User Reviews

Good actors, but too many dull scenes of the lead characters just driving around, walking around and saying nothing. Dialogue is mostly in English, but had a hard time understanding much of it. Loved the rape scene, and how they just sat there staring after the two second consummation process ended. But, wasn't sure what any of this movie was trying to say. It seemed like a pointless window in the pointless lives of a few Indian gay guys. Could have been so much better.....they had the right actors with sufficient talent. Not so much talent with the scriptwriter and director.

I was looking forward to watch this one and I really wanted to like it, but this movie got me really angry. First of all, the whole thing seems pointless, I really didn't get where this came from and where it was heading, what message it was trying to send. The characters are so annoying and childsh, and yeah there's an attempt to give them depth but it fails, makes them seem even more shallow. But now the big problem here is the rape, and not just the rape scene but how the characters acted after this, like if it was in any form or way okay. Nothing happens after it, the victem seems unbothered that he just got raped. If you gonna address something as delicate as rape, you have to do it in a responsible way , you have to make sure you send the right message, and it is not what happens here, the message they were trying to send was not clear at all. They try to make this movie seem like a love story, it is not, and that should've been clear.

I liked it less than I imagined, it captivated me a little, about love, or friendship, the beginning was more troubled and fun, than all the rest, giving the impression that it becomes more intense and less blasé, warmed up too much, or romanticized without romanticism, and lost the stimulus, cooled the cinephile's relationship through the film, even with good hot sex scenes, takes a breath in the final 30 minutes, with the love triangle reunion... Dhruv Ganesh passed away on January 28, 2015, India...

I watched this as i'm both queer and indian so i thought it'd be relatable. unfortunately, it wasn't. i'm pretty sure there were SOME good things about this movie, but the bad things are so terrible that i can't even remember anything i liked about it. here are the worst things:

• the pauses were so long that they were actually boring. and they ruined what could've been intimate scenes AND wasted time that could've been used for some much needed character development.

• the lack of context. i don't know who any of the people they mentioned were (other than the ones that had already been shown in the film). i don't know how jai and sahil knew each other. that made me care about them less.

• they didn't adress much about homophobia in india, which they could've. that's a more riveting-and even more interesting-sort of adversity than that stupid road trip was. also, those guys talking about that kind of stuff in public so openly without repercussions?? what? sure, it's possible, but it kind of paints the wrong picture for viewers who don't know what the social climate in india is often like.

• of course the ONLY sex scene in the movie was practically rape. i'm not just saying it was because others have-i was nauseated by it as i was watching it and had try to block out most of it. sahil was like 'please stop' the entire goddamn time and jai just didn't. and yet afterwards, when jai apologised, sahil acted like it was totally fine. like what the hell? if they really had wanted to put that scene in THAT badly, they at LEAST should have made sure they'd actually talk about it! they at LEAST should've made sahil's reasons for apologising more clear! they at LEAST should have warned me because-for lack of a better word-i was actually triggered!

• don't even get me started on that ending. it is so dissatisfying. i couldn't tell why any of what happened was important to have seen. i hate how all of it was associated with 'love'. also, i hate alex.

Excuse my 2am rant here but I don't understand all these 10 star ratings at all. This is not a movie I would view as "controversial", it's just plain bad. You know nothing about these characters, a minimum about where they went and why they're there, The movie starts and finishes terribly. The movie doesn't care to carry much plot at all really and leaves you guessing and confused for the whole hour and a half. Not to mention the god awful rape scene which makes rape look like a petty and excusable crime. Just because you're gay doesn't mean rape is normal or allowed. The victim was fine with the rapist later and was still in love? what? Terrible writing.

I was pleasantly surprised to come across "Loev" on Netflix. Knowing that homosexuality is not accepted in Indian society, the director and actors were very brave to take on this subject matter.

Seeing the two central characters just hanging out, Sahil trying to impress Jai with a fun, outdoors weekend spent hiking and enjoying nature, while Jai is more interested in distractions like taking business phone calls than spending time with his friend, who he is clearly attracted to, was sad to watch.

I was concerned that the story would end in tragedy with one or both of the characters getting killed, harmed, or jailed. While I wouldn't say it had a happy ending, it was bittersweet.

By the way, the rape scene was difficult to watch, as it should be. I don't think the film brushes over it. I feel like it is handled in a realistic way. Sahil is clearly saying "no" and then when it happens he is in shock. Jai is ashamed of what he did. That's why he tries to cancel their dinner plans and then later chooses to end their relationship, knowing that what he did to Sahil was wrong. While, ideally, we as viewers would want to see Sahil and Jai or Sahil and Alex end up happily every after, what happens in this film is more realistic with Jai leaving and Sahil settling for Alex.

