Lovefully Yours Veda review: A nostalgic journey to college life that offers nothing new

While Classmates and Sarvakalashala have set a benchmark for college movies in Malayalam cinema, Lovefully Yours Veda is the new addition to the league.

Sadly, the movie follows the same-old story based on campus life — the masculine hero is a prominent leader of the student union; the heroine is studious and reluctant towards any political factions; and their friends shield them from negative characters.

An outdated story

Left ideology in Malayalam films has always found a huge fan following among college students.

Films like Oru Mexican Aparatha, Classmates, and Poomaram featured protagonists as leftists who do all heroic acts and impress the people.

Well, it’s no secret that Kerala colleges have Left supremacy which, over the years, the filmmakers have been using as a strategy to market their projects.

Lovefully Yours Veda also follows the same old-fashioned trend. Set in the 90s, the story revolves around Veda (Rajisha Vijayan) and Jeevan (Venkitesh VP).

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Jeevan is the saviour of Sree Varma College (a fictional name) in Thrissur. He does all the fights and evokes applause from his fellow students.

He even dares to stop the college authorities from cutting down trees. He is more like a mellowed-down version of a superhero in a commercial movie.

Apparently, debutant director Praghnesh Sukumaran seems to have put all his efforts to make this film commercially saleable.

No equal screen space for Rajisha

The film’s title itself is connected to Rajisha Vijayan’s character. But, surprisingly, she doesn’t get equal screen space as Venkitesh!

The makers should have come up with new story ideas while dealing with a subject that is being presented decades ago.

The movie is a flashback story from the point of view of Veda who lives alone thinking of her lost love.

A group of college students who are accused of plagiarising her poems visit her and Malu (Anikha Surendran is one of them.

Nostalgia ensured

People in their 30 or early 50s will surely connect to the movie. The campus politics, art festivals, rival gangs, and folk songs make them nostalgic.

Ventikesh as Jeevan has a good screen presence. He makes a good pair with Rajisha Vijayan. This is their second association after Standup.

Sreenath Bhasi’s negative character was safe in his hands. He did similar roles in Bheeshma and a couple of other films.

Anikha is decent enough. Chandunath as Sijoy didn’t have much to do.

The film also looks similar to Pathinettampadi, which is set in Trivandrum, in terms of fight choreography and nostalgic elements.

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Tamil actor-director Gautam Vasudev Menon appears as a trustee of the college where the story happens. But sadly, he also didn’t have much to perform.

Verdict

Scripted by Babu Vailathur, the intent of Lovefully Yours Veda is good. Had the makers thought of a different plot rather than offering the old wine in a new bottle, the film would have made a huge difference.

To sum it up, the movie fails to meet our expectations.

#LovefullyYoursVeda hits screens TODAY! ❤️

Here’s wishing the amazing team phenomenal success! 🥰

➡️ https://t.co/ct6jisjGeZ@sudeepkarakkat @rahulrajt pic.twitter.com/0tDK5oVcBB

— Sony Music South (@SonyMusicSouth) March 3, 2023

(Views expressed are personal.)