Vignesh Shivan’s Love Insurance Company (LIK), with its blend of posts, memes, followers, influencers, app addicts, and trolls, incorporates all the ingredients loved by Gen Z, even offering a ‘cake bake’ (or should I say, ‘unbaked’ idea) for Gen Alpha. The film opens promisingly, but ultimately flounders and misses the bull’s-eye.
Vignesh Shivan draws attention by predicting a psychologically impaired next generation, stemming from poor parenting skills, social media addiction, and the technological revolution. His subtle humor is evident in elements like a cutting-edge multi-specialty hospital, drone drops, the reversal of brain drain through an American pauper, a Cooum cruise, snazzy billboards, and promising developments that still bear traces of our tradition.
However, it’s a Pradeep Ranganathan flick, and one expects laughter 9.0. Pradeep plays the sans-tech sanyasi in love with an influencer, while SJ Surya portrays the billionaire businessman monetizing the crest of human addiction to apps. This concept sounds promising, but flawed delivery makes it an average flick. You feel something’s amiss. Krithi Shetty looks every bit a pathetic version of Barbie and sounds more peevish than pitiable.
Anirudh scores high, and Ravi Varman presents a visual splendour of the future. SJ Surya hits the mark; the man rocks in any role. Seeman, however, sounds monotonous. Kudos to the art director and team for their efforts.
LIK is definitely not a ‘dislike’, but it borders on boring. Yet, with millions following Pradeep, one expects a high impact per post. Still, LIK definitely carries a powerful message of a probable future a decade and a half away. So, get going; it’s definitely a vacation watch. If you have nothing better to do, catch it on OTT.
