Love Storiyaan (docu-series) review: Heart-warming tales of love

Love stories always make for a great watch, irrespective of their format. They make your heart skip even if you are not a romantic, at heart.

The basis of Love Storiyaan are the stories featured in India Love Project, an initiative by journalists Niloufer Venkatraman, Priya Ramani, and Samar Halarnkar.

Through the six episodes, directors Hardik Mehta, Vivek Soni, and Collin D’ Cuha, among others, touch upon various social and political constructs that hinder love.

The Love Storiyaan

The first story, “An Unsuitable Girl” (an interesting spin on Karan Johar’s “An Unsuitable Boy”), focuses on a Malayali man and a 40-year-old Punjab writer who is also a divorcee.

Hardik Mehta directed it.

The second story, “Love in the Air”, is about Shillong-based radio jockeys Nicholas J Kharnami and Rajan K Chettri.

The last four stories are more political in nature.

For example, Shazia Iqbal’s “Homecoming” is about a Kolkata-based couple who fell in love at the height of the Bangladesh Liberation Movement in 1971.

The fourth is “Raah Sangharsh Ki”, directed by Akshat Indikar. The political aspect comes out even more strongly in this tale of an inter-caste marriage between Brahmin IIT graduate Rahul Banerjee and Dalit girl Subhadra Khaperde.

They meet at the demonstration of Narmada Bachao Andolan.

The fifth one is “Faasley”. Director Archana Phadke focuses on the love between a Malayali woman and an Afghan man. They meet at a college in Russia and eventually end up together.

A situation arises when the woman moves to war-torn Afghanistan. This short talks about numerous challenges; one of the difficulties involves making ends meet in a war-torn Afghanistan.

Lastly, there is “Love Beyond Labels”. It is about the first transgender couple who got married in West Bengal.

Director Collin D’Cuha showcases their journey from seeking help to creating history.

stories where love is the key ingredient of everything, stories that make us who we are! 💙#LoveStoriyaanOnPrime, watch now pic.twitter.com/nMYVULH5Nn

— prime video IN (@PrimeVideoIN) February 14, 2024

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Analysis

There is a template that these six episodes follow.

We begin with the couples in the present day. From here, it is about how they met and fell in love.

At times, there are old pictures, videos, and dramatised recreations. There is nothing per se wrong with this template, but the recreations do not have the same impact as the real-life couples talking about their love and the hurdles they overcame.

Keeping aside this aspect and the shaky staging at places, the directors have done a brilliant job of capturing the emotional core. They are helped by heartfelt narrations.

All the stories have their high points. For example, the first one has an adorable Malayali man. His scenes of trying to build a connection with the kids of his partner have a lot of warmth.

Helping him in this relationship are two dogs who play an important role. Dog lovers are going to have a feast.

My favourite segment of this docu-series is “Raah Sangharsh Ki”.

The love story between a Brahmin man and a Dalit activist has some hard-hitting moments. The scenes of Subhadra, in particular, stand out; like the one where she talks about casteism.

There are some strong moments of sarcastic humour too that raise chuckles. The viewers clearly understand that Akshat Indikar is in awe of Subhadra’s fearlessness.

In “Faasley”, Archana Phadke does a good job of recreating the war-torn Afghanistan.

The narration of falling in love with the common interest of Bollywood movies brings a smile to the viewer’s face.

There are also some bits where the woman talks about the large Afghan family of her husband and how they jelled with her, thus making her overcome the initial awkwardness.

Collin D’ Cunha’s “Love Beyond Labels” is a fitting end to this web show.

The director intermingles the concepts of sexuality and gender with ease. This is one of my other favourite segments.

The couple coming to terms with their bodies have some impactful dialogues.

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Verdict

Love Storiyaan is a treat for those who like intimate love stories. This celebration of love should be on your watchlist. The docu-series is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

(Views expressed here are personal.)