Simple Ranking Post: Which Love Story Type Do You Like Best?

Posted on by

I know, the SRK ranking posts are well-nigh impossible. This is a simple one that came out of the discussions we are having on my earlier post about the DDLJ type of love story. It got me thinking about other kind of love stories and I am honestly curious which people like best.

Contrasting Personalities to Love

This could also be “Hate to Love”, but I don’t think hate is quite what I want. Think about something like DDLJ or Swades or Jab We Met or Jab Harry Met Sejal. They didn’t hate each other, they just didn’t like each other or think they had anything in common and tried to avoid each other. But then circumstances throw them together, they come to understand each other and love slowly blossoms.

Love At First Sight Against the World

The story of a couple that falls in love suddenly and immediately, but then they are separated and have to find each other, convince relatives, etc. etc. The falling in love is very quick, but then the coming together takes a long time. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Magadheera, etc.

He Convinces Her to Love Him

The kind of half-love at first sight option. He falls in love at first sight, and then follows her around, proves his love in various ways, and eventually she is won over. Run, Kedarnath in a gender reversal, Chalte Chalte, loads of other movies.

Friendship to Love

They are close close friends, and then suddenly everything changes and they are in love. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Niram, Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na, Hum-Tum, and so on.

Chemistry Turning Into Love/Arranged Marriage

Kind of a combination of the contrasting personalities and love at first sight. Two people who like each other okay at first glance but don’t really know each other and then slowly get to know each other and fall in love over time. In an arranged marriage situation like in Manmarziyaan, or just in a normal dating/working together kind of situation like 2 States or Fidaa. It’s not love at first sight, because it takes longer than that, but it’s also not dislike at first sight, it’s just sort of “you’re okay” at first sight.

Okay, rank them! You are at the theater and have to buy a ticket to one of 6 romances all playing simultaneously. Which do you go for first?

For me:

Friendship to Love (I like when they really know each other, and THEN fall in love)

Chemistry Turning into Love/Arranged Marriage (such a uniquely Indian genre, the couple who gives it time for love to blossom)

Contrasting Personalities to Love (when done well, this is my favorite, but it is really really hard to do well without going over the top and making you think “this couple could never really work”)

He Convinces Her to Love Him (it’s not always terrible, but this kind of plot is usually a sign that one of the leads will get far more development than the other)

Love At First Sight Against the World (it’s just boring. I want a conflict within the relationship, between the two leads, not them being in love from the start and the conflict being all external)

Okay, what’s your ranking? Which of this options would you always choose first, and which last?

Or, you know, whatever else you feel like talking about related to these 5 definitions. I’m enjoying this little burst of romantic discussion!

27 thoughts on “Simple Ranking Post: Which Love Story Type Do You Like Best?”

  1. My favorite love stories are those where their so much conflict (internal or external) that the couple cannot be physically together by the end…but the love is so “pure” that the bond transcends time and space…the audience knows that they are forever together in spirit…like Mughal-e-Azam, Silsila, Raincoat, Lootera, In the Mood for Love, Lust Caution, Brokeback Mountain…

    I’m strange…I find happy endings too easy…the love must be strong enough to bear the separation!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Wow, that is its own category! Epic romantic tragedy? There must be a German word for this, maybe Claudia can help :). Or a Greek word, this is like every Greek myth, they all end up as stars.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

    • It’s my favourite type too!
      When the lovers fall in love but there is something that keeps them separated (one of them thinks is not worth, or is married, engaged with sister/brother/friend). I always hope for happy ending, even if it’s very rare in this kind of stories.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

        • I haven’t seen Love Aaj Kal, but if it’s only stubborness that keeps them apart I’m not interested.
          I remember when we once talked about romance, you recommended me Khagaaz ke phool because it has this kind of conflict, but I didn’t like it much because the problem wasn’t “real”. He had separated long before he met her, and it was the wife who didn’t want to live with him. There wasn’t a reason for Guru Dutt and Waheeda to split.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply ↓

    • Ugh, I hate those love stories! I can appreciate them when they are done well, they just aren’t my favorite.

      But I don’t include Silsila on that list. By the end, I think the love between Rekha and Amitabh has died, it wasn’t strong enough, they both learned to care about their spouses.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

      • I see your point about Silsila, but in my head Rekha and Amitabh will always love each other…..

        Another favorite movie that sort of fits here is Veer-Zaara…in fact I would have loved it even more if they didn’t get the happy reunion…what if we left knowing that they are both going to remain apart…never meet…but have still dedicated their entire lives to each other…now that’s love!

