Premalu – My Flash Review!

From the title, one may mistake it for a Telugu film.  It is a Malayalam film set predominantly in Hyderabad. If the film Bangalore Days celebrated Bangalore and Malayalis who throng Bangalore for work and the film Hridayam was a tribute to Chennai, Premalu is Director Girish’s hat tip to Hyderabad.

Boy meets girl and falls in love at first sight. This is his second attempt at one-sided love after a recent rejection in his engineering college. The boy is aimless with no serious idea about his life. The girl is intelligent and clearly knows what she wants from life and her partner. The boy has a friend who is only slightly better off in terms of aimlessness. As expected, the boy faces rejection. Drinks. Blabbers. The girl yields. The girl, who all along had a clear mind has a change in heart suddenly, for no real reason. In the climax, the boy gets the girl. In between, there is a rival to the boy who is presented as a half-villain/half-comedian. This is the story, one which we have seen in 1008 films in multiple languages.

The question is why would such a film with a very oft-repeated storyline get this rousing response at the box office? I can only think of two things: One, the treatment and second the casting and therefore the performance.  The film is a breezy, easy-going rom-com that has a few laugh-out-loud moments. The performance of the lead cast indeed saves the film. Naslen Gafoor, the male lead has a boy next door look and he pulls off the role of the nonchalant boy effortlessly.  Mamitha Baiju, who plays the female lead comes across as a very seasoned actor and does a neat job.

The musical score by Vishnu Vijay is good with a few songs having repeat hear value. The camera captures the sights and sounds of Hyderabad city very well. Overall, the film is pleasing to the eye.

The film suffers from its repetitive storyline and too clichéd sequences.  That the film did well means that there is still a market for romcoms of the 80s that had purposeless heroes stalking girls throughout the movie and, in the end, marrying them. When films that have boys chasing girls, partying, proposing, getting rejected and dejected and finally still getting the girls no longer appeal to you, it also means that you are getting old!

Malayalam cinema has been having a dream run at the box office and OTT of late. The main reason for the same has been their strong scripts that are different. On that front, Premalu has been a huge disappointment. Premalu is an average film that is being overhyped. It is streaming now on Hotstar.