Gireesh AD creates a world that you want to be part of and doesn’t want to leave, again after taking the audience of a multitude of Malayali generations back to their school days with his stellar debut, Thanneer Mathan Dinangal in 2019. It’s one of those movies that you do not want to end. In an industry where half of the films try to live up to the brand of “serious” cinema that Malayalam is supposedly famous for and the other half is about what filmmakers perceive as fan service, Gireesh is probably the only filmmaker who talks to the target audience in the age group of most of the cast of Premalu.
When you look at it now, it makes sense why a movie like Love Action Drama fills the halls or why people throng to watch Hridayam – a film that I felt Gireesh takes a dig at early on, in Premalu. I can’t but help thinking that Hridayam to Gireesh is probably the CBSE version of campus life as opposed to the State syllabus version that he is evidently a proponet of, in all glee too, if you know what I’m talking about.
Had Gireesh decided to make this film right after Thanneer Mathan, it would have been an interesting upgrade in terms of sequence as he has retained two of the most popular faces from that film here, one playing lead again, a literal reversal of roles too, if you consider. Naslen is the mainstay of the film but some well rounded characters around him in the film are brought to life by a bunch of talented actors, namely Sangeeth Prathap whom I took note of in Pathrosinte Padappukal as the tattoo guy (been searching for that scene forever on YouTube), Shyam Mohan who plays rival to Naslen’s Sachin and giving them tough competition in winning the affections of the audience during their time on screen are Mamitha Baiju, Akhila Bhargavan and an unhinged Meenakshi Raveendran. Mathew Thomas plays an extended cameo. Mamitha elevates scenes on more occasions than one and holds fort for Gireesh during the climax, especially.
Giving company to the director in the writing department is Kiran Josey, in a premise that reminds one of Dhanush’s and Nitya Menen’s Tirichithrambalam on more occasions than one. A fair share of the humor in Premalu rides on the antics and expressions of the actors on screen. The exchanges between Naslen and Sangeeth in the film played out like an extended version of that scene from Godfather where Kanaka visits Mukesh and Jagadeesh in their hostel room, and Jagadeesh has a hard time hiding his amusement without offending his mate. Premalu strikes the perfect balance in the narrative where it lives up to the romcom tag. It is loud without being crass and subtle and sensitive without being cringey. Premalu is not just the film Malayali cinemagoers deserve but the one it needs right now too. Gireesh AD is indeed a watchful entertainer !
gopakumarpurushothaman 