#Love trailer: Arjun Das and Aishwarya Lekshmi run rival dating apps

Chemistry or compatibility? That is the argument at the centre of #Love, the Netflix series starring Arjun Das and Aishwarya Lekshmi, and it is the one question nobody at its trailer launch in Chennai could quite settle. Balaji Mohan directs, Soundarya Rajinikanth is showrunner and producer, and Netflix is billing it as its first Tamil romantic drama series. It starts streaming on October 2.

The setup is a neat one. Tara and Matthew run FOUND and Find My Bae, two rival dating apps whose entire business is finding the right partner for everyone else, while neither of them can find one for themselves. One believes love is about compatibility; the other swears by chemistry. They set out to prove the other wrong, and love, predictably, wrecks the plan. Monika Shergill, Netflix India’s vice president of content, described it as a modern, playful take on romance, and said the pairing of Arjun and Aishwarya is the show’s biggest strength.

Arjun, already in business with the streamer through Con City, was asked whether he would be friends with Matthew in real life. “Maybe, to talk about his adventures, the mountain climbing and all that. At the same time, there are a few things about him I might not like. What drew me most to Matthew was his emotions, and the vulnerable side he shows in the story.”

Aishwarya, whose last big-screen outing was Gatta Kusthi 2, sounded like she barely had to act. “Playing Tara was freeing and a lot of fun. You could compare me to her 80 percent. Many times I was not acting at all, I was just being her. She is not far from me, the way some of my other characters have been.” She had also been waiting for a romance, and for a chance to work with Arjun: the two were meant to do a film together earlier, which fell through. “I was upset when it did not happen. But I am so happy #Love came along. Sometimes good things take time.”

Then came the show’s own question, put to both of them. In real life, Arjun sided with compatibility: chemistry might last a while, he said, but compatibility is what keeps a relationship going after that. Aishwarya went the other way. “Chemistry comes first, and it leads the relationship towards compatibility.” Asked what makes a good kiss, they finally agreed. It takes both.

Balaji Mohan, who has been telling love stories since his debut Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi, before going on to Vaayai Moodi Pesavum and the Maari films, admitted he is no expert. “Love is something nobody in the world fully understands. That is why I keep telling stories about it. I do not talk about love because I know everything about it. Honestly, I do not know anything about it either. Like everyone else, I am still trying to figure it out.” He is also careful, he said, that people do not walk away from his films expecting real life to play out the same way. “I try to keep my stories as close to real life as possible, while still letting the audience dream a little and see themselves in it.”

Soundarya, taking on her first Netflix original as showrunner, got the biggest laugh of the evening while thanking Monika. “I am not easily impressed by many things, because I am Thalaivar’s daughter. When you live with someone everyone looks up to, the habit of being in awe of others fades. But Monika truly impressed me.” She was frank about what the job demanded. Borrowing Spider-Man’s line about great power and great responsibility, she said carrying a story from beginning to end had been hers to own. “I had to make a lot of tough decisions along the way. I learned to stand by them, and also to change them when it was needed. The biggest lesson was that even when a decision is hard, it has to be made at the right time.”

Nirmal Williams writes the series, with Sharadha Subramanian and Shwetha Chakravarthy as co-writers. Sean Roldan composes the music, and May6 Entertainment Factory produces. #Love streams on Netflix from October 2.