Love Per Square Foot

About the film

Love per Square Foot is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Anand Tiwari and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, under his newly established banner RSVP Movies. The film, which stars Vicky Kaushal and Angira Dhar in the lead roles, is about Sanjay and Kareena who try to find a house in Mumbai. They do not have enough money to earn individually, in order to buy a home, so they enter into a marriage of convenience.

Anand Tiwari who wrote the script in 2010, along with Sumeet Vyas, was intended to be made into a dark film, later they chose to make it as a romantic comedy film. The shooting of the film took place across Mumbai, within 50 days, during December 2016 and January 2017, whereas post-production works were completed within three months. Anand Bajpai composed the background score, along with Sohail Sen, while Sohail Sen composing the film's soundtrack. The film's cinematography was handled by Avinash Arun and editing done by Sanyukta Kaza.

Plot

The film revolves around Sanjay Kumar Chaturvedi, an IT engineer, and Kareena D'Souza. They both work in the same bank and dream of having their own home but are held back because of problems in their personal lives. Sanjay's boss, Raashi Khurrana is having an extra-marital affair with him, but refuses to leave her husband, Kashin, while Kareena is betrothed to Samuel and constantly held back from her dream of owning a home, by her mother Blossom. Everything changes when Sanjay finds out about a joint housing scheme, and asks Kareena to apply for the scheme with him. She agrees and the movie portrays various problems they have as they are trying to buy the apartment as an unmarried couple.

Production

During the shooting of Aisha (2010) in Mumbai, Anand Tiwari witnessed a couple fighting in the middle of Carter Road in Mumbai, while he was heading to Bandra in a local train, where the same couple boarded the train and the fight continued in the train and they passionately hugged after that. He eventually stated as "the journey of love between Bandra and Mumbai Central" in an interview later, further adding that: "I always wanted to show relationships as they happen, as opposed to how they are shown in films".

The central idea of the film is whether ‘home’ is more important than ‘house’, whether the virtue of old-world understanding is more important than the more transactional love of today. I wanted to tell the story of today’s India, 60 percent of which is the youth. I wanted to reach the maximum number of people and I approached the story like a Bollywood masala film — there are songs and dances and whatnot.

Anand wrote the script in late 2010, as a dark film initially, with Vikramaditya Motwane, stating that the script is too dark, and it need to make the character likeable. He then discussed with his friends Manav Kaul and Sumeet Vyas, and decided to make it as a romantic comedy film. While shooting for Finding Fanny, he and Sumeet went for a short trip to Goa for 10 days, were Anand wrote the first draft of the film. He narrated the script to producer Ronnie Screwvala, at his office, whom eventually accepted to produce the film, after liking the script. The film marked Screwvala's return to production after three years. Screwvala, the founder of UTV Motion Pictures, left the company in 2014, after Disney India announced its collaboration. It eventually marked its solo production under his banner RSVP Movies.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack album is composed and produced by Sohail Sen, with lyrics for the songs were written by Abhishek Dhusia, Sahir Nawab, Sumeet Suvarna, Anand Tiwari, Gopal Datt, Abhiruchi Chand, and Jamil. The soundtrack features vocals by Benny Dayal, Shivangi Bhayana, Udit Narayan, Rekha Bhardwaj, Altamash Faridi, Abhishek Dhusia, Tarannum Malik, Sahir Nawab, and Sumeet Suvarna. Bhardwaj, also made an appearance in the film, as a classical singer, apart from singing the song "Raaz Apne Dil Ke", which has two versions. The soundtrack album features seven tracks and was released by Zee Music Company on 24 January 2018.

Music critics Jay Palav and Anish Mohanty reviewed about the use of jazz, beatbox, classical, western and orchestral arrangements, and instrumentation in the soundtrack. Palav, praised the use of veteran singers, Udit Narayan, Altamash Faridi and Tarannum Malik, in the soundtrack, adding a verdict: "Sohail’s put up a winning OST, which is relatable, warm and accessible". Mohanty, added the final word "After composing for Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016), he makes a good enough comeback to the film music scene with this film, and one looks forward to see the kind of music he rolls out with his upcoming releases".

Release

Initially scheduled for a theatrical release on 8 September 2017, Love Per Square Foot was pushed to 20 April 2018, due to post-production delays. Anand Tiwari later presented the final cut of the film, to the executives of Netflix headquarters in India, with eventually picking it for a release in their platforms. In November 2017, Netflix officially announced the release on its platform, with Love Per Square Foot becoming the first mainstream production from India to be made available on the streaming site.

Love Per Square Foot was preponed from its original scheduled date (20 April 2018), to 14 February 2018, in order to coincide the Valentine's Day. The film's official trailer was premiered on 18 January 2018. It was released as the first Netflix Indian original film in more than 190 countries on 14 February. The film was showcased at Beijing International Film Festival on 26 April 2019.

Key details