Actor plays a TV reporter in Mathura whom every girl wants to take home to mamma in Dinesh Vijan’s upcoming romcom
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 2, 2018)

This February, Luv Ranjan’s romcom, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, was the perfect Valentine gift for lovers. A year later, in February-March 2019, ‘Sonu’ Kartik Aaryan is hoping to bring the crowds back to the theatres with another love story, with a generous dose of small town humour. Produced by Dinesh Vijan, Luka Chuppi features Kartik and Kriti Sanon and will roll in August this year.

“Kartik plays the star reporter of a local TV channel in Mathura. We had toyed with the title Mathura Live before settling for a game of hide-and-seek,” shares Dinesh, adding that the story travels from Mathura to Gwalior and Agra.

Kriti plays a Mathura girl who had gone to Delhi to study and now is back in her hometown. “While Kartik is the quintessential good boy every girl wants to take home to mamma, Kriti represents today’s youth who advocate gender equality and have their own ideology,” informs the filmmaker who recently wrapped up another romcom with the actress, Arjun Patiala, also featuring Diljit Dosanjh and Varun Sharma.

Dinesh’s choice of actors was prompted by the fact that while Kriti is originally from Delhi, Kartik is a Gwalior boy. “The dialogues have a touch of the local dialect and being from the region, both are familiar with the setting and the lingo. They also have a crackling chemistry,” he beams.

Dinesh had started his filmmaking journey with the Saif Ali Khan-Deepika Padukone-Diana Penty-starrer Cocktail which was set in the UK but since then has been making films rooted in India, from Irrfan Khan’s Delhi-based social-drama Hindi Medium to the horror-comedy Stree which was filmed in Chanderi. “My films have always been content-centric and real India is in these small towns. That’s where the stories are. And well-told desi stories have a terrific connect with every kind of audience, going by the super success of Hindi Medium not just back home but also in a country like China where Hindi is not even their medium of communication,” he reasons.

Interestingly, the director of Luka Chuppi, Laxman Utekar, was the DoP of Hindi Medium among other films. He has also directed two Marathi films, Tapaal and Lalbaugcha Raja. This will be his Bollywood debut.