With Love Review: The “Green Flag” Detox Tamil Cinema Desperately Needed
With Love (2026) isn’t just a rom-com; it’s a strategic shift from toxic cinema. We analyze Abishan Jeevinth’s acting debut, the “Ex-Files” plot, and why this Soundarya Rajinikanth production is the comfort watch of the year.
The “Market Correction” of Romance
Let’s talk business for a second. For the last few years, Tamil cinema (and Indian cinema at large) has been obsessed with the “Alpha Male” narrative—screaming lovers, toxic relationships, and intense violence. We saw it in Lover, Animal, and countless clones. The market was saturated with “Red Flags.”
Enter With Love, released today, Feb 6, 2026.
This movie isn’t just a “breezy rom-com”; it is a Strategic Market Correction. Produced by Soundarya Rajinikanth, this film bets big on a counter-trend: The Return of the Green Flag. It’s a calculated move to capture the audience that is exhausted by trauma-dumping on screen. The film targets the “Comfort Cinema” demographic—people who want their heart warmed, not raced.
But here is the twist: The hero, Abishan Jeevinth, isn’t a traditional star. He is the director who gave us the 90-crore blockbuster Tourist Family last year. His pivot from behind the camera to in front of it is a risky “Personal Branding” experiment. Does it work? Or is it just another technician’s vanity project? The answer is more complex than a simple “Hit” or “Flop.”
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The Deep Breakdown: Nostalgia as a Product
If you look closely, With Love is engineered to trigger specific psychological buttons.
- The “Arranged Date” Trope Flip: The movie starts with a classic setup—Sathya (Abishan) and Monisha (Anaswara Rajan) meet for an arranged marriage “blind date.” But instead of the usual awkwardness, the script pulls a “glitch in the matrix”: they realize they are schoolmates (Senior/Junior) with shared history. This instantly converts a “stranger danger” scenario into a “safe nostalgia” zone.
- The “Ex-Files” Road Trip: Here is where the geeky plot details kick in. Instead of falling in love immediately, they decide to help each other find their past crushes (Anisha and Balaji) to get closure. It’s a road trip movie disguised as a romance. Did you notice the “Gamification” of their journey? They are essentially completing side quests (finding the exes) to unlock the main mission (realizing they love each other).
- The “Director-Actor” Paradox: Abishan’s performance is the talk of the town. While he nails the understated, “boy-next-door” charm, some critics point out that in the older portions, his eccentricity feels “performative rather than lived-in”. It’s the classic “Director’s Curse”—he knows exactly how the scene should look, so he sometimes acts the direction rather than feeling the emotion.
- Anaswara Rajan is the MVP: She carries the emotional weight. In a world where female leads often just react to the hero, Monisha has agency. She wants to find her ex not to get back together, but to unpause her life. She is the “User Interface” through which the audience connects to the story.
- The Sean Roldan Factor: The music isn’t just background; it’s the “Narrative Glue.” In a film that relies on silence and awkward pauses, Roldan’s score fills the “Cognitive Load,” telling you how to feel when the actors aren’t speaking.
The Philosophical Shift: The Myth of “Closure”
Why do we obsess over the “One That Got Away”?
With Love fundamentally challenges the modern obsession with Closure. We live in a world of “Ghosting” and “Situationships,” where things end without a period. The characters, Sathya and Monisha, believe that digging up the past will fix their future.
But the “Asli Sach” (Real Truth) the movie whispers is this: Closure is a scam. You don’t need to hear “I’m sorry” or “I loved you” from an ex to move on. The journey of looking for them—and realizing they have moved on—is what actually heals you.
The film subtly critiques our “Main Character Syndrome.” We think our exes are frozen in time, waiting for us. But when Sathya and Monisha find their past loves, they realize life has happened without them. It’s a humbling, slightly dark realization wrapped in a feel-good package: You were just a chapter in their book, not the whole story. And that’s okay.
The Verdict
With Love is a “Slow-Burn Success.”
It won’t blow your mind with spectacle, but it will sit in your chest. It’s the perfect antidote to the high-octane violence of recent months. While the screenplay lacks some “inner scaffolding” and logic (why dig up the past if you are happy?), the chemistry and the “comfort vibe” carry it through.
Business Prediction: It’s a definite Hit in A-centers and multiplexes. The Gen Z and Millennial crowd will eat up the nostalgia.
Question: If you had the chance to go on a road trip with your future spouse to find your ex, would you do it? Or is that a recipe for disaster? Drop your “Takes” in the comments!
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