Review Loveyapa: The Phone-swap test- The new swab test

What would happen to all those romantic movies of 80s and 90s if they were made in this era- Boomers and Millennials often wonder. ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ or ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’ or ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ or any movie where confusion plays the proverbial antagonist. Half of those plots would be solved with a social media click or a simple video call or a photo tagged by a friend. And half of the conflicts would not even arise in the first place.

But then villains never die, they only change their sinister laugh. Gen Z is not spared just because technology has made communication nanosecond-fast and information ready on their thumbs. In fact, they have more plot-points now to challenge their fate. Debates over nepo-kids and remakes aside, Advait Chauhan’s ‘Loveyapa’ raises one such hard-to-ignore new-age question. The fidelity test of a phone! Phone-swapping – yes unlocking the password-patterns before a couple ties the knot.

Can a couple withstand what a partner’s smartphone reveals? Who knows what is hidden inside that sleek, and innocent-looking, shiny friend of the modern century! How harmless and platonic are your partner’s Whatsapp chats with their friends, what secret apps they have, who they send those emojis to, how much of online flirting is cheating, and so on! These, and many other, questions raise their ugly heads for both Baani (Khushi Kapoor) and Gaurav (Junaid Khan) as Baani’s father (Ashutush Rana) puts the condition of phone-swap before assenting to their marriage.

The phone, of course, turns out a Pandora box. Many secrets, past-mistakes, current-indiscretions, and hidden alter-egos unravel as the phones reach each other’s hands and the thread of password is pulled hesitantly. Also, one realises the futility of pattern-locks (don’t ask us why Biometric locks were not on anyone’s phones) in an age where your data is stored on Cloud and where back-up can be restored with some simple jogging in a phone’s settings.  Gaurav’s mother (Grusha Kapoor) also puts the bitter spotlight on the sheer ease of cheating and the abject lack of patience (Again an upshot of phone-addiction) that is haunting today’s relationships. The climax, as expected, happens to dial into the dark side of AI with deepfakes and virality of social media beasts. And the denouement, also as expected, happens to underline the need for trust and unconditional support no matter what the phone says or shows.

But the thunder is rightfully stolen by a parallel track – executed brilliantly with an unusual poise and gravity – by Kiku Sharda. Remind me why not many pick him for such roles where he actually means something more than his body! The track is not so much about fat-shaming but more about the luxury of privacy in today’s era. His part makes you actually think if privacy is a right- fair to be asked? And if it can be preserved unless it’s a two-way street? Even in the most intimate relationships. Even when a partner is not cheating but just needs one’s space – both in the physical and virtual worlds.

In an age where a Tinder-happy generation is comfortable quickly sharing beds but not passwords, these questions are well-timed. Antagonists always have a purpose- whether in the 80s or 90s or 2000s – they make the protagonists think who they really are. Even if ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ was made today and Anjali could see Rahul and Tina’s life on a social media, it would still take a few years and a getaway camp for both to realise if they actually love each other. The plot-points may change, the plot stays. And thickens.