Aayush Sharma
Sushrut aka Susu
Overview
Romance blossoms between young Sushrut and Michelle when they meet during the festival of Navratri. When Michelle returns home to the United Kingdom, Sushrut embarks on an adventurous journey through a strange land to win back the woman he loves.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
4 min readA Love Story That Dances, But Doesn’t Quite Sing
I’ll admit it: I went into Loveyatri expecting a Bollywood confection, all garish colors and grand gestures, the kind of film where love is declared in song and sealed with a slow-motion run through a field of marigolds. What I got instead was something messier, more uneven, and—if I’m being honest—more interesting than that. It’s a film that wants to be a celebration of love and culture, but keeps tripping over its own feet, like a dancer who knows the steps but hasn’t quite found the rhythm.
And yet, for all its stumbles, there’s something undeniably alive about it. Maybe that’s because love itself is messy, too.
The story is simple enough: Sushrut (Aayush Sharma), a young man in Gujarat, falls for Michelle (Warina Hussain), a British tourist visiting during Navratri. Their romance blooms over garba dances and stolen glances, but when Michelle returns to the UK, Sushrut follows her, determined to win her back. It’s a classic fish-out-of-water setup, and on paper, it should work.
The clash of cultures, the grand romantic gesture, the journey of self-discovery—these are well-trodden paths in Bollywood, but Loveyatri tries to carve its own way, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
The film’s strongest moments come early, during the Navratri sequences. There’s a real joy in the way director Abhiraj Minawala captures the energy of the festival—the music, the dancing, the sheer exuberance of it all. The camera doesn’t just observe; it participates, sweeping through the crowds like a dancer itself.
For a brief stretch, Loveyatri feels less like a film and more like an invitation to join the celebration. The problem is that once Sushrut leaves India, the film loses much of that energy. The UK sequences feel flat by comparison, as if the film itself is struggling to find its footing in this new setting.
Audience Opinions
Limited evidence
Audience 5.2/10
"A colorful but uneven romantic drama with flashes of charm, held back by a predictable plot and underdeveloped characters."
Vibrant musical numbers and the lead pair's on-screen energy provide moments of entertainment. The story leans on clichéd romantic tropes and the supporting roles lack depth, so it ends up underwhelming, a missed opportunity for a richer narrative.
What viewers praise
- Lively musical sequences The dance numbers and music add energy and visual appeal, and stand out as highlights.
- Lead pair chemistry Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain's on-screen rapport makes the romance engaging.
- Colorful visuals A vibrant aesthetic and festive atmosphere give it feel-good appeal.
Common complaints
- Predictable storyline The plot follows well-worn romantic drama tropes, leaving little room for surprises or originality.
- Weak character development Supporting characters and even the leads lack depth, making it hard to connect with their journeys.
- Uneven pacing Some scenes feel rushed while others drag unnecessarily.
Recommended for
Fans of festive romances Bollywood music fans Fans of lighthearted drama
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsSalman spelled it with a Y and said it was not a typo.
On September 18, 2018, two and a half weeks before release, Salman Khan posted a new poster. Caption: "This is not a spelling mistake." Loveratri had become Loveyatri. India Today and Times Now treated the letter swap as a surrender after Vishwa Hindu Parishad and a Bihar court made the old title expensive. VHP's Alok Kumar had already told reporters in Vadodara that the original name distorted Navratri and that the group would not let the film screen. latestnetflix.com's read is that Salman had spent the Bigg Boss 12 launch defending Loveratri as a beautiful title that did not demean anyone's culture.Then he changed one letter.,,
The FIR still landed. On September 21, Mithanpura police station in Muzaffarpur registered case 359/18 on the order of Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Shailendra Rai, after advocate Sudhir Ojha complained that the title mocked Navratri and that the promos pushed vulgarity. Economic Times named the accused: Salman, lead pair Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain, director Abhiraj Minawala, plus Ram Kapoor and Ronit Roy. Changing the spelling did not close the file. In November 2019 a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice A. M. Khanwilkar said no coercive action would be taken against the producer, noting the Central Board of Film Certification had already cleared the film. A separate complaint in Vadodara was still pending then.,
The launch was a family job. The box office was not.
Aayush is Arpita Khan's husband, which made this a Salman Khan Films debut with the in-laws in the front row. Abhiraj had been Ali Abbas Zafar's assistant on Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai. Niren Bhatt wrote. Vaibhavi Merchant staged the garba. Manish Malhotra, Alvira Khan Agnihotri, and Ashley Rebello did costumes. TMDB logs a 2 hour 20 minute Hindi romance, India date October 5, 2018, Aayush as Sushrut aka Susu, Warina as Manisha aka Michelle. Wikipedia lists it as inspired by the 2006 Telugu film Devadasu. At the trailer launch Salman said Aayush had rejected ten scripts before this one. The official trailer puts Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan in as cops.,,,
Warina's own story was better than the plot. Born in Kabul, she left Afghanistan as a teenager, spent years in India modeling, and told Hindustan Times that landing a Salman production felt surreal. She told Firstpost she found the audition through a contest on the Being in Touch app, with no production house named on the pages. Deccan Chronicle said Salman watched two scenes and picked her, and quoted her saying she had no father and that life without a man in the family made the move harder. In 2025 she resurfaced as Hira Warina, a numerology rename after years off Instagram. The film itself did not give her a second act.,,,
Bollywood Hungama scored it a flop. Opening day about 2 crore nett. Week one 10.25 crore. Worldwide gross 18.14 crore against a reported 32 crore budget. Shubhra Gupta at Indian Express gave it one star and called Sushrut's plan to open a garba school the oldest poor-boy, rich-NRI collision in the book.,,
Chogada did the thing the movie could not.
Lijo George and DJ Chetas rebuilt a Gujarati garba, Darshan Raval and Asees Kaur sang it, and T-Series posted the video on August 14, 2018, still under the old title. Times of India noted it had already sat in Mirchi's Top 20 for weeks before release, a rewrite of the 1979 Suhaag number O Sheronwali. The full video is still circulating past 100 million views. Navratri playlists kept the track after the FIR, after the one-star notices, and after Warina left the internet. The Salman Khan Films trailer from August 6 is the other artifact that survived, 36 million views of dandiya and London. The Y in the title was a legal trim. The song never needed it.,,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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