It seems appropriate in some way to go back and watch a movie like Premam after ten years. The manner in which this raucous, moving coming-of-age tale, helmed by Alphonse Puthren, urges the audience to remain by its main character George David is one of the many things that stands out. Premam follows George through three phases of his love life—childhood, adolescence, and adulthood—as brilliantly portrayed by Nivin Pauly. He experiences heartbreak, stumbles, and makes errors. Premam maintains at some point that everything is important.

David George's adventure

I was somewhat in the same mindset as George David was during his college days when I originally saw Premam. In Premam, this chapter is in the middle, at the point when George David encounters Malar, the gorgeous guest lecturer in his school, who is portrayed by Sai Pallavi. From the start, he is infatuated with her, and Malar is delighted by his clumsy and seductive advances. This chapter is captured by Puthen in stunning, novelistic detail as he moves through the classrooms and cafeterias, deftly establishing a compelling interior in the college environment. When the song Malare breaks out, Sai and Nivin produce an easy chemistry on screen that is beautifully captured. Like a dreamscape for George David, when all he can feel, see, or move forward is this all-encompassing love for Malar, this is the film's most exhilaratingly realized scene.

George David awakens from this dream soon enough, with the harsh realization that love alone is not enough. I was completely taken aback by this narrative choice during the first watch since Malar doesn't recognize George after her memory loss from an accident that takes place entirely off-screen. It all seemed too unfair and unforgivable. When I returned, I still couldn't get over how little we knew about Malar from the outset. Premam is a movie that doesn't hurry toward anything real anytime soon, but then it unexpectedly understands that it's time to go. The Malar episode is the scapegoat in this narrative template because George's fragility is more pressing than establishing Malar's subjectivity.

Who, exactly, is Malar?

After all these years, seeing Premam is an acknowledgement that the movie functions solely from a restricted point of view. George David's terrible indifference to the current moment takes up significant chunks of the picture. Premam only includes Malar to the extent that George David is able to imagine and care about her; there is no existence outside of his perspective. We have no idea where she is from, why she falls in love with a student, or if she ever comes to the conclusion that it was a mistake. Even though the movie spends so much time with Malar's character, we still don't know much about her. Although Sai Pallavi has an undeniable screen presence and easy charm that makes Malar trustworthy even at her worst instincts, it is evident that her role in the movie was the least written.

The camera is so fixated on George David's development that it overlooks the fact that there are other adults in his environment as well. We don't see much of Mary and Celine, as well as Malar. When revisited, Celine's arc, which arrives later with a sense of predetermined urgency, feels even more planned. Premam's constant tone may have seemed charming and adorable at first, but ten years later, it supports a kind of male fantasy that love ultimately brings everyone together.

Premam places a strong emphasis on highlighting George David's values, relationships, and sentiments. In all fairness, that is crucial to the movie's plot, but this subjectivity never truly finds a clear objective. With his childhood friend Jojo, George David ran that café with little knowledge of how it came to be. What life has taught him over the years, whether he experienced any difficulties after finishing college.

In this review of a movie I really enjoyed, there is an underlying metafictional aspect, especially for a figure like George David, for whom I previously felt such a strong connection. It was remarkable to see how vulnerable he was. However, after ten years, this observer has matured to the point where he sees so little of the man George David has become that the original impression has faded. Nivin Pauly's performance in Premam is undeniably outstanding, and the film's sensitivity is still quite touching. I still had the impression that this movie is about the protagonist's search for meaning, but not about the same for itself. Without a doubt, George David is still seeking for love ten years later and has probably gone somewhere else.

JioHotstar offers the option of viewing Premam.

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