Directed by Alphonse Puthren, Premam is the story of a young man (Nivin Pauly) who has three opportunities to find love. The film also stars Sai Pallavi, Madonna Sebastian & Anupama Parameswaran. You can watch this film on @hotstarOfficial.
#Premam #NivinPauly #SaiPallavi
Sai Pallavi talks about her experience on her first film Premam, about creating chemistry with Nivin Pauly, and more: https://www.filmcompanion.in/interviews/sai-pallavi-premam-malar-nivin-pauly-alphonse-putharen/
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You might recall Shah Rukh Khan,
as the widower Rahul in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, tossing a ball and telling his mother pensively,
that he won’t marry again. He says, "Hum ek baar jeete hain, ek baar marte hain". "Shaadi bhi ek baar hoti hai,
aur pyaar bhi ek baar hota hai". "Baar baar nahin hota." The Malayalam film Premam (2015),
is an exquisite rebuttal to that. Because the protagonist George,
falls in love, again and again and again. We see him transform from an awkward, blushing
teenager to an
emotionally bruised and grizzled man. And yet, when his eyes light up,
with affection for his partner and his shy smile emerges, it is a thing to behold. There is little plot here. George loves and loses. But from this flimsy and fatigued material, director
Alphonse Puthren, who also wrote the film, fashions a gorgeous, but unvarnished ode to romance. Premam is stylized – fluttering butterflies
are a recurring trope – but its not synthetic. Alphonse captures the giddiness
and sweep and peculiar
ache of love. Mirza Ghalib famously describe the emotion
as teer-e-neemkash or a half-drawn arrow. He asked:
Ye khalish kahan se hoti, jo jigar ke paar hotaa. George lives with this bittersweet pain. His soaring affections don’t land,
but Premam never becomes a Devdas-style pity party. Instead Alphonse leavens the sadness
with humor and tenderness. There is little sense of high drama here. Instead you feel like you are hanging out, perhaps
for a little too long, with a bunch of amiable friends.
Keep an eye on the little moments – in the first romantic episode, George is up against many
suitors who are all equally besotted with Mary George. But they all hit a wall in her formidable father,
who simply beats up any boy he can get his hands on. There's this bridge to her house,
that they just can’t get past. In one scene, in which they are heartbroken, all of them,
one tells the other – It’s night, take off your shades fool. It’s hilarious. Even the minor characters,
like a charlatan dance
teacher, stick. But the heart of Premam is the magical Nivin Pauly,
who plays to perfection, every shade of George – From the love-struck school boy,
who dreams of marrying Mary, (and she won’t even have to change her last name!) to the permanently grumpy café owner,
in whose life, romance blossoms again. In the beautiful Yesudas song, 'Malare', Nivin even
spreads his hands in the classic Shah Rukh Khan pose. But there's no artifice here.
George is earnest in his outsized affections. The second
romance with his college teacher Malar
is heartbreaking, because he cares so deeply. And because Sai Pallavi plays Malar
with such disarming and low-key charm. Premam is a visual poem –
the cinematography, music and editing are top-notch. But it’s not glossy like the standard Hindi film romance. Malar has pimples which Alphonse chooses to show. In fact, one of George’s friends objects to her saying:
"But she has pimples". And that is exactly what makes
the emotions feel authentic. Watch out als
o for Renji Panicker as George’s father –
he has a hilarious scene in the college. And also, one of Mary’s suitors,
who later returns to George’s café on a horse. Alphonse never loses sight of the fact,
that romance is a theater of the absurd. Like the many fluttering butterflies in the film,
a voice over tells us, love is ‘mentally mental.’ Indeed.
Comments
Sai Pallavi talks about her experience on her first film Premam, about creating chemistry with Nivin Pauly, and more: https://www.filmcompanion.in/interviews/sai-pallavi-premam-malar-nivin-pauly-alphonse-putharen/
Got introduced to Malayalam cinema in my film school. I'm really glad that they're getting recognized everywhere. To all the aspiring writers, actors, directors out there. Watch Malayalam cinema. Look at the realism in acting style and story telling. Learn from them. Don't believe the stupidity of Bollywood as cinema. Malayalam defines cinema. Love from Mumbai ❤❤❤
favorite film of all time!
My soul leaves me bit by bit as she pronounces malar as Malhaaaaar
Ma'am you forgot to mention, this film had 17 Debutants
First malyalam film I watched... Still can't get over it ❤️🌸🦋
Its been many yrs i saw this film but still the voice comes to my ears "Malar" "i am here to teach"
Premam is emotion ❤ I fell in love with Malayalam movies after watching Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi and there's no turning back since then.
One minor correction - “Malare” is sung by Vijay Yesudas (not his father Yesudas)
This is 💯 times better than the stupid Telugu version
Premam is indeed a poetry, too raw and real to deserve a comparison with SRK's roles. It would be a lot better if one would appreciate Nivin's performance for its own standard, as even a parallel with Bollywood stuff is like insulting this classic.
Premam gradually grew into a cult. Remember the frenzy in theatre when THAT scene came. The mass euphoria it created was something extraordinary. All the characters were well written and essayed to perfection by the cast. Waiting for Alphonse's next. Kudos to film companion.
Will someone believe that I have watched the movie yesterday only on laptop and now it's getting reviews on YouTube...is it a Deja Vu.....it was goosebumps when the malare song will play in background during the heartbroken moments
FYI No trailers were released for the movie, only songs and posters and hype was created. The movie had a great strategic marketing/promotion
The moVie which shot Nivin to Super stardom...👍
Finally you found your calling Anupama Chopra. Out of the trivial Bollywood stories. I'm glad you have expanded your vision beyond the indescriptive bollywood movies.
First another language movie I saw with subtitles in college 😍😍😍😍 after that I never stoped watching malayalam and tamil
2:23 anyone who spreads their hands apart are not doing SRK pose... it's just a normal thing people do...
Bollywood wants to remake premam with varun dhawan. They cant
I watched it with subtitle and from that very day, next moment I realised about trashes of Bollywood we were fed..Premam devoured me and pushed me in search of really good films..