For the past couple of weeks, my Instagram feed has been flooded with Amal Davis memes, “JK” references and Girish AD fandom posts – and justifiably so. Premalu – along with two other mammoths, Bramayugam and Manjummel Boys – has taken the audiences by storm. (What a month for Malayalam cinema!). The film has already grossed over 50 crores worldwide, and the latest buzz is that Yash Raj Films is distributing the film in some core international centres (UK included). Personally, I had a blast watching the film with my friends last week. (In fact, it’s been a while since we’ve gone for a film together and had this much fun. The last one was probably Romancham.) People are pouring out their love for the film in the form of memes, reviews and repeat watch statuses. From a post-pandemic POV, quite a feat for a non-star-led, simple rom-com centred around a bunch of 20-somethings.
I wondered what made this movie click, and there were a lot of responses in my head. The relatable protagonists? The impeccable comic timing and performances (especially the Naslen-Sangeeth duo)? The peppy album from Vishnu Vijay? All these factors count, sure, but the real hero of Premalu (in my opinion, of course) is its unabashed youthful spirit.
Disappointing answer? Okay, I’ll explain. Let’s drill deeper into three aspects of the film:
1. The baselessness of the romance between the leads
2. The aimlessness of the protagonist
3. The mercilessness of the trolling of coming-of-age feel-good tropes (read Hridayam)
The baselessness of the romance between the leads of Premalu
After minimal interaction, a guy falls in love with a random girl at a wedding. He, along with his best friend, navigates life in an alien city in the hopes of wooing the girl. After a lot of ups and downs, their friendship finally blossoms into love when the girl realises that he is her perfect companion.
This is the skeleton plot of…Premalu, yes, but also Love Action Drama (remember?). One question that everybody had in their minds at the end of LAD was: Why did Shobha get attracted to Dinesh in the first place? She was portrayed to be the educated, ambitious kind – and yet she settles for a spoiled manchild who is clueless about his goals.
Coming to Premalu; Sachin (Naslen) is definitely a more likeable guy when compared to Dinesh, but his aimlessness in life would typically render him unattractive to a girl like Reenu (Mamitha). And so, Reenu falling for the dude at the end (spoiler alert oke veno ithinu?), and her reason for the same – that she enjoyed ‘caring for him’ – doesn’t seem all that convincing. But then you don’t hear a lot of ranting about the shaky ground this romance is built on, unlike LAD. Why?
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Because in LAD, the question was about marriage, i.e. choosing a partner for life. In Premalu however, both the protagonists are young. And hence to a large extent, they’re clueless about their own selves, their own interests, preferences and deal breakers in relationships. A film like Premalu doesn’t need to have its romance on solid foundations. The one thing it tries to do in all earnestly is to capture a neat snapshot of the early 20s – a period filled with exploratory questions and soul-searching. So no one walking out of the theater really expects anything out of this relationship. The notion would most likely be: “Pilleralle…avaru samayam avumbo figure out eytholum!”
I was extrapolating this story and thinking what would happen to their relationship one year from said timeline? Given Sachin’s financial limitations, they would most likely not have met (yet). Given Reenu’s ambitious nature, she would most likely prepare for an MBA or an MS. Sachin meanwhile would be working multiple odd jobs, and the calls with Reenu would be his only source of respite. In that scenario, would Sachin be supportive of her decision to pursue higher studies and prepare for the exams – and thereby give her space – or would he be insecure about the less time he gets on calls? In my opinion, there’s a very high likelihood of a messy breakup in this scenario. Of course, that breakup would then be a pivotal point in Sachin’s coming of age.
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The aimlessness of the protagonist
Sachin’s character arc is interesting – and I’d daresay inspirational. His objective is to fly to the UK because he believes that can settle him financially (also an escape from home). What is he going to do there? He doesn’t know yet.. but he will figure it out. He has time. His visa didn’t come through as planned. So what? He will apply again, and in the meanwhile, he will choose a shorter-term, less rewarding goal (move to Hyderabad and do GATE coaching, heck, even work at a fast food joint) because he is young. He has the buffer time to fail, pick himself up, fail again probably and still pick himself up. And isn’t that the definitive, most exciting part about youth?
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After all, the cluelessness of youth doesn’t restrict itself to love life alone, but professional life as well. It was so refreshing to see a film which accepted the protagonist’s lack of direction as a rite of passage and did not make a mockery of it.
The mercilessness of the trolling of coming-of-age feel-good tropes
As the film begins, we see a dude giving a pretty emotional speech about how impactful this college has been in his life. He says, “Venkateshwara (or was it a different name?) college, thank you for making me who I am!” in great ecstasy. But the ecstasy is restricted to just him; the majority crowd watches in nonchalance (some even in pucham), probably thinking – how much of the real world has he even seen for him to make this statement?! I thought to myself, had this moment been in a Vineeth Sreenivasan film, it would have been elevated by a cathartic BGM. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of a series of roasts of “feel-good tropes” (Hridayam being the most obvious victim).
When Sachin is in the middle of a jittery confession to his long-time crush, his flow is interrupted by a bunch of students running like madmen – when asked where this avial of entropy was heading, one of them enthusiastically replies, “Secret Chamber ilekulla key kitti!”. A scene that was created to register an emotional high in one film, became, in a different context, an avenue for comedy. Premalu takes a realistic, almost irreverent approach to the messiness of youth as compared to the idealistic, optimistic approach taken by films like Hridayam. And once this irreverence is taken into context, everything about Premalu makes sense – the banter between Sachin and Amal Davis, the treatment (and deconstruction) of the ‘ideal-on-the-face-of-it’ Aadhi, etc.
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Why is irreverence more relatable than optimism/feel-goodism? I think the answer partly lies in the question itself. Feel-goodism is contrived (to make a person feel good). Irreverence (and accepting the frailties of life) is a ground state – it is an easier emotion to connect with, especially when one is young. If you think my statement needs backing, just go to the nearest theatre and catch Premalu if you haven’t yet – the constant cheering by the audience is nothing but a “We GET you, Sachin, we’ve been there!”
After Premalu, would there be a sea change in people’s perception towards feel-goodisms? In short, would Vineeth Sreenivasan’s brand of cinema die? Obviously not. Not everyone watches cinema to relate. Some of them watch cinema to escape, to get entertained…and if the aesthetics are right, nothing stops a cheesy, idealistic film from finding its audience. We Malayalis are a nice bunch of people. Ivide ellaam odum. 🙂
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