Speaking about why he wanted to make such a romcom, Mohan said, “I wanted to write something fresh for the Tamil cinema space. Something new in how love stories are treated, with tongue-in-cheek humour. People are yet to figure out how to be perfect in love although it’s an emotion that’s time immemorial. There is no rulebook for it, and that’s why my film’s title is about how people mess up in love.”
Though the top stars of the industry like Ajith and Vijay are now focused on action films, romance dramas and romcoms continue to be popular genres. Apart from Love Today, another Tamil romcom that became a blockbuster this year is Thiruchitrambalam. Directed by Mithran R Jawahar, the film is about a food delivery boy (Dhanush) who is always seeking love, oblivious to the fact that his girl bestie (Nithya Menen) has fallen for him. The film released without much fanfare but made over Rs 100 crore at the box office.
Film historian Theodore Baskaran pointed out that unlike films today where breakups are normalised, love stories in the past revolved around the concept of “Oruvanukku Oruthi” (roughly translated, it means a partner for life), with great emphasis on a woman’s chastity.
“Earlier films were largely patriarchal, completely reinforcing existing prejudices on women, particularly virginity. There were films like that in the early 2000s, too. In Balaji Sakthivel’s tragic romance Kadhal (2004), which is about an intercaste couple that elopes, he goes to great lengths to show that she remains a virgin. Also, if a woman was widowed on screen, she either died or remained a widow till the end,” said Baskaran.
