Premam Telugu

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of Malayalam Premam, so much that I am one among those who felt that casting Shruthi in place of Sai Pallavi was a blasphemy. So I cannot view and review this one as an original.

Now that the expectations are set, let me start the review. Premam is a collection of three love stories of a guy in three phases of life. That immediately reminds us of Naa Autograph. Only difference is that this one is in a lighter vein mostly and when it touches you it leaves you with a lasting impact.

First story is hands down better handled and presented in Telugu. Director took the skeleton of the story from original and added very interesting narration. Anupama Paramaeswaran, as seen in A Aa movie, is very expressive and looked much better than in original.

Second story, as many expected, could not be made at least as good as the original. I think the makers understood this and made it more pacy by removing few scenes from the original. Sai Pallavi as Malar was the heart and soul of this story in Malayalam. Shruthi is totally different but has her own charm. She looked her career best gorgeous in this one. The scene that was trolled most on the internet was thankfully cut from the movie. The dance scene was a let down partly because Telugu audience already know about Shruthi's dance talent while in Malayalam Sai Pallavi's dance comes as a pleasant surprise. So in conclusion, this story has been dealt with deftly by increasing pace and Shruthi is definitely a huge plus here.

Third story is crisp and sweet in Malayalam. But it looked dragged in Telugu but lot of humor is added in this story to make proceedings interesting. Madonna Sebastian looked good in her role but owing to her light weight gain, she did not look as young as she is supposed to for this story. The ending makes up for everything just like in Malayalam.

Coming to Chay(Naga Chaitanya), he will surely walk away with so many accolades with this movie. He acted very animated and looked very boyish in first story. Looked very rugged, stylish and untamed in second story. In the final one he looked very matured and settled but a little bit inconsistent in drinking scenes. He made sure his dances does not become a laughing stock. His styling was perfect. In short, one can say that Chay knew how important this movie was and he was very serious about it. His intro in second story is to watch out for. The placing of the Nagarjuna's song remix there was the icing on the cake. There are numerous references to Nagarjuna's movies and Chay's movies very aptly included in the narration.

And oh yeah the two cameos are whistle worthy, especially the first one. The narration by Nagarjuna is good too. Music is pretty good like the original and will haunt you for sure. The only complaint I have is that the life like treatment and visuals are missing in Telugu. Malayalam Premam looks more natural while Telugu looks like a proper cinema in a good way. I can not speak for the people who have not watched the original but for rest, this remake is still a must watch to appreciate Chandoo Mondeti's talent in making the Telugu Premam his own and in a very good way.