Love Marriage

The core plot of Shanmuga Priyan’s Love Marriage surely deserved a better film. Like Sooraj Barjatya’s Vivah (2006), Love Marriage too is written around the various stages between engagement, marriage and the relationships that form or get broken along the way. The engagement is said to take place between Ram (Vikram Prabhu) and Ambika (Sushmitha Bhat), and we get the feeling that they’re being forced to get married, just hours after they first meet each other. From a distance, it appears to be a film that romanticises the concept of an arranged marriage. In one place, we’re told that both Ram and Ambika belong to different castes, but their getting together isn’t an issue for their elders because they both belong to similar class groups in the hierarchy. However, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an entirely smooth ride for Ram and Ambika.

When Indian cinema is dominated by action dramas with a newfound love for extreme violence and gore, there’s always something soothing about heartwarming dramas. Be it a simple love story or a family drama or a comedy drama, they remind you of the good old times. Director Shanmuga Priyan’s ‘Love Marriage’, a remake of the Telugu film, ‘Ashoka Vanmulo Arjuna Kalyanam’, has all the elements to be that cutesy film that will leave a smile on your face. Did it succeed in its mission? Let’s find out! Ramachandran (Vikram Prabhu) is a 33-year-old bachelor who is waiting to get married. A thorough gentleman, the only progressive man in a family of regressive people, goes through arranged marriage. He, along with his family and extended family, travels to a different town to meet a potential bride, which is followed by his engagement. One meeting is all it takes for Ram to get engaged to Ambika (Sushmitha Bhat) old-school style.

The moment we commodified weddings and started calling it the marriage ‘market’, many brides and grooms became products that came with a selling price, a buying price, and unfortunately, an expiry date too. They are depreciating assets, and it is one such asset that is the protagonist in director Shanmuga Priyan’s debut film, Love Marriage, a rather faithful remake of Vishwak Sen’s Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam. Ramachandran (Vikram Prabhu) is in his early thirties and is already considered to be past his sell-by date. He is part of a misogynistic and casteist family, which has relaxed its rules since they haven’t found the right suitor within their caste and class. That is the scheme of things in many a family in the arranged marriage setup. And after multiple rejections due to his age, greying hair, rumours of balding, and his profession, Ramachandran’s family decides to travel far away from home and get engaged to Ambika (Sushmitha Bhat), who is from a different caste.