Premam (Malayalam, 2015)

Nivin Pauly has been able to decode the success formula of what works and what does not for him. For a movie having less in terms of content but more on scope for acting, Nivin is a brilliant choice to be the man (George) around whom the story revolves

Koya (played by Krishna Shankar) & Shambu (played by Shabareesh Varma) let the protagonist take the lead & yet shine in the supporting characters as his friends. These three friends never pursue the same girl (unlike in many other films) which shows how the present generation places & prioritizes friendship. The final dialogues spoken by Koya (on why George & his bride make a perfect pair) is the absolute clincher on how friends understand each other.

George’s love interest(s) played by Anupama, Sai Pallavi and Madonna Sebastian somehow reminds us of the Tamil Movie Autograph, wherein Cheran falls in love with a Malayali before losing her. Where Premam differs is that while Autograph brings in other elements such as the protagonist’s parents, his change in outlook due to his friend, Divya, etc, Alphonse Putharen’s tale is more a celebration of Gen-Y friendship keeping just the two friends throughout George’s life.

Rajesh Murugesan’s music has all the qualities it should. It is sometimes honey to ears (or) painful loss to heart (or ) tap to feet (or) smile to lips (or) a deep rumble of threat capturing a spectrum of emotions relevant to George’s innocence in pre-degree, his macho-ness in college and sternness in adulthood The hilariously misplaced song Scene Contra makes love look like a spoof.

The cinematography of Anend Chandran captures you from the moment the title rolls in with a THANK YOU. It has the audience mesmerized and awestruck as the camera keeps moving around all the time. Not only there, but on many instances the camera is handheld & keeps moving around unconventionally. Couple this with the director’s classy editing, color correction and apt locations; voila – you have a cinematic experience you just can’t resist. Not to take the credit away, but this somehow reminds me of Gautham Menon’s way of experimentation.

The choreography for songs (Sai Pallavi’s dance skills being put to full use) as well as stunts is really good. Not going overboard and neither toning down, the balance is just right. Art direction i.e. props & the way different phases of George’s life are graded (mild yellow to stark black to crisp white) speaks volumes about the passion each technician shares on the vision of Director. Special mention to the whole team for the Kasa Kasa in juice scene. It works brilliantly from paper to screen which is a rarity.

A simple script with no icing leaves us with a feeling of wanting more. The awesome high we get when George falls in love with Malar and the eventual brutal low thereon is never compensated. It appears as if there is always this sadness and accepting what destiny throws his way in the end – A tad too realistic for a feel good movie that this movie brands itself as.

The fact of George pursuing a computer science degree and then suddenly become the owner of a cafe, though not unrealistic, is a bit difficult to comprehend and digest. Also, the screen space and dialogues are minimal for the women and they are merely shown as George’s muse.