Remakes are tough beasts to handle, especially now when audiences don’t want to see the same film faithfully filmed in another language.
But wait. This one actually works. Prem Keetanu is not a copy-and-paste, what a waste, version of the Malayalam hit Premalu. Director Apoorv Singh Karki, whose earlier anti-rape film Sirf Ek Banda Kafi Hai shares a direct affiliation to the series, Hunkkaar The Roar that released this week, lets his hair down with this blithe deceptively frothy take on love aaj kal….
Or the swimmingly breezy who-needs-commitment-when-you-have-dating-apps rom-com with enough juice to keep the glow going with the flow even when we know the ending.
The main characters seem believable, even relatable, as they are played by actors who are not glamorous, unattainable stars. Veer Paharia, debutant Afia Sayed and the underrated Aparshakti Khurrana who I firmly believe to be a better actor than his brother Ayushman , give off the nostalgic vibes of Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha and Asrani from Basu Chatterjee’s Chotisi Baat, although Prem Keetanu is not in any way related to the Basu classic which boasted of some great songs.
I am afraid the songs in Prem Keetanu are not only overplayed in the narrative, almost to the point of seeming manifestations of directorial insecurity, they are also very aspirational: it’s like a soundtrack composed by a bunch of schoolboys for a play based on young sing-along love.
The narrative tends to get over-cocky at times. But that quality works in the film’s favour, for what we see here are a bunch of over-reachers who take themselves much too seriously. Veer Paharia, who made a reasonably positive impact in Sky Force, is cast here as Vishal, a small-towner more interested in dating than studies.
There is an interesting dynamic between Vishal and his roomie Mangal (the Dhanush lookalike Nikhil Vijay) which assigns the best friend a more creative function than the normal sidekicks we see accompanying the hero.
The “hero” is not so much a hero as a social climber looking for ways to circumvent hard work. A sort of Rakesh Roshan from Kaamchor transposed to the current times.
The ladder-climbing is not spotlighted. But we constantly feel its presence.
All through there is a sense of a promise of something more than a mere colourful dummy-romance, a promise that the film never quite fulfils. But when it girds its loins and gathers its wits, the narrative gets involving
I especially savoured the lengthy love-confession sequence shot aesthetically at a roadside café where Vishal finally confesses his love to the flabbergasted Suhani. Both the actors do their jobs effectively when the screenplay is not over-conscious of its obligations.
Debutant Afiya Sayeed is no Janhvi Kapoor, and thank the stars for that! We need women in our cinema who don’t look like they spend every waking moment in a gym. Afiya handles the Big Moment at the roadside café with a panache belying her experience.
Another actor who leaves a mark is Rakesh Bedi. He doesn’t have much to do—the screenplay focusses on the love triangle, not wasting time on building on the periphery—but Bedi shines in two sequences, one with booze and the other with gyan.
Prem Keetanu doesn’t have anything startling or pathbreaking to say about love or life. It circumscribes student life vivaciously. More importantly, it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
I enjoyed the fruitful frivolity of this film—an intelligent savoir faire version of the dumbed-down Don’t Be Shy— far more than the recent pompous offerings threatening to change our lives.
This one only wants to change its protagonist’s aimlessness life and dating habits . There is an ongoing joke about characters acting serious before revealing they were joking. Prem Keetanu moves in the opposite direction: it has something valuable to say under all the fun and games. Take it or leave it.
