Premam
Premam is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language coming-of-age romantic drama film written, directed and edited by Alphonse Puthren. It was produced by Anwar Rasheed and stars Nivin Pauly and Sai Pallavi. It also features an ensemble supporting cast including Madonna Sebastian, Anupama Parameswaran, Shabareesh Varma, Krishna Sankar, Siju Wilson, Ananth Nag, Vinay Forrt, Soubin Shahir, Sharafudheen and others. The plot follows George ’s romantic journey with his friends from their teens to adulthood. While George's first love turns out to be a disappointment, Malar, a college lecturer, rekindles his love interest. His romantic journey takes him through several stages, helping him find his purpose.
The principal photography began in July 2014. The film was shot across locations including Goa, Aluva and Fort Kochi. The filming was wrapped up in November 2014. Anend C. Chandran and Rajesh Murugan handled the cinematography and music. The film was produced on a budget of ₹4 crore.
Premam was released on May 29, 2015 to widespread critical acclaim with praise towards the cast performance, story, screenplay, cinematography, music, background score, editing and direction by Alphonse Puthren. The film emerged as a major commercial success grossing ₹73 crore. The film had a theatrical run of 175 days in Kerala and over 300 days in Tamil Nadu. The film was included in The Hindu's top 25 Malayalam movies of the decade. Pallavi and Nivin's performances were included by the Film Companion in its list of “100 Greatest Performances of the Decade”.
The film received nominations and won awards in several categories. At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, Premam was nominated in seven categories, winning Best Female Debut and Best Male Playback Singer. At the 5th South Indian International Movie Awards, it received fifteen nominations and won seven, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Music Director, Best Lyricist, and Best Male Playback Singer. Nivin and Sai Pallavi won the Best Actor Critics and Best Debut Actress awards. At the 1st IIFA Utsavam, it received nine nominations and won four, including Best Performance in a Comic Role, Best Music Direction, Best Lyricist and Best Male Playback Singer. Among other wins, the film received six Asianet Film Awards, six Vanitha Film Awards, three Asianet Comedy Awards, four Asiavision Awards and two CPC Cine Awards. The film was not considered by the Kerala State Film Awards, the official state film award given by the Government of Kerala.
Plot
In 2000, George David, a 16-year-old pre-degree student, studies at Holy Spirit Convent College in Aluva, Kerala. He is infatuated with Mary, the prettiest school girl in the small village Uliyannoor-Thottakkattukara. George along with his friends, Shambu and Koya, often follows Mary around in an attempt to talk to her but he is afraid of her father, who beats up boys pestering his daughter. Mary is famous for her beauty and has other suitors too.Every time George gathers the courage to talk to Mary, something or the other comes up, and he ends up disappointed. George is heartbroken when he learns that Mary is in a relationship with another boy, also named George. She also asks for his help to date safely without her family knowing. He helps her with a painful heart. The seriousness of life finally sinks in when George, Shambu, and Koya introspect about their academic future after a dismal performance in their year-end examination.
In 2005, George, Shambu and Koya get admission to Union Christian College, Aluva. One day, while on a ragging streak, George and his friends meet Malar, a new lecturer in their college who happens to have a Tamil background. George instantly falls for her and seemingly gets her to feel the same about him. He is also impressed by her dancing talents as she performs an outstanding routine with his team. Convinced about their love for each other, he extends their relationship and contemplates marriage. Simultaneously, George's college teacher, Vimal Sir, also falls for Malar and tries to woo her with the help of his friend, a PT teacher, Shivan.
Later that year, Malar goes to visit her family in Kodaikanal with her cousin, Arivazhagan, who by tradition is supposed to be her would be. Weeks later, it's announced in the college that Malar met with an accident and consequently left her job as the lecturer. George and his friends immediately ride to Kodaikanal to see Malar. It turns out Malar lost part of her memory due to the injuries suffered in the accident. She fails to recognize George and is not able to recall her relationship with him. As a result, Malar marries Arivazhagan and a heartbroken George attends her wedding reception with his friends.
In 2014, George, now 30, runs a café with his childhood friend Jojo. There, he meets 22-year-old Celine and feels an attraction towards her. He later realizes that she knew Mary and would walk with her, and they quickly become friends. Despite the age difference, George decides to propose to Celine. However, she is about to get engaged to a man named Roney Varghese, a cocaine addict. Roney continually insults Celine during their engagement, which results in their wedding being called off. Roney keeps calling and pestering Celine and this upsets George, who with Shambu, Koya and Jojo, beats Roney up.
Finally, George marries Celine. During their wedding reception, Malar arrives with her husband, having been invited by Celine. After greeting the couple, on their way out it is hinted that Malar seemed to have regained her memory, as suggested by her husband asking why she didn't tell George, but she did not reveal this to him as he was happy with Celine, so she chose to let things be, the way they were. George and Malar exchange final looks of understanding and both gain closure.
Cast
Production
Development
Following the success of the bilingual thriller Neram, writer-director Alphonse Puthren planned for a Hindi remake for this project. But he decided to remake another film Shutter in Hindi, with Prithviraj Sukumaran being cast as the lead, despite reports stating that Anil Kapoor and Abhay Deol as the leads were surfaced. However, Alphonse eventually shelved the project and decided to work on a fresh script instead. He announced that the film will be titled as Premam, and as the title suggests, the film is said to be a romantic-drama. The project was bankrolled by director-producer Anwar Rasheed under his banner Anwar Rasheed Entertainment and Nivin Pauly was announced playing the lead role, which was his second project with Puthren in the studio album Yuvvh and Neram. The scripting process began during the same month. Rajesh Murugeshan who has previously composed music for Alphonse's Neram was roped as the music composer.Casting
In February 2014, Jude Anthany Joseph announced that he would play a cameo in the film, which will mark his acting debut. Though, the shooting of the film commenced without any leading lady for the film, the team announced that the film would feature three heroines playing the lead. Alphonse invited applications from Malayalam-speaking women between the ages of 16 and 25. Later they released an ad in September 2014 saying the film needed only two heroines and they must be aged between 15 and 22 and "both of them should be able to speak Malayalam and English fluently as well as have a very good smile". The same month, Vinay Forrt was announced playing a comic role in the film, and also joined the shoot during the filming.Though the details of the female lead were not disclosed initially, it was later revealed that newcomers Anupama Parameswaran, Sai Pallavi and Madonna Sebastian were announced as the female leads. Madonna was initially a playback singer, trained under Carnatic and western music, had sung for composers Deepak Dev and Gopi Sundar. Alphonse initially approached Madonna at one of the television shows she hosted, whether he asked her to act in one of her films for which she agreed. Pallavi, a doctor-cum-dancer, was approached by Alphonse six years before, through clippings from a reality show which she had participated, showcased in Facebook. Alphonse initially gave her an offer to act in his film which she refused, and after six years, he phoned to Pallavi, in which she thought him as a stalker and wanted to lodge a police complaint on him. But later misunderstood after Alphonse forcibly introduced himself. In an interview, Alphonse revealed that Asin was initially considered for the character Malar, played by Pallavi, following a fan's request. The film introduced 17 new actors in the Malayalam film industry.