It also features with an ensemble supporting cast including Madonna Sebastian, Anupama Parameswaran, Shabareesh Varma, Krishna Sankar, Siju Wilson, Ananth Nag, Vinay Forrt, Soubin Shahir, Sharafudheen and others.
Premam was released on May 29, 2015 to widespread critical acclaim with praise towards the cast performance (especially Nivin and Pallavi), story, screenplay, cinematography, music, background score, editing and direction by Alphonse Puthren.
At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, Premam was nominated in seven categories, winning Best Female Debut (Sai Pallavi) and Best Male Playback Singer (Vijay Yesudas for "Malare").
At the 1st IIFA Utsavam, it received nine nominations and won four, including Best Performance in a Comic Role, Best Music Direction, Best Lyricist and Best Male Playback Singer.
George along with his friends, Shambu and Koya, often follows Mary around in an attempt to talk to her but he is afraid of her father, who beats up boys pestering his daughter.
The seriousness of life finally sinks in when George, Shambu, and Koya introspect about their academic future after a dismal performance in their year-end examination.
Madonna was initially a playback singer, trained under Carnatic and western music, had sung for composers Deepak Dev and Gopi Sundar.
[citation needed] Alphonse initially gave her an offer to act in his film which she refused, and after six years, he phoned to Pallavi, in which she thought him as a stalker and wanted to lodge a police complaint on him.
[20][verification needed] In an interview, Alphonse revealed that Asin was initially considered for the character Malar, played by Pallavi, following a fan's request.
[40] Premam was originally scheduled for a release on the occasion of Christmas (25 December 2014),[6] however, following the post-production delays, the film was postponed to 13 February 2015, in order to coincide with the Valentine's Day weekend.
According to Gokul Nath, the head of social media marketing company DigiFaktory, for which Premam became their first venture, he stated that "From the very beginning, I and Alphonse [Puthren] had a need for an element of suspense.
[57][58] The film was further re-released in Chennai by Jazz Cinemas along with Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Raja Rani, for the occasion of Valentine's Day weekend for 10–16 February 2017.
[68] IB Times's reviewer Nicy V.P rated the film 5/5 and stated: "Premam is nothing but entertainment at its best and the movie deserves nothing less than a standing ovation."
From background score, songs, sound departments, art, cinematography, editing, costumes and others have come together to make Alphonse Putharen's dream a reality.
"[69] Veeyen of Nowrunning.com rated the movie 3.5 out of 5 and wrote: "'Premam' elevates Alphonse Puthren onto a pedestal of sharp film makers who have figured out the actual potential of the medium that cinema is.
[71] Paresh C Palicha of Rediff.com rated the film 3 in a scale of 5 and said, "With Premam, Alphonse Putheran proves that he has the knack of presenting themes that have blockbuster written all over.
"[72] Aswin J Kumar of The Times of India rated the film 3.5/5 and said that Premam is a "movie with a high likeability quotient because it unearths the beauty in trifles.
"[73] Litty Simon of Malayala Manorama rated 3 out of 5 stars and highly appreciated Alphonse Puthraren's direction, cinematography, music, lead performances, editing and humour.
It is humour at its best", "the director has rightly kept his word of expecting nothing big and aptly sticks with the tagline 'The second film in the history of world cinema with nothing fresh'", says the reviewer.
"[75] Rejith RG of Kerala Kaumudi said, "Filled with unforgettable moments, characters and song sequences, Premam is a delight to watch.
"[76] Mythily Ramachandran of Gulf News called it "A delightful entertainer with Nivin Pauly in the lead" and said, "Premam is a fun film, a simple love story of the boy next door, like its tagline that reads 'nothing extraordinary in it'.
"[77] Pramod Thomas of The New Indian Express concluded his review saying, "'Premam' is a watchable flick for its realistic treatment of the plot, performance of the newcomers, wits, good songs and for Nivin Pauly.
[81] Sreedhar Pillai also reported ₹10.3 crore (US$1.2 million) as the film's collection in Kerala alone within the first week of release, adding that it broke the previous records of Keralavarma Pazhassiraja, Drishyam and Bangalore Days.
[101][102][103][104][105] In Apsara theatre in Kozhikode, a group of audience turned violent and vandalized after some minor technical snag disturbed the screening of the film.
The police action was a part of Operation Gurukulam following complaints that students of various schools and colleges were skipping classes to watch the film.
The film stars Naga Chaitanya and Shruthi Hassan in the lead role reprising Nivin and Pallavi and was directed by Chandoo Mondeti.
[108] In July 2015, reports have surfaced that Premam will be remade in Tamil,[109] with Vijay Sethupathi and Hansika Motwani in the lead role reprising Nivin and Pallavi and Dhanush had bagged the remake rights.
[113] Many fans tagged Chaitanya and Shruti's performance as "overacting" and claimed that he and she failed to perfectly reprise Nivin and Pallavi's role from the original.
[120] Premam opened to rave response from celebrities with prominent members from Tamil industry: notably Selvaraghavan,[121] Shankar[122] and Vijay[123] lauding Pauly's performance and direction.
The lead actresses in Premam, Sai Pallavi,[124] Anupama Parameswaran and Madonna Sebastian became overnight celebrities and carved a niche for themselves in the South Indian film industry.