Premalu

Premalu
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Girish A. D.
Written by	Girish A. D. Kiran Josey
Produced by	Fahadh Faasil Dileesh Pothan Syam Pushkaran
Starring	Naslen K. Gafoor Mamitha Baiju
Cinematography	Ajmal Sabu
Edited by	Akash Joseph Varghese
Music by	Vishnu Vijay
Production companies	Bhavana Studios Fahadh Faasil and Friends Working Class Hero
Distributed by	Bhavana Release
Release date	9 February 2024 (2024-02-09)
Running time	156 minutes[1][2]
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹9 crore[3][4][5]
Box office	₹136 crore[6]

Premalu (transl. Love) is a 2024 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy film^[7] directed by Girish A. D. and produced by Bhavana Studios, in the company of Fahadh Faasil and Friends and Working Class Hero. The film stars Naslen K. Gafoor and Mamitha Baiju, alongside Sangeeth Prathap, Shyam Mohan, Meenakshi Raveendran, Akhila Bhargavan, Mathew Thomas and Althaf Salim. In the film, Sachin Santhosh, a graduate from Kerala, plans on moving to the United Kingdom, but instead goes to Hyderabad and take a GATE course, where he meets and falls in love with Reenu Roy, an employee of an IT company.

The film was officially announced in July 2023 under the tentative title Production No. 5, as it is the fifth production for Bhavana Studios, and the official title was announced in December 2023. Principal photography commenced the same month in Thiruvananthapuram. It was shot in Kochi, Hyderabad, Polachira, and wrapped by mid-September 2023. The film has music composed by Vishnu Vijay, cinematography handled by Ajmal Sabu and editing by Akash Joseph Varghese.

Premalu was released theatrically on 9 February 2024 to critical acclaim with praise for its performances , script, soundtrack, direction and humor.^[8] It ranks as the sixth highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time and the fourth highest-grossing Malayalam film of 2024. A sequel, titled Premalu 2, is in development.

Plot

On his final day at college in Salem, Sachin Santosh nerves himself to profess his feelings for his classmate Anjali but the latter bluntly discards his proposal. Moving back to his hometown Aluva, Sachin has a tough time dealing with his parents' soured relationship and plans to pursue his higher studies in the UK. Nevertheless, his visa application gets rejected due to the shortage of funds, leaving him with another opportunity to apply after six months. Thus, he frivolously begins passing time, occasionally delivering orders from his father's bakery. One on such delivery, Sachin stumbles upon his childhood friend Amal Davis, who advises him to accompany him for a GATE course in Hyderabad. Sachin agrees and moves to Hyderabad with Amal.

Meanwhile, Reenu Roy, a vivacious young woman, takes up a job in the development team of an IT company Ospyn in Hyderabad. She moves in with her colleague-cum-friend Karthika and the latter's friend Niharika aka Wanderlust. Aadhi, a senior developer and Reenu's imperious colleague, secretly holds a crush on her but masquerades himself as her "bestie". Sachin and Amal attend the wedding of their professor Shobi, whose bride Shravani turns out to be a teammate of Reenu. Despite engaging in a tiff with Aadhi at their very first meeting, Sachin and Amal strike a friendship with Reenu and Karthika at the wedding; Sachin realizes that he has fallen for Reenu. After the wedding, Reenu and Karthika realize that their friends would be going a trip instead of returning home; disinterested, they insist on going to Hyderabad with Sachin and Amal in their Mini Cooper though Aadhi disagrees. Sachin, who has initially planned to quit his course and take up a job in Chennai, decides to stay back for Reenu and persuades Amal to get him a job at his aunt's fast-food restaurant.

Moreover, Sachin and Amal move into Reenu and Karthika's neighbourhood and invite them over for a party at a pub on a Sunday. Amid the party, Sachin and Amal notify Karthika of the former's feelings for Reenu but Karthika criticizes his intentions, claiming that Reenu is searching for an accomplished and matured marriage-material and that she will definitely reject someone like Sachin, who goes with the flow. Disappointed, Sachin decides to conceal his feelings within himself and proceeds to be in her friend zone. After a few events including a train journey and an excursion in Hyderabad that prompt them to build a good rapport, Sachin ultimately confesses his feelings for Reenu but she denies reciprocation and inadvertently hurts him. Dejected, Sachin moves to Chennai and takes up odd jobs to make ends meet while ignoring Reenu's texts and calls, leaving her devastated. Further, Karthika shifts to Bangalore to be with her fiance, leaving Reenu all alone.

A few days later, Sachin and Amal attend Karthika's pre-wedding party where Reenu tries talking to him but Sachin pretends to have moved on and informs her that his visa has been approved and he has a scheduled flight the very next day. Aadhi suddenly solicits Amal and Sachin and cautions them to be away from Reenu. Heavily drunk and exhausted with Aadhi's horseplay, Sachin and Amal humiliate him and assert that Reenu will reject his proposition as well. Overconfident, Aadhi publicly proposes to Reenu but she sententiously spurns his proposal, resulting in further taunts from Sachin and Amal. Humiliated, Aadhi deserts the party after swearing vengeance. Sachin, still detached to Reenu's sincere attempts, passes out at the party with Amal.

