Despite a blueprint in the Tamil original Love Today, writer Sneha Desai on how she had to understand ‘nanoships, sexting and snooping’ to create Loveyapa for Gen Z
Sneha Desai
Why is there a dearth of rom-coms in Bollywood? It’s a question cinephiles have been asking over the past few years. Sneha Desai, the writer of Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor-starrer Loveyapa, too feels the lack of cutesy romances. “Niche concept movies, activism films, and spectacle films have taken precedence. So when this came to me, I jumped at it,” smiles Desai, who adapted the Tamil hit, Love Today (2022), for director Advait Chandan’s latest rom-com. ADVERTISEMENT(From left) Khushi Kapoor and Junaid Khan in LoveyapaRemakes are a deterrent for some creators and writers. But Desai saw immense potential in adapting a story originally set in Chennai to Delhi’s dating scene. She breaks it down, saying, “It’s unfortunate that adapting is seen as equivalent to copying. Adaptation is an art, and you have to do it with precision and understanding. Love Today is a cult film. Going into it, Advait and my approach was, ‘What are we adding to the story?’ The first shift was the milieu change, which changes how relationships play out. The second shift is modern-day dating language. This is a film for Gen Z. The original must have been written in 2020-21. We started two years after that. In the interim, there was a world of difference in how people were dating. Social media evolves every day, and so do the interpersonal dynamics. So, the writing had to be completely different.”A still from Love Today
One of the primary decisions they made was to make their leads imperfect and flawed. “If you look at the films of the 1980s and 1990s, infidelity meant physically stepping out of the boundaries of a marriage. Today, infidelity and cheating are so different. Advait and I worked to understand crushes, affairs, emotional infidelity, nanoships, friends with benefits, and how love with exes is evolving after a relationship is over. Sexting, snooping, and deleting messages are all a part of this generation’s love. Khushi’s character is not a Sati Savitri, and we took that call to explore her agency. Junaid’s character has his issues. This film doesn’t look at our leads as perfect people. I wanted to present this generation’s emotional complexities.”
Desai’s next is another romantic film with Aamir Khan Productions. “But it’s not a rom-com,” says the writer, who previously penned Laapataa Ladies (2024) for the superstar’s banner. She adds, “Aamir sir and his production house empower the written word, which should be the value system. The brilliance of anything great on screen starts with good writing.”
Why is there a dearth of rom-coms in Bollywood? It’s a question cinephiles have been asking over the past few years. Sneha Desai, the writer of Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor-starrer Loveyapa, too feels the lack of cutesy romances. “Niche concept movies, activism films, and spectacle films have taken precedence. So when this came to me, I jumped at it,” smiles Desai, who adapted the Tamil hit, Love Today (2022), for director Advait Chandan’s latest rom-com.
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(From left) Khushi Kapoor and Junaid Khan in Loveyapa
Remakes are a deterrent for some creators and writers. But Desai saw immense potential in adapting a story originally set in Chennai to Delhi’s dating scene. She breaks it down, saying, “It’s unfortunate that adapting is seen as equivalent to copying. Adaptation is an art, and you have to do it with precision and understanding. Love Today is a cult film. Going into it, Advait and my approach was, ‘What are we adding to the story?’ The first shift was the milieu change, which changes how relationships play out. The second shift is modern-day dating language. This is a film for Gen Z. The original must have been written in 2020-21. We started two years after that. In the interim, there was a world of difference in how people were dating. Social media evolves every day, and so do the interpersonal dynamics. So, the writing had to be completely different.”
A still from Love Today
One of the primary decisions they made was to make their leads imperfect and flawed. “If you look at the films of the 1980s and 1990s, infidelity meant physically stepping out of the boundaries of a marriage. Today, infidelity and cheating are so different. Advait and I worked to understand crushes, affairs, emotional infidelity, nanoships, friends with benefits, and how love with exes is evolving after a relationship is over. Sexting, snooping, and deleting messages are all a part of this generation’s love. Khushi’s character is not a Sati Savitri, and we took that call to explore her agency. Junaid’s character has his issues. This film doesn’t look at our leads as perfect people. I wanted to present this generation’s emotional complexities.”
Desai’s next is another romantic film with Aamir Khan Productions. “But it’s not a rom-com,” says the writer, who previously penned Laapataa Ladies (2024) for the superstar’s banner. She adds, “Aamir sir and his production house empower the written word, which should be the value system. The brilliance of anything great on screen starts with good writing.”