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply ↓

  2. These won’t be a surprise to you after the SRK love story rankings:

    – Contrasting personalities to love – the fireworks are fun and that moment when it turns into something else is delicious; but yes, requires characters that aren’t annoying.
    – Friendship to love – building a good friendship bond onscreen requires lots of the right kind of character development, you see them being good humans to each other before romance complicates things.
    – Chemistry turning into love / Arranged marriage – the stakes here are really interesting, it has to work out or you’re stuck in an unhappy place for the long term; I think this is why I liked Dum Laga Ke Haisha, the stakes felt real.
    – He convinces her to love him – most romcoms, find myself easily bored by this category, the women are often two-dimensional. (Favorite gender-flipped exception: Bringing Up Baby)
    – Love at first sight against the world – ugh; try harder, screenwriters! Only acceptable in action movies where the romance isn’t really the point.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  3. My favourite kind of romance is , as I already said, is lovers are separated because of some reason.
    Right after that: Contrasting Personalities to Love and Chemistry Turning Into Love/Arranged Marriage.

    “Friends realize they are made for each other” and “Man stalks and convince girl” will be the last options for me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  4. for me

    Contrasting Personalities to Love
    Chemistry Turning Into Love/Arranged Marriage
    Friendship to Love
    I don’t believe in Love at First Sight against the World any more

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Yeah, those top two are popular with all of us it looks like! Indian film has this stereotype of being about ridiculous magical love stories, but what makes us all like it is that it has slow real love stories.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  5. Right! This is definitely easier to rank 🙂 (at least for me 😉 )

    1) love of seemingly opposed characters…coming together through circumstances not chosen by both
    2) arranged marriage/pretended marriage/convenience marriage…it has a touch of 1), but both the partners have agreed.
    3) winning somebody’s heart
    4) friendship turning into love – even if that love isn’t fulfilled (i.e.the friend one loves commits otherwise)
    5) Shreyans’ type of love that transcends the death of one or both…it’s the essence of love that counts
    6) love at first sight (by both???)…and then both against the ‘rest of the world’??? That has to be a well-made story/film otherwise…more likely no than yes

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

    • Yes, the apposed characters and the arranged marriage can overlap. But what I really like are the ones where there is a spark and a liking at the start, and then slowly it grows into more. Not all of a sudden like in love at first sight, but also not so extreme as dislike at the beginning. Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam is a good one for this, they like each other but don’t understand each other at first.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  6. All of these can work for me, if done well and/or I care about the characters. I like best stories about love that turns you upside down and inside out, especially if you have been in a place in your life when you thought you weren’t meant for love, or that you were past love, or whatever. So, Moonstruck, JHMS, Stanley & Iris, KANK. It can be subtle too, like in The Namesake or Piku. But I can go with love at first sight because it’s happened to me a couple of times–or at least deep like/lust at first sight.

    This idea of transformative love is a big reason I loved Zero. Love, lust, and friendship are all accorded equal weights and each can be a force of chaos and distress or joy and productive transformation. Depends a lot on where we are as people, what we think we deserve, and what we decide is important.

    I dislike unconsummated love stories, consummated emotionally or physically. I’m ok with pining and misunderstandings throughout but I want my lovers to fully have each other, even if it’s just for a while. This is why my head-canon for Kal Ho Naa Ho includes a few lovely long weekends for Naina and Aman before he becomes to ill to enjoy them. With Rohit’s tacit understanding, because he’s cool like that, and has sown plenty of his own wild oats, so how could he begrudge Naina some? 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • You should never watch 96. It’s a gorgeous movie, but it is all about the exquisite pain and beauty of the unconsummated love, the incomplete love. And, as we were discussing the comments, it’s a whole genre in Malayalam and Tamil films especially!!!! “they must really love each other, because they never do anything about it”. Speaking of, also don’t watch Ennu Ninte Moideen.

      I’m okay with love at first sight as a narrative trope, so long as it builds from there. Chalte Chalte works for me because he doesn’t propose or anything at first sight. He really wants to take her on a date. And then the date goes really well, and so on and so forth. If it is just “our eyes meet and 5 minutes later we are running off together” that’s just boring.

      On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 9:02 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

      >

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

    • Actually, it would be the same for me…caring for the characters…that would be my “yardstick”, too.
      I equally don’t like to be left without at least a one time “consummated”…
      *chuckle* about your KHNH thoughts 😀

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply ↓

  9. I definetely have thing for friends to love stories (niram, jaane tu ya jaane na, kal ho na ho), Can ya actually recommend any more films that fall under that category ? (and no KKHH I feel like that’s one film where I didn’t like how they carried the best friends to romance plot well.

    Like

    Reply ↓

Leave a reply to Shreyans Goenka Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.