Next morning, Sachin, Amal and the latter's nerdy cousin Thomas depart for the aiport and Reenu joins them. On the way, Reenu condemns Sachin for avoiding her while Aadhi and his henchmen chase them, leaving them frightened. Amidst the tension, Reenu finally confesses her feelings for Sachin but Aadhi and his men interrupt the moment. However, Reenu averts the assault using a pepper spray Aadhi himself had given to her for self-defense and they arrive at the aiport on time. Reenu and Sachin bid farewell to each other and commit to a long-distance relationship.

In a flashback, while Reenu, Karthika and Wanderlust sit with one another on a terrace, Karthika initiates a discussion about Reenu's expectations from her future partner and asks Wanderlust to set one for her. She throws a can down the terrace, asking Reenu to get married to the one on whom the can falls. While they flee, assuming that the can has hit an aged man, it turns out to have fallen on Sachin.

Cast

Production

Development

On 4 July 2023, Girish A. D. announced that he would collaborate with Naslen K. Gafoor and Mamitha Baiju for his directorial after I Am Kathalan, which also features Naslen in the lead role, making his third collaboration with the actor. Tentatively titled Production No. 5, the project would mark as the fifth production for Bhavana Studios; they would fund it in association with Fahadh Faasil and Friends and Working Class Hero.^[9] The film's official title, Premalu, was announced on 1 December 2023.^[10]

Filming

Principal photography began with the first schedule on 9 July 2023 with an inaugural puja ceremony at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. The project was expected to be shot with a span of 75-days across Kochi, Hyderabad, and Polachira.^[11] Filming wrapped by 15 September.^[12]

Music

The film's musical score and songs are composed by Vishnu Vijay. Academy Award winner MM Keeravani's superhit number 'Ya Ya Ya Yadava' by KS Chithra and P. Unnikrishnan from the 1996 film Devaraagam was reused in the film to subsequently become a rage upon the film's release. Veteran KG Markose rendered a song titled "Telangana Bommalu" after a brief hiatus from films.^[13]

Release

Premalu was theatrically released on 9 February 2024.^[14] A Telugu dubbed version was released on 8 March and a Tamil dub followed a week later.^[15]

It was released by Bhavana Release in Kerala. Overseas rights acquired by Phars Film Co and Yash Raj Films.^[16] It was distributed across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by Sri Venkateswara Creations,Annapurna Studios and Showing Business.^[17] In Tamil Nadu, distribution rights were acquired by Udhayanidhi Stalin's Red Giant Movies.^[18]

The digital streaming rights were acquired by Disney+ Hotstar and the satellite rights were acquired by Asianet. The film had its digital premiere on the streaming platform from 12 April 2024.^[19] That same day, the Telugu dub premiered on Aha. Premalu will also be available to stream in Tamil and Hindi soon.^[20]

Box office

As of 21 March 2024, Premalu has grossed over ₹95 crore in India, with a further ₹40 crore in overseas, for a worldwide total of ₹136 crore.

Reception

Premalu received critical acclaim from critics with praise for its acting, music, script, direction, humor and technical aspects.

Nikhil Sebastian of Pinkvilla gave 4/5 stars and wrote "Premalu undoubtedly marks Girish AD's finest work since Thanneer Mathan Dinangal. If you're looking to escape from the stresses of life for two and a half hours and immerse yourself in laughter and enjoyment, then look no further—booking a ticket for Premalu is the perfect choice".^[21] Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Similar to Girish AD's Thanneer Mathan Dinangal and Super Sharanya, this Naslen, Mamitha Baiju-starrer too effectively employs situational and observational comedy. Yet, Girish ensures that Premalu stands apart from his previous works".^[22]

Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Similar to Girish AD's Thanneer Mathan Dinangal and Super Sharanya, this Naslen, Mamitha Baiju-starrer too effectively employs situational and observational comedy. Yet, Girish ensures that Premalu stands apart from his previous works."^[23] Gayathri Krishna of OTTplay gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Naslen and Mamitha Baiju-starrer Premalu serves as a decent romantic comedy, which makes it watchable again, much like Girish AD's earlier films".^[24]

S. R. Praveen of The Hindu wrote "Though Thanneer Mathan.. was quite a winning debut for Girish, Super Sharanya was only half as satisfying. He has upped the game in his third outing, as Premalu is a winner with its fresh, humorous treatment of a run-of-the-mill story."^[25] Aswin Devan of The New Indian Express wrote "The distinctive style we have seen in Girish's previous films like Thanneermathan Dinangal and Super Sharanya, is all the more pronounced in Premalu".^[26]

Sequel

On 19 April 2024, a sequel titled Premalu 2 was announced by the team during the film's success celebration. The film is scheduled for release in 2025.^[27]

References

External links

• Premalu at IMDb