Love Mocktail

Love Mocktail is a 2020 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed and written by Darling Krishna in his directorial debut. The film was released on 31 January 2020. The film was produced by Krishna and Milana Nagaraj, who also star in the film alongside Amrutha Iyengar. The plot follows the story of Adhi on his quest to find true love.

The film released on 31 January 2020 and received positive reviews. It became one of the most successful film of 2020. In 2022, the movie was remade in Telugu as Gurthunda Seethakalam and in Odia as Gupchup. A sequel titled Love Mocktail 2 released in 2022.

Plot
Adi (Darling Krishna), a software engineer, rescues Aditi (Rachana Indar) from goons. He then agrees to drop her home as he is too going to her hometown Udupi. During the journey Aditi asks Adi about his romantic history. He responds by telling her about his past, from the high school to present.

The film flashes back to Adi's high school years, where he had a crush on a girl from his tuition, Reema (Vibha Kallianpur). His friend approaches her, but she rejects Adi, as her parents had a failed marriage. When he moved on to the engineering college, he met Joshita "Jo" (Amrutha Iyengar). She is from a well-to-do family, and even though she truly loved Adi, she had doubts about his financial ability to provide her with the lifestyle she desired. Determined to quell her doubts, Adi joins an IT company after completing school. Despite this, Jo breaks up with him due to parental pressure and his low income.

Meanwhile Adi meets Nidhima "Nidhi" (Milana Nagaraj), a fellow software employee and a down-to-earth woman, at his workplace. After Adi is left heartbroken by Jo, his friends Vijay and Sushma set him up with Nidhi. Adi and Nidhi formed a happy couple, and Nidhi's warm nature and love changed Adi. After Jo tries to be back with Adi on her birthday, Adi realise his love for Nidhi. Adi and Nidhi get married and lead a happy, peaceful life. They also becomes pregnant. Unfortunately, Nidhi suffers a miscarriage and loses her baby, ultimately being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Nidhi eventually succumbs to the cancer, despite Adi's hopes that she will survive, leaving him devastated.

In the present time, Adi shows Nidhi's grave to Aditi, and the film ends with Adi driving Aditi home.

Cast

 * Darling Krishna as Aditya "Adi", Nidhi's husband
 * Dhanush Pranav as teenage Adi
 * Milana Nagaraj as Nidhima "Nidhi", Adi's wife
 * Amrutha Iyengar as Joshitha "Jo", Adi's former girlfriend
 * Abhilash as Vijay, Sushma's husband
 * Kushi Achar as Sushma, Vijay's wife
 * Rachana Inder as Aditi
 * Geetha Bharathi as Reema, Adi's teenage crush
 * Vibha Kallianpur as teenage Reema
 * Ramakrishna Ganesh as Interviewer
 * Vijeth Suvarna as Interviewer
 * Hitesh Shah as Doctor

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Raghu Dixit, with lyrics by Raghavendra V Kamath and Arun Kumar.

Release
The film was released on 31 January 2020, in Karnataka and other screens in India.

Home media
The film was made available for streaming over Amazon Prime on 8 March 2020. Love Mocktail premiered on television on 29 March, on Star Suvarna.

Remake
The movie is being remade in Telugu starring Tamannaah and Satyadev Kancharana in the lead roles. The production will be led by Kannada director Nagashekar, who will also be co-producing the film with Bhavani Ravi. The film will be titled Gurthunda Seethakalam. The 2022 Odia movie Gupchup was loosely based on this movie.