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Star Cast: Veer Pahariya, Aafiya Sayed, Aparshakti Khurrana, Nikhil Vijay
Director: Apoorv Singh Kirki
What’s Good: College sequence in the first 15 minutes of the film
What’s Bad: Performances and story execution.
Loo Break: Honestly, anytime
Watch or Not?: Skip and watch Premalu instead.
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 157 Minutes
User Rating:
Veer Pahariya’s second film, Prem Keetanu, has been a topic of discussion on social media ever since its teaser was unveiled. Many netizens pointed out that it is a remake of the Malayalam film Premalu. However, lead actor Veer Pahariya claimed that it is not a remake. The film has now been released in theatres, clashing with the giant Drishyam: The Conclusion, and it is for the audience to decide whether it is a remake.
The Veer Pahariya-starrer also marks the debut of actress Aafiya Sayed. Directed by Apoorv Singh Karki and written by Deepak Kingrani, the film’s IMDb profile also credits Girish AD as a writer. Girish AD is the writer and director of the Malayalam film Premalu. So, does Veer Pahariya’s “not a remake” claim strike a chord with the audience, or is it just another love saga without a soul?
Prem Keetanu Movie Review: Script Analysis
The film follows Vishal Thakur (Veer Pahariya) as he struggles to find love and a job in life. The film begins with a glimpse of Vishal’s college life, where he parties hard and is shown getting scammed in the name of love. His college life ended in failure after he was not placed. He then moves to Delhi to prepare for the GRE to move to the USA. Here, he meets Suhani (Aafiya Sayed) and Ranjeet (Aparshakti Khurrana). He falls for Suhani, who has a stable job and is also liked by her boss, Ranjeet.
The film’s core plot is a remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Premalu. Prem Keetanu has additional scenes, but the characters and the main plot remain the same. The film also changes the original by altering how the protagonists get from Point A to Point B, and that is pretty much the undoing of the film.
Prem Keetanu Movie Review: Star Performance
Veer Pahariya plays the role Naslen played in the original. He has shown much improvement from his debut film, Sky Force, especially in the first half. However, he shows little promise or range as the emotions grow more complex in the second half. Debutant Aafiya Sayed is decent for her first film. Aparshakti Khurrana, as the insecure and just-joking kind of boss, is good in his role and actually lights up the screen with his presence. Nikhil Vijay, who plays the best friend, is quite limited by the script despite being terrific in his sequences.
Overall, the performances do not have much impact due to a poorly structured script. Most performances lack nuance, even if you view them through the lens of individual scenes.
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Prem Keetanu Movie Review: Direction, Music
What the film really struggles with is its flow and plot focus. One of the poorly written characters is that of Suhani. She is supposedly an intelligent and confident girl, yet is treated as a woman incapable of picking up on social cues. At one point, Vishal drops Suhani off in Lucknow from Delhi on his bike (without a helmet). She even offers to help him arrange 5 lakh for his visa requirement, and they chat way all day and night. There are little to no scenes where we see Suhani’s POV and independence. After all this, when he proposes to her, she asks, “What signals did I give you to make you feel this way?”
The way every scene was treated made it feel like they were written independently by different groups of people rather than as part of a structured story. The film tries really hard to bring in the humor, but it really falls flat in execution. Barring the opening sequence, where we see Veer Pahariya and Nikhil Vijay navigating four years of college, the humor does not work. While the film is not an entirely scene-by-scene remake of Premalu, it would have benefited from actually sticking to the original. Prem Keetanu tried hard not to be a remake and used their brains to get from Point A to Point B in the story. However, the writing is bland and illogical, with forced emotion.
The film has music, a little too much of it. The makers have inserted dream sequences and songs as transitions in the film. After a point, it gets too much, making you sigh when a song pops up, and the protagonist walks and dances around in pretty clothes.
Prem Keetanu Movie Review: The Last Word
The film feels more like the highlights you watch of a sports match after it is over. You get the gist but not the true emotions of the game, and Prem Keetanu is exactly that. Each scene seems to be independent and is in a rush to just wrap up.
It’s been a few hours since I watched the film, and I still cannot wrap my head around the emotions of the protagonists. Veer Pahariya’s Vishal is a man who falls in love with any girl who even smiles at him, and it seems the same with Suhani. But what made Suhani fall in love with Vishal, aside from her father’s (Rakesh Bedi) poor speech, remains a mystery. If you end up watching the film, let me know in the comments whether you could make sense of it, which was honestly an attack on the audience’s intelligence and emotions.
Prem Keetanu Trailer
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