Premam: of Butterflies, Flowers and Love

“Butterflies are mentally mental, so is Love” 

A friend told me recently that I have developed a deep fondness towards stories which revolves around the darker side of human emotions, she suggested that I should watch some of Amole Palekar’s films to appraise the importance of simple moments in life, she then strongly suggested me that I should watch this Malayam film called “Premam”, and simply relocate myself in the world of simple stories.

I watched the film with zero expectations, and what started as a medium to transfer my fondness over darker subjects into simpler ones resulted in a greater emotion; joy. A joy of watching a simple story unfolds in its true origin without any unnecessary attempt to attain any cinematic brilliance, without any characters projecting melodrama at every second stage of life.   

Premam is a coming of age musical drama. The story circles around the life of its principle protagonist, George David, and his quest to find true love. The film is set in the interiors of Kerala. The story narrates three different stages in George’s life; his carefree pursuit of love (atleast that is what he makes us believe), experiencing love and its contiguous emotions, and lastly, identifying to wait for the right moment and the right person to be in love with. The film starts with some interesting acknowledgments, right from God, Sun, Time, Love, Directors, Writers, The complete actor Mohanlal, Mega Star Mamootty, Superstar Rajnikanth, Universal Star Kamal Hassan, Family, Friends, Foes, ex girlfriends. There is nothing extraordinary in the film, which we have not seen before, but Alphonse Puthren, the director of the film engages us with the simplicity of its protagonist and the narrative style of the film along with a smart use of the milieu.

In the first stage of the story, early 2000’s, we are introduced to a young George David, who attempts to convey his feelings to Mary via a handwritten letter. The Chelpark inkbottle is indicative of the time and the atmosphere of the film, the details are precisely presented when George even mentions the date, place and pin code of the city on the upper right side of a blank page. Isn’t it amusing to see such details in an attempted love letter?  George is accompanied by his two friends, Shambu and Koya in his quest to flatter Mary. George lives in a bubble of illusion, an illusion of love that he is desperately in search of, and can only be fulfilled by Mary’s affectionate smile. The romantic song sequence is a subtle hint about the kind of daydreaming George is upto. George’s representation of love is colorful; the kind in which one search for breeze in a December morning, the kind in which one looks for flowers wafting through a flowering tree. George and his friends who often hangout at a common café ordering vetiver flavored lemon water and then pulls up all the tricks up their sleeves; calling Mary via phone booths, roaming around Mary’s house in search of getting a moment where he can spot her for a split second. At one point, George even thinks of sharing her feelings for Mary by delivering a dialogue from the complete actor Mohanlal starrer 1987’s cult film “Thoovanathumbikal”, but his friends dismiss the idea since he recites a dialogue from the other Mohanlal starrer “Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal”. To George’s bad luck, his bubble of illusion burst, by the hands of Mary, when she tells him that he is seeing someone else by the name of George. Devastation surrounds George’s life, the colorful love fades away into monochrome shades, flowers no longer exhibit fragrance, memories of Mary’s smile constantly haunts George, while his friends are busy in the backdrop either smoking or drinking lemon water. There comes a point where all three friends sat and introspects their dismal performance in the academic, and decides to reform their lives.   

     

The Cassette forwards to 2005, the year when “Rajamanikyam” starring the mega star Mamootty released (the directorial debut of producer Anwar Rasheed), George, Shambu and Koya are now college students. The age where adrenaline drives through veins and arteries, muscles itching to stretch out, testosterone-fueled fistfights are common sights. It is the time of full beards, veshtis, cigarettes and alcohol where we see our three friends engage in a fight around mud, and come out winner, walking away with an aura of a world champion boxer. Starts another chapter of love in the life of George when he meets Malar, he is unabashedly smitten by her. The story gets acclimatized into the typical college romance, long walks through corridors, people appearing in slow motions, planning and searching for innovative ideas in the canteen, bunking lectures, eyes searching for the sight of the right person. George seemingly gets Malar to feel the same for himself, and love blossoms. There are hilarious incidents, which gives hints towards the notion of people in love failing to put forward their logical abilities, watch out for the MAVA scene. The simplicity of this stage lies in a shot where the camera follows a plate of Seer Fry accompanied by lemon and onion slices, it is of no major importance, but rather an indicative of the milieu the story is set in.  The dance sequence at the annual college functions gives a feel as if we are watching a superstar’s performance at a single theater. 

