Love You Abhi
Kannada (Jio Cinemas)
Director: Kali Velayutham
Cast: Vikram Ravichandran, Aditi Prabhudeva, Ravishankar, Srinath, Sundar Raj, Vinaya Prasad
Rating: 2.5/5
In times when Kannada webseries are yet to make a mark, 'Love You Abhi' is a decent attempt. With Vikram Ravichandran and Aditi Prabhudeva in the lead — the seven-episodes series tells the story of an obsessed lover.
Shiva (played by Vikram Ravichandran) falls in love with Abhi (played by Aditi Prabhudeva) as a child. He obsesses on her over time leading to unimaginable incidents. He goes to extreme lengths in pursuing her, ultimately leading to a series of deaths.
Shiva acts as a saviour to a section of people, and his extreme obsessive behaviour makes him a villain to people he loves the most. This contrasting characterisation that becomes too evident as the series progresses, could make the audience scratch their heads!
The suspense thriller with the female protagonist dressed in a sari and decked up all the time, even when at home, makes it look like a typical Indian television soap opera.
Both Vikram Ravichandran and Aditi Prabhudeva give out lousy performances while Ravishankar, Srinath, Sundar Raj and Vinaya Prasad share great screen presence with their top notch acting.
In the final confrontation, Shiva claims he's the only person who has loved Abhi limitlessly, and that even her parents may have not loved her as much as he has. The narrative, towards the end, in some way glorifies the character being a psychopath.
The series could've been a two-hour film but the makers have stretched it like elastic, by adding overly suspense elements.