100 Days of Love is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy film written and directed by debutant Jenuse Mohamed. The film stars Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen in the lead roles. The film released worldwide on 20 March 2015. It received positive reviews from critics. Dialogues by Duo writers M R Vibin and Suhail Ibrahim The Telugu dubbing rights were bought by Abshishek Pictures, who released the film across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka among several other states on 26 August 2016.
Plot
Balan K. Nair, who calls himself BKN, is a reporter in a famous daily based in Bangalore. After insulting his ex-girlfriend on Facebook in a drunken state, Balan feels like his life is not in sync. He is the "loser" of his family, since his brother Rocky K. Nair; is a successful doctor. He left his parents' house to become a columnist. He lives with his close aid Ummar, who is a foodie and an avid computer gamer. One day, Balan meets Sheela when they both get into a taxi at the same time. Balan sees her and instantly falls in love. As the taxi drives away, Balan sees Sheela's bag lying on the floor. Inside the bag, there is an old camera with photos of certain places and certain people in Bangalore. Balan and Ummer use the pictures as clues to try to find Sheela. Just as Balan begins to lose hope, he meets Sheela at a hospital by chance, where Sheela reveals that she already knows Balan. Apparently, Balan was her bully back when they were in school, and she was also the reason that the whole school ended up hating him and calling him a Loser. He immediately tries to avoid Sheela in the future. However, she keeps meeting him and poses as his girlfriend in his ex-girlfriend's marriage. Due to this, he is avoided from an embarrassing situation and doesn't lose face in front of his elder brother and his ex-girlfriend. He realizes that she is good-natured and they become very good friends. After a series of meetings & sights, at one of the meeting Balan invites Sheela to a candle-light dinner, where all the comical & embarrassing situations happen which in turn closens their bondage. Balan cooks food & hosts a date-like dinner party with restaurant like ambience, to impress Sheela. They start to enjoy the meal, while Balan enthusiastically eats up a lot & also constantly keeps sipping wine until he fills up. Eventually they both begin to talk & Balan starts enquiring Sheela about her future endeavours & there he gets to know some interesting things about her, that she is enjoying life after her studies & also learns about her boyfriend Rahul & her thoughts about marriage & love. Then after the dinner, Balan hands over the lost camera to Sheela, she is delighted & ends up warmly hugging Balan & asks him to join the party that she's attending on the eve of new year. Balan is overwhelmed, he puts on his favourite coat & takes Sheela in his car promising her a memorable new year. After reaching the pub, while getting down the car, Balan seems to be uneasy, he feels like belching as he has eaten a lot & his stomach is heavy, so keeps rubbing his stomach to reduce that uneasy & disgusting feeling. In the meantime Ummar seems to be late, then Balan enquiries about Ummar's presence, while Sheela goes missing & Balan goes in search of her. He is confused & shocked finding her throwing at the corner of a car outside the pub, gazing at her Balan feels sorry for her & confirms if she is ok, but at the same time Balan's uneasy feeling increases & begins to undergo dry heaving & moves away from there. While Sheela comes in search of him, she is astonished to watch him suffer. Balan as already he is uneasy & watching Sheela throw up made him nauseous. So Balan tries to spew forcibly, he keeps pressing his stomach tightly with one of his hands & keeps the other hand on the tree besides & retches. Finally, Balan vomits everything that he ate with difficulty. Later they are seen in a hospital where doctor confirms the reason for their vomiting bouts as "Food Poisoning" & Balan is embarrassed. Then aftermath such disgusting situations, Balan is seen lying on hospital bed & apologizes Sheela, yet she acts reluctant & ignorant. Balan is distraught, suddenly crackers light up outside on the eve of new year, Balan wishes Sheela & waits for her reply. Again at the same time Balan experiences the reflexes of vomiting & keeps heaving. Finally after few moments, Sheela greets him back & then Balan's immediate impetus to choke makes them smile, later the scenario changes & few such comical situations help both of them become yet great freinds & Balan develops a strong bond towards Sheela. Balan helps Sheela to take all the photos of places where her parents fell in love. For the last photo they need to find the old scooter. Balan finds the scooter and they take all the photos and Balan drops Sheela and takes the camera from her and tells her he will edit and give. That night Balan sees Rahul proposing to Sheela. Balan feels upset and lost as he has started loving her again. In the meantime Balan in drunken state comes to Sheelas' house & somehow Sheela saves Balan from falling in the eyes of her parents, but to their faith, next day morning Balan is seen lying on the floor at their house by Sheelas' parents. Later, he is relieved by Sheelas' father & Balan goes on for a coffee with Sheela & Rahul that evening. There he tries to talk to Rahul, but Rahul ends up being extremely possessive and haughty. Balan tries to win Sheela back, but she says she believes in arranged marriages and does not care about love. At the same time, Ummer tells Balan that he must go to the U.S to work with his dad. Balan's life spirals out of control. He begins to drink excessively, and Sheela becomes worried for Balan. On Sheela's parents' 25th anniversary, Balan forgets to bring the photos as this is the gift Sheela was planning to give her parents. Balan reaches on time but Sheela still shouts at him. When the presentation is displayed she realizes that she was included in all the photos along with her parents, which comes as a surprise for her. Later she regrets scolding Balan and goes to apologize a drunken Balan. He tells that it is easy for him to become like Rahul, however he plans to stay "original'. He also tells Sheela that he will come the next morning with the scooter if she was ready to come with him. Next day, Balan plans to go and tells Ummar to give the scooter back but he forgets about what he told the previous night. An excited Sheela comes running out hearing the sound of the scooter expecting Balan but she is disappointed to see only Ummar. They both have a conversation and they head to the railway station where Sheela confesses her love for Balan, and they both live happily ever after.
Cast
Dulquer Salmaan as Balan K. Nair and Rocky K. Nair
The film's trailer released on 17 March 2015. The film released on 20 March 2015.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of 100 Days of Love consists of 4 songs composed by Govind Menon the lyrics of which were written by Rafeeq Ahamed, Santhosh Varma and M.R. Vibin.
Critical response
Nicy V.P. of IB Times called the film "one of the cutest romantic comedy flicks ever made in Malayalam." She rated the film three and half stars out of five and concluded her review saying, "100 Days of Love is a movie which will make you feel good and assure that life is not as complicated as it appears to be." Sreelakshmi Manghat of Desimartini.com rated the film 4 out of 5 and said that the film is "sickly sweet and a different approach to rom-com from Mollywood". She called the film "one of the best releases of 2015" and stated that director Jenuse Mohamed is "definitely a talent to watch out for." Arathy Kanan of Malayala Manorama said, "100 Days of Love is breezy and great to sit through." She also stated that the director packs up "frames replete with references from all genres of movies and music." Veeyen of Nowrunning.com rated the film two out of five and said, "It takes the wine drenched words of Balan, a rain and a whole lot of thinking for Sheela to decide once and for all, as to what she truly wants from life. It takes infinitely lesser time for us to decipher what '100 Days of Love' is all about - a swoonless romance bereft of smiles or sighs." Deepa Soman of The Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 and wrote: "100 Days of Love is a stylish film that is nothing out of the ordinary. What is different is the treatment - humour and novelties - the director brings to table that is clever enough to keep us engaged till the last frame." Pramod Thomas of The New Indian Express said, "It is an old wine which tastes a tad different, and thus watchable." Akhila Menon of Filmibeat.com rated the film two and a half stars and described it as "a very fresh version of so-called cliched love stories." Behindwoods rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and said, "100 Days of Love is a heartwarming tale that is gentle and natural."
