Premam – a lovely film

My non-Indian followers: keep scrolling, keep scrolling.

Premam is one of the most entertaining movie I’ve watched in a long time. The Malayalam industry has once again proved why it’s so far ahead it terms of pure film making. Forget large-scale, forget star power, forget item numbers – Premam is a simple journey into the very basic instinct of us all. Love. Love in all its colors and shapes.

I’ll say this. Tollywood can make a Baahubali but it can never make a Premam. Period

Now where do I even start, I’ll probably try doing a bullet point list like Bharadwaj Rangan:

• Nivin Pauly is adorable as George Davidson. He shows subtle differences in his persona as he matures through the years and is so damned believable as well. I thought his character was a bit flat and could have had more layers, but you don’t think about it when you’re watching the movie. And he ends up running a bakery! Wasn’t expecting that at all.
• All the three leading ladies were exceptionally well cast. But it is the character Malar, and I hear she has become quite a sensation now, who steals the show and overshadows almost everyone in the film. Sai Pallavi, the actress, infuses her with such a fresh charm that no wonder everyone’s going crazy for her. And get this – she’s Tamilian, she’s got pimples that the director does not hide, she dances like a diva, and her deep voice, man it’s still ringing in my ears! Gautam Menon’s Jessie seems very boring all of a sudden.
• My other favourite was Vimal Sir, the one who has a crush on Malar as well. The way he says “Java is robust! Java is safe!” had me in splits.
• Jojo. This guy was cute and probably had a subplot that wasn’t expanded upon. But I liked his cheerful presence. And that one scene with the telephone, LOL!! The audience went bonkers!
• Butterflies as a recurring motif. And the fact that they even got the movie’s title in Malayalam shaped like a butterfly.
• The spellbinding cinematography which is part of the reason for the film’s ‘mood’. Very muted “pastel” colors, with a lot of green and white. And then there’s the perfect Depth Of Field in every shot. Also, no one captures the Sun and its rays better than Keralites.
• I was not enamored by the songs – except Malare that is. Everything good about Malayalam cinema in a single song. and it doesn’t get any better. This one, again, is currently a rage in Kerala. Partly due to the fact that the director cleverly chose to hold off the song until the movie release.
• Here it is. Notice everything I mentioned before – the cast, the cinematography, the sunlight, the way the camera moves in and out. Other DOPs need to really take a leaf out of this.

• It’s good how the supporting cast is mostly not turned into caricatures in Mollywood, at least in the movies that I have seen. How delightful were the the hero’s friend group? Never relegated to being just sidekicks, they are his voice of reason and support him in every step.
• And finally, that twist at the end. Who would have thunk?