Coming to the crux theme of the second phase in George’s life, the magnetic Malar wins hearts with her smile, charm, straightforwardness. She becomes a constant source of happiness in George’s life and vice versa, the two shares a transcendent equation, the monsoons are the prime witnesses of their bond. There are breathtakingly beautiful frames of colors in which George and Malar paints their romance. Malar is synonymous to rains in George’s life, there is split second of shot, that represents Malar’s magnificent smile enclosed with a thundering black cloud, that small moment tells us the beauty of their relation. However, tragedy once again strikes George, where he wished he could relive in those glorious moments of love. Another stage, another story, another phase of moving on in life, but this time, he does not introspect about his life, rather gets his heart broken under unfortunate circumstances. George’s breakdown scene is easily one of the most touching scenes I have seen in recent years, it fondly reminded me of the iconic climax of 1983 released the Universal Star Kamal Hassan starrer “Sadma”, may be now we can guess the acknowledgements at the starting of the film.

We move forward to 2014, the rowdy George has now become an owner of a café, he is in his thirties, and tries to focus more on work rather anything else. The world for George is a different place now; it is only restricted to Café Agape filled with Cupcakes, exotic Pastries, soft breads, fresh coffee beans and attractive red velvet cakes. Destiny in collaboration with life gives George another chance to strike at the game of love; he meets Celine at his café, and shapes an affinity for her. George has evolved with time; he has actually matured in his idea of romance and life. He is not running after love, or acting madly/passionately in love, he is too tired pull off those tricks now, he looks for the bigger picture, longevity with someone. He is Crestfallen for a moment when he learns that Celine is already engaged to Roney (Played by the director Alphonse Puthren), who in turn happens to be a cocaine addict, which gives George a chance to bring back the rowdy version of himself back into existence and sort things out.

The three women; Mary (Anupama Parameswaran), Malar (Sai Pallavi) and Celine (Madonna Sebastian) act as catalyst in George David’s transformation from 2000 to 2014. They bring out a certain trait in George, which individually helps him grow stronger in life, each passing stage we see a different George with a common feature that he is searching for love. If Mary was the early morning breeze George was in search for, Malar becomes the pleasant smell of earth during rains in his life and Celine becomes the much-wanted sunshine he needs in life. However, it is the Magnetic Malar, which brings out the best moments in film.

There is a constant use of butterflies in the film, right from the first stage to the third, and we are told from a heavenly female voice “God unified the flowers which cannot move without butterflies, for you, flowers which can move, he bestowed to all of you butterflies as the emotion of LOVE”. I guess it is a fantasy scenario, which tries to link the role of butterflies with love. I guess that all the shots of colorful butterflies represent the anxiety associated with love (butterflies in the stomach). The kind of feeling, which is difficult to explain to someone else, but regularly persist in our senses. It might the amalgamation of all the chemical and hormonal process resulting in subtle hints to our body that we are acquiring this feeling called Love, and it is as if we see its visual representation in the form of colorful butterflies.        

The nature of any coming of age drama relies solely on the transformation of its central characters, how they mature in life in accordance with the kind of choices they make in life, letting go of certain feelings at certain times in life. Accepting failure/rejection and growing out of it. Premam is full of clichés but that does not make this film ordinary, it is the simplicity of characters and the world in which they reside is what makes them special.

The innocent George David ends up giving us joy with his quest to find love.