Premam (Love) - Truly, madly, deeply!

My reviews for other language films are understandably few and far between - the primary reason being the language barrier and also I’m alien to the ethos, even if it is a South Indian non-Tamil film. Though there are so many commonalities that the 4 south Indian states share, I feel culturally there are some radical differences that prevents me from commenting on their artistry, which I feel is largely an offshoot of one’s own cultural background. I’m really trying to overcome such silly apprehensions. Soon I might!

As always there are exceptions like Premam, that cuts across cultural barriers in order to reach out to the entire world to proudly announce it’s arrival as the “newest” age cinema! It was also recommended to me by a handful of people who’ve seen it at least a couple of times within a week of it’s release. That drove me towards the theater with sky high expectations and at that point I hardly knew that I would fall in love so much with the movie. This would be my second “thoughts collection” (in this case I prefer to call it like that) for a Malayalam movie after “Drishyam”.

“Premam” on the periphery looks like a more engagingly made “Autograph” (2004 Tamil film directed by Cheran). In fact it shares more than a common thread with Autograph in terms of the story. But what sets it apart is the “coming-of-age” factor and the way in which it has been conceived and delivered without melodrama or melancholy. It revolves around the romantic escapades of George Kutty (Nivin Pauly) at different stages in his life. His women companion in all the 3 stages have managed to share an inimitable chemistry with him thanks to a fluidic screenplay, deep characterization and some wonderful performances, especially from Sai Pallavi as the sophisticated ‘Malar’, the Tamil guest lecturer.

All throughout the movie while I was engaged with a plethora of quaint and earthly narrative mechanics employed by director Alphonse Putharen, the very thought that was lingering at the end of each scene (or moment in most of the cases) was that there is a world of difference in terms of narrative presentation when a director handles one of the core technical departments (in this case it is the editing). Thereby a potential communication gap between a director and an editor has been demolished. As a result, there is a mutual payoff for both the filmmaker and the audiences. It gives a free hand for the director to narrate the story in more ways than one. It is almost like playing God in real life in order to shape up the destiny. One can feel the sheer joy with which the movie has been cut - there were many instances where the screen space was used to evoke laughter as an after-thought.

The foleys (sound effects) used in the movie were so critical to the build up of a scene and those simply elevated the scene to a different level. Be it the one where George’s teenage crush Mary is being wooed by his rivals at the tuition centre just before a song or the canteen scene where the dumb professor seeks the help of George and Co. to woo Malar on his behalf - the scenes were well laid out and played to perfection. The humor quotient was always in the air just waiting to pop-up at the touch of a button and the emotional nuances were spiced up as and when required without delving into it too much. There were many instances where the movie could have easily forced it’s protagonist to wear the loser’s tag and wail in grief. But it doesn’t do that and the director always strikes a positive note at the end of each episode. Whatever happens, life has to go on - isn’t it?

After the movie if we are left to mull over it, we would be surprised to realize that we were engulfed with an array of cliches that was left to unwind on us without us realizing the same with the aide of a brilliant screenplay which was simple yet visually rich. The narrative was amply supported by the technical departments, especially cinematography and music. Of course it goes without saying that editing played its own crucial role as it had a special ‘someone’ at it’s helm. To put it simply, this is new age cinema at its best!!

Verdict: Don’t miss it! Go fall in love!!

Rating: 4.25 / 5