I enjoyed this movie for the most part as a passing in time. However, Jai never seemed to step off his high pedestal and Sahil never understood that he deserves better. By the end, Sahil, who I empathize with so much, is left to accept his place in life. This is not a good message.

The film features a rape scene. The scene is brief, and the subject matter serious. But the brevity of the situation does not register on any character's mind for more than 20 seconds of the film. This was, as pointed out by another user, an incredibly irresponsible depiction of sexual assault. In life, it's very real that one can falsely love one's abuser, without recognizing one's own suffering. This movie seems to say, rape signifies a highly passionate mistake, and we should focus on the passion of the "loev" and not the wreck of passion's fury.

The film had much potential to depict a budding gay relationship in a culture seldom depicted. However, it teases but neglects to tackle the themes of classicism, rape culture, discrimination, and finding happiness.

The screen-write & movie plot was so poor I had to use PhD to guess! First of all, there's no introduction of the characters. Establish a backstory behind the characters at least. Second of all, I thought their road trip is all about reconnecting with old friends but from the beginning it already look fishy... is it telling that Sahil is planning to cheat on his gay partner all along and who was Jay talking to? Is he married?? Does that give Sahil the right to treat his partner like crap because he's already thinking of cheating on him?? OMG! The moral! Are gays naturally behaving like this? Then there's Jai making his pathetic advances, and Sahil is probably guilty so he tried to stop something from happening. So does that mean Gay men are cheap? They are ready to fornicate at the drop of a pin given the right circumstances? Wow I already have trust issues with women, it's even easier with gays! Then, the big question on the last part, why did Jay tell Sahil to stay? Isn't it obvious Sahil isn't following him back to America?? He's just dropping Jay at the airport isn't it? Why did he ask him to stay? Did I miss something? I know Sahil has his options open because he still didn't break up with Alex loverboy yet. So? Why did he have to ask Sahil to stay? Instead of something along the line of "it's never going to work out between us I think we should part ways" Isn't that easier? Unless I missed the part where Sahil asked or Jay offered him to follow him to America. OMG! It's so confusing! I hate watching a movie where I have to use 3 Phds to figure things out! Thai movies are simpler to understand, even other Bollywood movies are so clear with storyline. I pity Alex - as flitty as the character was, at least he's honest and didn't cheat (right?) and he still picks up his "bf" at the airport. Not knowing about his change of heart and he almost betrayed him. The character Sahil deserves to be dumped by everyone and be left to die instead of being given another chances. Such promiscuity.

I was fortunate to see this terrific film at an advanced screening in Los Angeles. I went in expecting a conventional love story. But as its title suggests, writer/director Suds Saria has crafted is an unconventional, moving film beautifully acted by the two terrific leads. I recommend putting it on your list of films to see.

Pointless, Boring, Slow Paced, Rape scene was the worst scene I've watched my entire life and the way they dealt with it. So much potential, yet, 100% of that potential was wasted. JUST DON'T WATCH IT.

I was just confused for the entire 90 minutes. I understood that Sahil and Alex were together only due to knowledge that it was a LGBTQ+ film, however it felt more like roommates than anything, due to the lack of intimacy or even like for one another which made it hard to feel sympathy for either character if neither are likable to start with.

Then we're introduced to Jai with no context of how they know each other in the first place making it difficult to tell whether they were already lovers or just simply friends? I believe the intent was friendship but it was difficult to tell. For starters, they didn't seem to like each other at all which may be a product of culture that I don't understand, however things such as when Sahil made a comment about there being 2 single beds was unclear if they had wanted to share a bed? I'm not really sure what the intent was. The movie told us that Jai was a workaholic which made the part about his mother ((?)It is mentioned in the movie I just don't recall who they were to him) being sick and someone else taking care of her while he is away felt like attempted character development that could have went somewhere but only resulted in a few lines of dialogue near the end. The guitar and dinner scene was sweet and was the first time I really saw them as friends.

Skipping forward quite a bit to the part in which Jai meets Alex confused me even more, for starters, I didn't think Alex and Jai would have ever been working together (Alex made an investment on something?) because from the start of the movie we're lead to assume that Alex doesn't have much money and is irresponsible and then they brought in Junior who didn't seem to serve a single purpose other than to confuse me more simply because I couldn't quite tell whether it was really a joke about them sleeping together.

And now back to the scene everyone hated - the r*pe scene.

Now i'm obviously not going to say that It was a good scene, I don't think referring to any scene with rape to be good, but I do think it was realistic. I was super thrown off when it started due to the lack of character development throughout but after looking through reviews and sort-of piecing together my own plot for it I do think it could have worked (provided the rest of the movie actually created a relationship between the two). They didn't drag the scene on too long and even the reactions after I genuinely do not think were too bad. On paper, of course you wanted Sahil to shout at Jai and stand his ground but that isn't realistic. It would have been out of character for Sahil to do that as he was in love with Jai, so much so that despite knowing full well that it was wrong he was willing to overlook him abusing him if it meant staying with him.

