Darling Krishna in ‘Love Mocktail 3’.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Love Mocktail 3, a mid-budget Kannada film, has withstood the Dhurandhar: The Revengestorm. Even as movie buffs were decoding “peak detailing” by director Aditya Dhar in the Hindi espionage action drama, the third instalment of the Love Mocktail franchise quietly completed a terrific opening weekend at the Karnataka box office.
Starring and directed by Darling Krishna, who produced the movie with his actor-wife Milana Nagaraj, the movie jumped onto the date left vacant by Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups. The Yash starrer moved from its original release date of March 19, 2026, thereby avoiding a clash against the sequel of Dhurandhar.
Krishna and Milana saw the development as an opportunity. Distributed by KVN Productions, the mighty banner behind Toxic and the controversial Jana Nayaganstarring Vijay, Love Mocktail 3 was assured of a good screen count to start with.
In the run-up to the release, Krishna and Milana faced the challenge of proving their detractors wrong. Critics of the third part felt the celebrity couple was milking the hit franchise by producing a third film. However, the duo has silenced those who felt the third instalment wasn’t warranted. The biggest response for Love Mocktail 3 has been from the family crowd. The film’s success has once again reignited the debate over the importance of catering to the family audience in the Kannada film industry.
“My film was released on Ugadi, and families wouldn’t prefer to watch something violent and gory,” Krishna told The Hindu, explaining how Dhurandhar: The Revengewasn’t a complete threat to his film’s prospects. The actor-director added that he was clear about his target audience.
“Love Mocktail 3 was aimed at those who enjoy emotionally resonating stories. My first invitation was for the family crowd. It’s not meant for those who love ‘mass’ movies with whistle-worthy scenes. I made a clean film with beautiful moments,” he said.
Darling Krishna and Samvrutha in ‘Love Mocktail 3’.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Romance or a relationship drama was the core of the franchise. The first part (released in 2020) tracked the coming-of-age journey of Adi (Krishna), who suffers a couple of breakups before marrying his dream woman, Nidhi (Milana). The film had a tragic end, with Adi losing Nidhi to terminal illness. Love Mocktail 2 (2022) explored Adi’s attempt to move on from Nidhi and find love again. The third part ditches the romance template and focuses on Adi’s role as a father to his adopted daughter.
Krishna says avoiding a love story for a family-friendly story wasn’t a risk. “My job was to make a finale that completes the story of Adi. He has reached a stage where his daughter is his priority. So I stayed true to the character’s feelings, and that has struck a chord with people.”
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Despite Dhurandhar: The Revenge and Ustaad Bhagat Singh enjoying a large number of screens, Love Mocktail 3 has shown improvement in its screen count, thanks to the strong word of mouth. “We have got at least 40 more shows from the initial list,” said Krishna, who is flooded with congratulatory messages. “I am taking three to four hours to finish reading responses to the film on Instagram.”
Plagiarism row
Even as it is enjoying a fine run, Love Mocktail 3 has run into a plagiarism row. Raghavendra M. Naik, the director of the Kannada movie Marigold starring Diganth, has claimed that the makers of Love Mocktail 3 have taken his story for the second half of the movie.
Naik has told television channels that he, along with producer-director Guru Deshpande, had narrated a story to Krishna for a collaboration, but that the actor had backed out of the project. After watching Love Mocktail 3, Naik said his story had been used for the second half of the movie. The director wrote on social media that he has no proof for his statement as he failed to record his narration or register his script with the Screenwriters Association.
Krishna has denied the accusation. He is set to file a defamation suit against Naik for calling his film a copy. The actor-director is set to address the controversy soon in a press conference.
Published – March 24, 2026 06:24 pm IST
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