#Love-AllReview: Kay Kay Menon's simple sports drama needed better execution
What's the story
Films with simple storylines can be heartwarming and impactful, and can stay with you much after the credits roll because of their genuine, rooted approach. However, when such storylines don't receive tight, taut execution, they easily go haywire to the point of no return. Kay Kay Menon starrer Love-All falls exactly in this category, where every dialogue is predictable and every scene is forseable.
Plot
Film deals with a father and son's connection to badminton
Sudhanshu Sharma-directed sports drama is about ex-ace badminton player Siddharth Sharma, who, as a young adult, is attacked by the opponent's goons a night before a crucial championship's finale. In his adulthood, he develops intense repulsion toward all sports and doesn't let his teenage son Aditya even look at kids playing anything. However, Aditya secretly picks up badminton, and Siddharth, eventually, comes around.
#1
Predictability snaps connect from the first few minutes itself
Love-All's biggest challenge lies in its predictability and how simple it is in its storytelling. One thing leads to the next matter-of-factly—there are next to no tensions or conflicts, and the film hardly does anything to invite us into its world—this is a story you have seen a million times before. Unnecessary songs and repetition of the same storylines make it needlessly long.
#2
Everything is too mechanical, not enough character development
Here and there, there are some flashes of what Love-All could have been instead of what it is—a story of the way a man gets back at the system that wronged him (like Hustle). But, in this father-son story, the son utters selected, unimportant dialogues, and his first one came when 50 minutes had already passed! It's a terribly missed opportunity.
#3
It moves in the same circle repeatedly
Love-All is annoyingly eager to come to the point even before the story settles down, not to mention its in-your-face approach. The point of revelation for Siddharth's son and wife (about his past) should have been impactful, but that's a hard ask in this drama that wants to get done with one scene and quickly move to the next, emotions be damned.
#4
A classic Hindi film villain who was not needed
There is a full-blown villain who's an impediment in Siddharth's badminton journey. However, that looks unnecessary because we have had enough of black leather jacket-clad villains storming on bikes and hurting the hero the night before D-day. What Love-All needed here was a more subtle approach about the interference of politics in sports, and how it can ruthlessly uproot lives.
Positive
Positive: The second half offers great badminton scenes
There are a few nicely choreographed badminton scenes in the second half—this is when Aditya is completely dedicated to his sport and is egged on by his father, too. During these scenes, the film finally elevates and becomes a lot better than its dreary, listless first half, but only well-exected badminton shots cannot be the sole saving grace of the film.
Positive
Points for the way gray-shaded Siddharth has been presented
I liked Siddharth's portrayal, who hates sports with a passion—a passion reserved for those things alone that we once loved fiercely. His badminton racquet, trophies, and medals are stored in a suitcase—a bleak marker of his forgotten dreams and ruptured desires. This is a fate he doesn't want his son to face, so he keeps him under his literal shadow all the time.
Verdict
Bollywood has better sports dramas; can give this a miss
Menon's performance cannot save this all-over-the-place story, and you don't run the risk of missing anything if you give it a miss. It's not loud, cringe, or headache-inducingly deprived of logic, but it doesn't have any engaging factor, and the amateurish, almost forceful dialogues don't help, either. A sports drama that is too simplistic for its own good, Love-All gets 2/5.