'Love Per Square Foot' review: Not rising above the plot

Movie: Love Per Square Foot

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Angira Dhar, Raghubir Yadav, Ratna Pathak Shah, Supriya Pathak, Kunaal Roy Kapur

Direction: Anand Tiwari

Duration: 2 hours 13 minutes

Language: Hindi and English

Critic's Ratings: **1/2

Story:

The paucity of space in Mumbai and the expense involved in purchasing a house has given birth to many films. Love Per Square Foot is the latest, that explores what happens when the protagonists’ biggest dream in life is to own a 550 square feet house of their own in the city of dreams. But in acquiring the house, will they lose what matters most in life?

Review:

Sanjay Chaturvedi (Vicky Kaushal) works as a software engineer, and lives with his homemaker mother (Supriya Pathak) and father (Raghubir Yadav), a soon-to-retire railway announcer. Karina D’Souza (Angira Dhar) works in the bank loan department, lives with her mother (Ratna Pathak Shah) in a house that threatens to collapse on their head and is engaged to Sam Masquita (Kunaal Roy Kapur). Both, Sanjay and Karina, want to live in a house they can call their own. Time literally slows down as he catches sight of her at a party. Despite her being engaged to another man and him having an affair with his boss (who is also engaged to another man), there is an instant attraction.

Circumstances lead them into applying for a joint loan for a house, and later, falling in love with each other. However, it isn’t smooth sailing for any of them, with her having to break off her engagement and him trying to get out of his affair with his clingy ex-girlfriend. Not to forget, the religion angle, which is dealt with in a delightful sequence between the two set of parents. The plot takes a predictable turn towards the end when you know that all’s going to end well after all.

Vicky and Angira may look a bit mismatched in the beginning but you cannot deny the chemistry between them. The filmmaker gets his casting right with the two sisters, Ratna and Supriya, sharing screen space after a long gap. You just wish they had more scenes together. Raghubir Yadav is spot on as usual, and it’s his performance in the retirement party scene that will stay on with you. However, the overall feel is that of a web series that has been shrunk to fit a film’s duration. Directed by stage personality Anand Tiwari, and written by Asif Ali Beg, Sumeet Vyas and Anand himself, the Netflix movie, while having some standout scenes and good performances by all the actors, never rises above its plot and doesn’t offer anything new to the audience.