Love Bytes: Like your friends' boring Facebook posts, full of status updates which don’t tell the real story
Abhi (Kushal Punjabi) and Ananya (Sukhmani Sadana) have a L.I.V.E I.N R.E.L.A.T.I.O.N.S.H.I.P in the first season of Love Bytes (2015). They are back in season 2 on SonyLiv with a B.R.E.A.K.U.P scenario wherein A.B.H.I I.S W.I.T.H S.O.N.I.A and A.N.A.N.YA I.S W.I.T.H V.I.K.R.A.M.
All of the above is spelt out because each of the 20-plus episodes in season 1, and 10 episodes of season 2, do just that — spell it out, calling it their “love journey”. More like an endless talk journey which will convince you to stay miles away from falling in love.
You see a fight between the couple. Then in every scene that follows, the couple spells it out for you that they have just fought. They eat, they tell you, they shower, they tell you, they make love, they tell you. Ananya gets pregnant, they all end up telling each other. It’s like your friends’ boring Facebook posts: full of status updates which don’t tell the real story.
While season 1 was merciless in subjecting us to just the characters of Abhi and Ananya constantly talking to the camera or to each other (basically repeating the same thing); season 2 adds four characters who are more like fillers who do the spelling out for Abhi and Ananya’s ‘true love’.
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The first episode picks up with a pregnant Ananya whose childhood best friend, Vikram (Ayaz Khan) is around to hold her hand. Of course, he is not happy being friend-zoned and hopes to be more in Ananya’s life. Meanwhile, he toes the line of being the nice guy who is willing to be a father to her baby. Predictably, by now, Abhi has jumped into bed with the hottest girl around — Sonia (Manasi Scott).Why isn’t it the other way around, considering the liberty of not sticking to television formats?
Well, there has to be a way for Abhi and Ananya to meet. So we have Ananya’s friend Gunjan (Shveta Gulati who talks in a Kajol-like baby voice from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai), married to Abhi’s friend, Varun (Manish Goel). The two hold an anniversary party and invite Abhi and Ananya. Don’t start yawning yet. There are nine more episodes to go.
Thankfully each episode barely lasts 10 minutes. One of them has the most childish girly conversations on pregnancy. Apparently, it means not being able to eat samosas among other things. Since the scene is set in a swimming pool, one can admire Ananya’s legs or her Tabu-meets-Sridevi face and ignore Gunjan’s shriek-y Kajol act. Unfortunately, there is not much to stare at, when it comes to the men. Which makes it worse, since their own drunken chatter about bachelor nights is too juvenile to entertain. That leaves us with occasional welcome appearances by Sonia who comes and goes with dramatic flare, dressed in tight tops and long, flowing robes.
The story moves from breakup times to making-up episodes in scenic places full of wood, camp fires and lakes. The main couple and their friends end up holding awkward holiday poses as they go about considering serious R.E.L.A.T.I.O.N.S.H.I.P conversations which state the obvious. For example, Ananya cries in distress to Abhi, “I waited for you, cried for you... and now you are back in my life.”. Gunjan keeps pointing out to Varun how ‘cute’ they look. You settle down to the cuter words on Varun’s T-shirt, instead — “Let’s chase the Sun and be done.”
Indeed, let’s be done with this inane, meaningless and boring relationship yarn which is plain Y.A.W.N.
