Love Me

Love Me, also marketed as Love Me If You Dare, is a 2024 Telugu romantic horror thriller written and directed by Arun Bhimavarapu and produced by Dil Raju Productions. Ashish Reddy and Vaishnavi Chaitanya play the leads, and M. M. Keeravani composed the songs and score. It was released in cinemas on 25 May 2024.

What the story is about

Arjun is a daredevil YouTuber who investigates unsolved mysteries and takes on challenges others avoid. He lives with his childhood friend Pratap, who, hunting for content of his own, asks his girlfriend Priya to help trace a girl from their village’s past: the child found in a bungalow where, every night for years, an alarm rang at 8pm and crying could be heard, until the day a woman walked out of it on fire.

Priya’s search leads to the story of Divyavathi, said to haunt an abandoned apartment, and a ghost rumoured to kill anyone who walks in. Arjun, overhearing, decides to go there himself. Instead of fleeing, he starts courting the presence in the apartment, bringing gifts and asking it out without ever trying to look at her. From there the film winds through missing women, swapped identities and a string of twists.

Cast and crew

• Ashish Reddy as Arjun
• Vaishnavi Chaitanya as Priya
• Ravi Krishna as Pratap
• Simran Choudhary as Pinky
• Rajiv Kanakala as the builder
• Ruhani Sharma, Divi Vadthya and Daksha Nagarkar in cameo appearances

Writer and director: Arun Bhimavarapu. Production: Dil Raju Productions. Music and score: M. M. Keeravani. Runtime: 128 minutes.

Making the film

The film was announced and went into production in late 2023, with Vaishnavi Chaitanya confirmed as the female lead that December. The motion poster came out in February 2024 and filming wrapped in March 2024. The first song, “Raavaali Raa”, was released on 30 March 2024.

Reviews

Critics were not won over. Sasidhar Adivi of Times Now found the screenplay “overdone and fluffy” and the film a letdown, and NTV gave the same rating, criticising the screenplay and pace. 10TV was a little warmer, with a mixed review and 2.75 out of 5. We have not found box-office figures from a named outlet.

Where to watch Love Me

Love Me premiered on Aha on 17 June 2024, according to Wikipedia. We have not checked a current Aha listing, so availability may differ.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Love Me and the reviews it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.