Suresh Narayanan's Premanjali is a family-romance-drama which spins around a contemporary thread - of youngsters from diverse backgrounds falling in love.
The film evades the dynamic concourses of new-age story-telling and transports the audience instantly to the melancholic drudgery of the mega-serial realm.
Hari (played by Haris Kamal) and Mythili (Remya Sree) try hard to bring in vigour to the flat script, also by the director. The effort by the all-new team of actors namely Harikesh, Mohsin Majeed, Manasi Joshi and Jasniya Jagdeesh is but laudable.
The scenes seldom explore the quintessential dynamics of a family and its aspirations. Rather, it repeatedly plunges to the tried-and-tested formula of the 1990 films, dishing out things with little or no story layering.
Some relief, however, comes from the camera and art department. A lot of dance and music and the beauty of traditional art forms are captured with all essence intact. Senior artistes like Devan, Bhagyalakshmi, Anoop Chandran, Babu Namboodiri, Geetha Vijayan, Ambika Mohan etc. play the extended family. Shweta Menon plays the role of a tantalising Subhadra who broke the norms of family in her youth.
The structure and the narrative tilt to the serial genre but the dialogues harp back to the golden age of professional theatre. The music gives some relief with appreciable renderings by Madhu Balakrishnan and Najeem Arshad.
Premanjali is produced by Stephy Cheriyakkal.
Rating: 2/5