Loveyatri: A Journey of Love (Hindi pronunciation:[ləʋjaːt̪ɾɪ]) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film produced by Salman Khan under Salman Khan Films and directed by debutante Abhiraj K. Minawala. It is inspired by the 2006 Telugu film Devadasu. It stars newcomers Aayush Sharma, and Warina Hussain in the lead roles and was released on 5 October 2018.
Plot
The story starts with Sushrut "Susu" Pandya who meets Manisha "Michelle" Patel during a Garba festival. Susu is a local guy from a middle class household in Gujarat who wishes to open a Garba academy while Michelle is a bright NRI student from a wealthy family. They meet when she comes to Vadodara. Susu falls in love at first sight and wishes to meet Michelle again. During one of the Garba nights, Susu stays around Michelle and she accidentally hits dandiya on his eye. He fakes an injury with his friends Negative and Rocket and his uncle playing along. She calls him to apologize. Susu acts as if he was deeply injured.
As time passes Susu and Michelle spend time together and they become friends. Kushboo (Rocket's love interest) tells Susu that he shouldn't play around with Michelle's feelings and that she will reveal the truth about his fake injury. Susu, fearing he will lose Michelle once she finds out about his lie, accidentally reveals the truth himself to her when he goes to find out why she hasn't returned his calls or messages. Michelle says she already understood that the injury was fake as he goofed up and bandaged the incorrect side of his forehead. Also, he kept the bandage just for a day then forgot to put it back the next day. They laugh and start developing feelings for each other. One night they open up to each other revealing Michelle's dream to make her late mother's wishes come true. That same evening Michelle's father, Sam, looks for her and Kushboo reveals the truth about Michelle's whereabouts and Susu. Sam decides to take matters into his own hands and sets up a meeting with Susu only to brainwash him against Michelle and reveals she has a boyfriend named Chris back in London.
Meanwhile, Michelle finds out about her graduation and treats Susu, Rocket and Negative to pizza at an expensive restaurant. Whilst there, Susu vents his anger at her and insults her for leading him on. Michelle, not understanding and clearly upset, leaves the restaurant. She goes back to London with Sam. Susu, however, is unable to bear the separation and after his uncle convinces him, he rushes to meet Michelle with Negative and Rocket, but they have an accident and miss their chance as the flight takes off.
After some time, Susu manages to arrive in London with his uncle and searches for Michelle. He meets her at the soup kitchen she had told him about before. Susu and Michelle hang out and she introduces him to her friends, Chris being one of them. As he spends time with them he is annoyed by Chris and Michelle's closeness and doesn't enjoy the London lifestyle Michelle leads. At the same time Sam discovers that Susu is in London and is always around Michelle. He tries to keep them apart by confronting Susu again. This time he takes a cricket bat and damages his car and forces Susu's hand around his neck in order to frame him. The police arrive, Susu is arrested and taken away. At the police station, he meets two Gujrati police officers and tells them his story. They agree to help Susu unite with Michelle.
Michelle tries to reach Susu to no avail and goes to see his uncle. His uncle reveals that Susu has been missing and reveals what Sam had done back in India. She confronts him and lashes out at home for his actions. Eventually Susu enters the park in a jeep and both Susu and Michelle play Garba together. Michelle reveals to Susu that her "boyfriend" Chris is actually gay. Sam realises his mistake and joins the couple, blessing them for a happy life ahead.
Michelle eventually goes back to India and successfully fulfills her mother's dream whilst Susu has finally opened up his Garba Academy. In the end they both live happily after.
Cast
Aayush Sharma as Sushrut "Susu" Pandya, Michelle's love interest and later husband
Warina Hussain as Manisha "Michelle" Patel, Sushrut's love interest and later wife
Naisha Khanna as Little Michelle
Ronit Roy as Sameer "Sam" Patel, Michelle's father
Kyle Smith as Chris Cost, Michelle's friend in London
Caroline Wilde as Kate Mathew, Michelle's friend in London
Tordan Bhai as Chaiwala in Vadodara
Production
Salman Khan announced the film in 2017. He also confirmed via Twitter that the film would star his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma and would be directed by Abhiraj Minawala.[5] Abhiraj was Ali Abbas Zafar's assistant director for Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai. In February 2018, Salman announced that Warina Hussain would be the leading lady of the film.[6] The film is the Bollywood debut for both Aayush and Warina. Loveyatri is a romantic drama set against the backdrop of Navratri in Gujarat.[7] Aayush stars as a Garba teacher from Baroda, who falls in love with an NRI, played by Warina, when she visits the town during the festival.[8]
The film was shot in two schedules. Several scenes were also shot in Vadodara in March 2018. This was followed by the second half starting in April 2018 in London. Principal photography completed in June 2018.[9]
A minor dispute emerged during the film's promotions, in late September 2018, regarding the film's name.[12] It was originally titled Loveratri, which is a play on the words "love" and "Navratri" (a religious 9-day celebration of the Hindu goddess Durga). However, the religious organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad felt that the title distorted the meaning of the festival and filed a complaint against the producers. A court in Bihar asked the police to file a First Information Report against the actor Salman Khan and the rest of the film's cast. On 18 September 2018, Khan announced on his Instagram page that the film's title would be changed from Loveratri to Loveyatri, with "yatri" meaning "traveller", thus changing the overall meaning approximately to "the journey of love".[13]
However, the following day a Gujarat-based Hindu organization, Sanatan Foundation, legally filed a Public Interest Litigation against the new name, claiming that it still sounded too similar to "Navratri". They sought another name change (possibly to "Love Ki Yatra"), changing the film's content, or to ban the film entirely for "hurting the sentiments of Hindus".[14]
On 27 September 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the film's producers, stating that "no coercive action is to be taken in any part of the country against Salman Khan Ventures Pvt ltd."[15] The ruling was submitted considering the film's status as having been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), and yet had an FIR registered in Bihar against it and a criminal complaint pending in Vadodara, Gujarat. The statement concluded by asserting that any further complaints, particularly those related to the contents or name of the film, would not be entertained.[16]
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