Movie: Premam
Rating: 3/5
Banner: Sithara Entertainments
Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Shruti Haasan, Anupama Parameshwaran, Madonna, Prudhvi, Srinivas Reddy, Chaitanya Krishna, Praveen and others
Music: Ghibran, Rajesh Murugan
Original Story: Alphonse Puthren
Cinematography: Karthik Ghattamaneni
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateshwara Rao
Presents: PDV Pasad
Producer: Suryadevara Naga Vamsi
Story, screenplay and directed by: Chandoo Mondeti
Release date: October 7, 2016
One Telugu film that has been making buzz for a long time is Naga Chaitanya and Shruti Haasan's 'Premam' as this film is based on a roaring Malalaylam hit of the same name that starred Nivin Pauly.
The Malayalam songs of “Premam”, the girls of the movie made all young hearts fall in love. So when the remake was announced with Naga Chaitanya, the buzz around the movie began.
But the movie also received online criticism for Shruti Haasan when the trailers came out as the fans of Malayalam movie felt that she didn’t fit in the role that was originally played by the beautiful Sai Pallavi.
So how is the film in Telugu? Have the makers been faithful to the original, bettered or ruined it, let’s find out…
Story:
Vicky (Naga Chaitanya), a school student, is bewitched by the beauty Suma (Anupama). He follows her daily and befriends her. When he is about to propose her he gets a shock from her. First love broke his heart.
In college, he falls in love again. He is mesmerized by charms of his college lecturer Sithara (Shruti Haasan) who also reciprocates the same. When everything is going good for him, he gets another shock. Second time he gets a heart break.
Years pass and he is settled in life now as chef and restaurant owner, and this time a girl much younger to him comes into his life.
Artistes' Performances:
This is Naga Chaitanya’s good work till date. He has shown the variation to all three shades of his character. He is perfect as school student; he is apt as university student too. As an entrepreneur also he is convincing. Unlike the original Malayalam hero, he has not shown intensity but he is suitable to the role.
Shruti Haasan as a college lecturer is suited well. Both Anupama and Madonna have played the same roles that they did in the Malayalam original. Anupama is so beautiful but Madonna is okay.
As Naga Chaitanya’s friends Chaitanya and Praveen are okay. Narra Srinu and Brahmaji’s comedy track is hilarious.
Technical Excellence:
Music of the movie gives mixed feelings. “Evare” which is Telugu version of “Malare” is major attraction while “Agarotthula” and “Bang Bang” are also just average. A couple of better songs in the second half would have made a lot difference.
Karthik Ghattamaneni’s camera work is decent. Editing is neat. The film has rich production values.
As screenplay writer and director Chandoo Mondeti have not spoiled the original movie’s content but he has changed many things to make it more suitable to Telugu audiences.
Highlights:
Story
Naga Chaitanya and the girls
Cinematography
Comedy
Drawback:
Last 20 minutes
Analysis:
“Premam”, like the original Malayalam movie, is focused on three stages in hero's life, three girls he encounters in each stage. The story and screenplay of the movie is almost similar to the original movie.
The hero falling in love with a girl, getting heart break and moving on and failing in love... all are similar to the original story.
Director Chandoo Mondeti has incorporated little changes to make it more commercial which give mixed feelings. While the comedy part is hilarious, the changes also don’t fit perfectly to the sensitive storyline.
The beauty of this movie as well as the original film is the two first two stories. Naga Chaitanya is perfect in the role of a school boy who fell for the beauty of Anupama. This episode has come out so well but it is very short. Still it sets the mood perfectly to involve in the movie. Then the story draws us to the next story where in hero falls for his college lecturer.
While in the original movie Sai Pallavi played this role as Tamil girl, here the role played by Shruti is of Marathi and Tamil origin.
Although Shruti Haasan’s story is dragged a little bit this episode also works out due to sufficient inclusion of comedy. Both Brahmaji and Narra Srinu as lecturers have provided ample amount of comedy here.
Though the chemistry between Chaitu and Shruti is not crackling, they have looked good as a pair. The twist in the story of Shruti is interesting.
Metamorphosis of Naga Chaitanya’s love, his attempts to woo the girls have been shown beautifully too but it seems same care is not taken in the final part. The scenes seem to have shot in a hurried way.
The story has fallen drastically after the Shruti’s episode comes to an end. The final scenes are completely commercialized to satisfy Nagarjuna/Naga Chaitanya’s fans.
I he had shown the third episode more interestingly, the movie would have been a better one. On the whole, it turns out to be satisfying watch.
Bottom-line: Feel Good Love
