While I am happy with the fact that one more woman has taken up filmmaking in the Malayalam film industry, I am upset over her blunt work.
Love 24x7, which sounds like the tag-line of a sleazy, illegal lodge that offers rooms for one-night-standers, talks about two love stories that aren't love stories, per se. A celebrated TV news anchor (Dilip) falls for an intern (Vimal) half his age and soon love blossoms faster than the intern's transformation into a well-known presenter. A generation ahead are two oldies (Suhasini & Kumar) who have found solace in each other's arms now that their better halves are better off either six feet under or in someone else's arms.
While the romance between the aged couple makes sense, it is the younger ones' that comes out as hackneyed. This romance, which unfolds through the mundane happenings of a regular corporate office (news channel, in this case), is hardly convincing. The build-up was fine, but the path it took to involuntarily reach a point of stagnancy was annoying.
The humor is pretty decent, but still somehow felt like medicine that the film had to consume in regular intervals to stay afloat. Dilip has of course shunned his idiosyncratic slapstick-dependent style, but as a torchbearer, his character fails, more so terribly towards the end. There are also strains of virtues that are polished here and there, mostly along with the oldies' part, that makes for good entertainment value. But, we all have watched Blessy's Pranayam (2011).
If one stops and wonders about the film and its intentions, the words "a cavern" would definitely be found in the conclusion. The film drags towards the end like a flour mill churning out noise pointlessly without any grains to work on.
Cast performance is generally good. Songs are apt for what they are picturised on, and the overall direction is fine. +1 for the unconventional climax, yet it makes and then breaks the whole drama.
BOTTOM LINE: Love 24x7 is the same old romance story that has nothing significant in it other than the sugarcoated idea of love, which it says, like everyone else, is eternal.
VERDICT: 3 stars out of 10. Below average.
Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES
