Tamil romantic drama Lover is now streaming on this OTT platform

 Tamil romantic

Basic Info

Title: Lover

Language: Tamil

Release date: 9 February 2024.

Director & writer: Prabhuram Vyas (his directorial debut)

Lead cast: K. Manikandan as Arun; Sri Gouri Priya as Divya.

Supporting cast: Kanna Ravi (as Madan), Harish Kumar (as Suhail), plus actors playing Arun’s and Divya’s families/friends.

Music: Sean Roldan.

Cinematography: Shreyaas Krishna.

Runtime: ~2h 25m.

The film centres on a couple, Arun and Divya, who have been together for six years. Their relationship begins sweetly, but over time it starts to unravel due to misunderstandings, possessiveness, insecurity and changing life circumstances

Divya (IT employee) looks back at how she and Arun fell in love.

Early in the film: Divya lies about her whereabouts (to Arun) and he discovers it via social media — this triggers conflict.

Arun is unemployed, drinking, living with his father (who has an extramarital affair) and aging mother — his personal 

Divya’s career is moving forward; Arun’s stagnates. His insecurities and possessiveness grow.

They try to patch things up (e.g., a trip to Gokarna) but their perceptions of love, commitment and trust diverge.

Eventually, Divya realises she cannot keep staying in a relationship that suffocates her. Arun undergoes self-change (quitting alcohol, starting a café) and we see him after two years running a designer-café, meeting Divya again, changed.

Reception & Critique

• Critics generally gave positive to mixed reviews: appreciated the rawness and realistic tone, though some noted pacing issues in the second half. 

• Example: The Hindu said the director “does a fine job of humanising the characters… has a lot going for it”. 

• Times Now rated ~3.5/5 and said the film “holds your attention” even if it doesn’t make you laugh throughout. Some criticism: the narrative gets a bit stagnant in second half; Divya’s character motivations weren’t always explored thoroughly. 

• The film resonated with many in the audience who felt it reflected real-life relationship struggles:

  “Arun from Lover was the textbook definition of toxic.” 
  “As a girl, I felt like someone took my life story and made this film.”