Overall, I understand the intent but there were far too many unnecessary plot points taking up time that could have been used to provide context and development to the story. But I wouldn't recommend it for entertainment.

I applaud everybody who made this movie possible, as it must've taken a lot of courage to release such a progressive indian film...but it troubles me that this movie will be the introduction the Indian population has of lgbt+ love and relationships. I do think it is quite a good movie despite many troubles.

The relationships in this movie are troubling and I found Sahil and Jai's disturbing. Constant bickering, arguing, and no safe and positive physical reconciliation between couples. I know the actors are capable of intimate scenes and kissing, so why don't we see more physical contact between Sahil and Alex? I almost didn't believe the two were even together because it wasn't made obvious enough and Sahil seemed reluctant to kiss or even caress his boyfriend. All the lgbt+ relationships in this film feel off and alien, almost like the feeling you get when you see two stars standing next to eachother in media claiming they're together but the whole thing seems like a publicity stunt because they have no physical closeness that you can see.

I'm not sure if it's because the actors were uncomfortable with more physical scenes than necessary, or if the director was still uncomfortable with the idea or not, but all the gay relationships seemed incomplete or not fully there, if that makes sense, we're told they're together and we see them together, but besides the one scene where Sahil and Alex are dancing and when Alex alludes to them doing sexual things, they really don't scream a couple.

I agree no couple is perfect, but even couples with problems on-screen tend to be more obvious about their relationship. If I hadn't read the bio of the movie before watching I would've thought Sahil was having an argument with a friend or roomate in the beginning it wasn't until Alex joked about getting no kiss before he left that I realized they were together and even then I couldn't tell if that was just a joke between two friends since it was so open-ended and poorly received from Sahil who supposedly really loved Alex.

I would've liked if the movie showed Sahil and Alex more intimately both conversionally and physically just to make it clear, although I understand this may be new to an indian actor or director to handle.

However, if we're going to be progressive I think it's very necessary to go all in. I'm disappointed it seemed to gloss over quite literally "love" when it came to the men and their feelings if that's the title's significance. I also was disturbed that the writer choose a disturbing relationship to make the introduction of lgbt+ relationships to its audience. It was a harmful move, not to mention perpetuates the idea that gays are predators and rough and just r*pists.

We have clearly two very vulnerable scenes (both being one of the few only intimate scenes, which makes them stand out) 1) where Jai tries to force himself on Sahil while they're cuddling, causing Sahil to reject him and 2) one where Jai sexually assaults Sahil not too much later in an attempt to pressure their relationship further.

This scene is the brutalest forcing upon i've ever seen and i've seen a lot of boys' love where this happens. Sahil is literally crying from the moment Jai forces a kiss exclaiming for him to stop and then Jai holds him down forcing himself and stripping Sahil as Sahil repeatedly screams for him not to and then he r*pes him. Notice that this happens after Sahil has made it clear more than once he doesn't want to take any of Jai's advances. But then Jai acts as if Sahil is wrong because he came with him on the trip and is just asking for it basically since they used to be together, regardless of these mixed feelings, I feel like this sends bad misinformed signals about lgbt+ to those watching from India who don't usually have queer representation.

I can't stress enough how harmful this is to introduce an audience whose most likely holding more conservative views to see their prejudice thoughts being confirmed through a lgbt+ movie. This would've been okay if this wasn't one of the first indian lgbt+ films to exist, but being that it is, I would've strayed away from anything that was sexually aggressive and predatory.

And then in the end, we get a kiss scene we hadn't seen before from earlier, way before the assault scene happens, perhaps suggesting Sahil liked Jai enough to accept his affection before, maybe justifying it? But I still think it didn't justify anything and I have to say that it left me feeling strange knowing we never get to know the real conclusion of their feelings.

In addition, maybe it's just a different culture, because I've noticed this in other Indian media but... the humor seems to be made up of constant passive aggressiveness that I wasn't used to at all, sometimes it made me think the characters genuinely were 24/7 annoyed and pissed off at each other and it fell flat in making me laugh so some of the scenes had me wondering if they were truly bickering or just playing around since it seemed to come across as real annoyance. I guess it's similar to how other cultures might be confused by sarcasm or dry humor, if you're not used to it, it can be hard to grasp when its a joke and when it's not.

I'm not including that in my rating of 4/10, but just letting others know that the humor in this may not be what you're expecting and can be awkward to watch if it's not your sense of humor. Sometimes I even cringed especially when Sahil and Jai were play fighting. I rated this 4/10 because I admire the courage to make this movie, but it still has a long way to go to make others truly understand the gay experience in a way that doesn't perpetuate bad stereotypes...this was extremely important in this case since its one of the first of its kind for its country.