed love for his classmate Anisha (Kavya Anil), Monisha, his junior, had a crush on her classmate Balaji (Sacchin Nachiappan). Monisha comes up with an idea to travel back to their school, find their respective crushes, and confess their feelings before they decide to give a label to their own relationship.

With Love review:

Sathya is a person who would never order black coffee, and even if he did, wouldn’t drink it without adding sugar. Monisha is a girl who would add sugar even to her hot chocolate. Their sweet tooth is not the only thing they have in common, as their past loves get woven into their conversation and take precedence during their date. The rest is a journey the two undertake to reconnect with their first loves and express their unsaid feelings from the past. With that as a one-liner, With Love travels back and forth to show us a journey of second chances, unfulfilled desires, and a romance between a much-popular, extroverted girl and a submissive but animated boy. What starts on a breezy, casual, and fun note slides into a slightly melodramatic, skit-like form. There are slam books, artworks done for love, and even the advent of social media to evoke nostalgia and do some time travelling. But beyond that, the film needed a little more to impress.

Also read: With Love actor Abishan Jeevinth: Never by shy in front of camera is the greatest lesson I have learnt as artiste | EXCLUSIVE

Something interesting about With Love is how it manages to show two individuals like Sathya and Monisha as the same yet different. They are class outliers, recipients of teachers’ wrath, and roadside Romeos (or Juliets) who never got a chance to express their feelings. But Monisha, now a social media influencer, is someone who grabs attention, while Sathya is a man who doesn’t mind being subservient, even if his male ego peeks through at times. There is a lot to like about With Love, especially in the first half, and specifically about Anaswara Rajan’s Monisha. When the story takes her perspective and shows her boisterous-self trying to woo a boy, the film never lets either her femininity or tomboyishness take precedence. It strikes a sweet balance and never attempts to categorise Monisha, which becomes one of the subtle yet standout points in the film.

Also read: With Love actor Anaswara Rajan: There is grief in letting go of every character after the last shot | EXCLUSIVE

But that said, With Love is too conscious of itself, wanting to be politically correct and even stating the obvious rather than simply showing it. Like when Sathya’s sister spells out to him that he must accept Monisha’s decision, be it turning him down or not, or when Sathya corrects that it is his ‘boothi’ and not ‘pasanga boothi’ when Monisha points out his wrongdoing. The film never wants to generalise either gender, and as noble as its intentions are, there isn’t enough meat to chew on when With Love really begins to get serious in its endeavour. When the film moves into the second half, there is a receding interest in understanding why Sathya falls for Monisha and vice versa. Not that revisiting the past hasn’t cleared some air and tied a few knots, but the story that takes shape later tends to fall into familiar emotional basics such as pain, misunderstanding, and drifting apart. For all the uniquely proportioned concept that With Love begins with, its fag end gets loaded with melodrama.

Anaswara is definitely one of the shining stars of With Love, bringing an effortless charm throughout the film. Abishan, who makes his lead acting debut, finds his charm in parts, even as a sense of familiarity rings, reminding one of another fellow director-turned-actor. But it soon wears off when With Love plants small sweet moments between the lead characters, and Sathya begins to show more than just a single variation.

With Love verdict:

With Love is a film that is as casual and breezy as it gets. It has the ingredients of a romantic drama, even if the proportions are a little high or low at times. With Love doesn’t promise big, nor does it want to be inventive. It is a regular, simple, and expected romantic comedy, only that it makes good use of nostalgia, performances, and technical decency to deliver a film that neither underwhelms nor goes out of its way to offer something outstanding.