Debutant director Madhan clearly understands that the best romantic films are not about grand gestures, but about small, heartfelt moments. A nervous glance across a classroom. A name you scribbled on the last page of a notebook. The specific pain of seeing someone every day and never finding the courage to speak. With Love is full of these moments, and they land because the writing treats them with genuine care rather than as a joke or nostalgic bait.

What Madhan achieves structurally is the difference between tone and depth, and he knows that one need not be sacrificed for the other. The opening stretch sounds like a conversation you’d overhear between two strangers in a cafe and find yourself eavesdropping on, easy, fun, full of little human details. But as the film progresses, you realize that Madhan has been quietly laying the emotional foundation all along. By the time the story starts asking harder questions about regret, self-worth, and what it really means to let someone in, you’re already too invested to look away. It’s the kind of slow tonal shift that seems invisible as you watch it, but becomes obvious in retrospect, the mark of a writer who trusts his audience. And speaking of which, the comedy of this film really lands.

The film refuses to make Monisha orbit around Sathya’s emotional arc like a satellite. With Love does something structurally different: it constructs two complete emotional stories and gives them the same narrative space. You understand why Monisha carries the baggage she does, regardless of how it serves Sathya’s story. It gives a new perspective on how love stories should be told.

Abishan Jeevinth, known so far as director of last year’s hit Tourist Family, proves that he can act as well as direct. There is a naturalism to his screen presence that is rare in a debut. He plays Sathya’s vulnerability without seeming played, and there is a breakup scene that confirms that this man has great range. In contrast, Anaswara Rajan is a real firecracker. Bold, expressive and completely comfortable in front of the camera, she brings an energy that the film desperately needs to balance Sathya’s reserved nature. Sean Roldán’s music is the invisible thread that holds the entire film together. Their songs and background music define the emotional temperature of each moment. Shreyaas Krishna’s cinematography envelops the film in warm, golden tones that make Trichy and Chennai They look like places you would like to fall in love with. For a film made with a cast of mostly newcomers, the production quality is truly impressive.

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The first half, while charming, takes its time getting to the actual premise, you are almost in the interval before the real journey begins and some viewers may feel the setup is over the top. There’s also an interesting tension at the heart of the film that Madhan doesn’t fully resolve: Sathya’s insecurity and social awkwardness are framed almost entirely as final traits, when in reality, some of his behavior deserves more scrutiny than the film is willing to give it. The story occasionally lets him off the hook because he’s coded as harmless, which seems like a missed opportunity to say something clearer about the difference between vulnerability and responsibility in relationships.

With Love is the kind of movie that won’t blow you away with its spectacle, but will linger quietly in your chest for days afterward. It’s a movie about looking back at the people who shaped you without realizing it, about the courage it takes to say what you feel, and about the strange and wonderful possibility that the right person could have been there all along, you just weren’t ready to see it yet.

With love movie cast: Abishan Jeevinth, Anaswara Rajan
With love film director: madhan
With love movie rating: 4 stars