Pyaar Prema Kalyanam has all the right ingredients to discuss a misogynistic social convention while also providing enough moments for a lighthearted relationship/family drama. Tamil cinema is no stranger to lighthearted films that also critique the conventions plaguing our family structure. Filmmakers like K Bhagyaraj, V Sekhar, Visu, and Pandiarajan have built entire careers off of such films. But in order to carry the duality of social commentary and lighthearted family drama, the central characters, despite their need to reflect the effervescence of the genre, have to feel like real individuals with complexity and depth. Pavi and Elan feel like caricatures, like someone’s vague idea of how “cute movie couples” should behave. There is a defiant plasticity to the characters, an issue which gets intensified with the film’s outdated attempts to be relatable to a contemporary audience. With an almost pitiable desperation the film tries to pander with memes and references that are severely outdated. At one crucial scene, the film almost hands you over the meme template and asks you to edit it in your head. Pavi challenges Elan to move in with her during a call that is being live streamed, and in the background, the famous interview scene from Mudhalvan plays out. Its not enough that they frequently cut to the visuals on the TV, every character recreates the scene, and reference the Mudhalvan dialogues as well.
In another instance, we are forced to watch the characters doomscroll through painfully unfunny memes and social media comments about what is going on inside the film. Pyaar Prema Kalyanam belongs to a new class of films that are simply too embarrassed to be a film and ironically think it’s cool to be social media “content” instead. In those few moments when Elan isn’t trying to be “bubbly” and “likeable” he shows traces of a competent actor. If only he could shed the rigid idea of the star he wants to be and surrenders to the actor he is clearly capable of being. Saanve somehow provides both a groundedness and exoticism to her character. The actor’s attempts to dub in her own voice is commendable but she adds to the recent unfortunate trend in Tamil cinema where we are expected to believe that the female lead is a Chennai-born girl-next-door but then she clearly speaks Tamil with a heavy accent that every other character in the film is somehow oblivious to. The most memorable presence in the film are Radikaa Sarathkumar and MS Bhaskar, who power through bland dialogues with the sheer weight of their experiences.
What could have been an interesting commentary on a social custom, gets reduced to a plot device. There is a template “misogynist husband” character played by Yogi Babu, a template third act heart-to-heart conversation scene where Elango Kumaravel spells out the theme of the film, and there’s also plenty of “bothsideism” that reflects the film’s lack of interest in its own core theme. There is no way to prove this but several scenes feel like they were written by AI. The scary thing is that the makers, with their evident corporate sensibilities and the vigour with which they embrace artificiality, might take this as a compliment. Pyaar Prema Kalyanam takes an interesting theme, marries It to a wholesome genre, and gets way too enthusiastic about turning it into a corporatised, formulaic, social media content, and thereby loses its way and our interest.
RATINGS: 2.5/5
Pro : Yuvaraj
*PYAAR PREMA KALYANAM CAST AND CREW*
*நடிகர்கள் :*
இளன் – இளன்
சான்வி மேக்னா – பவித்ரா
ராதிகா சரத்குமார் – சந்திரா ராணி
எம்.எஸ்.பாஸ்கர் – ராஜசேகர்
யோகி பாபு – வினோத்
செந்தில் – நதாஸ் தாத்தா
கீதா கைலாசம் – நிர்மலா
இளங்கோ குமரவேல் – சீனிவாசன்
மாறன் @ கணேஷ்
டீப்ஸ் – மைக்கேல்
“ராஜா ராணி” பாண்டியன் – வழக்கறிஞர்
ராஜாமணி – ஆயா
மோகன பிரியா – இளன் அண்ணி
ஆருஷ் – இளன் பிரதர்
*தொழில்நுட்பக் குழு:*
இயக்கம் & நடிப்பு – இளன்
தயாரிப்பு – ஸ்ரீநிதி சாகர்
வழங்குபவர் – நெட்ஃப்ளிக்ஸ்
இசை – யுவன் சங்கர் ராஜா
கதை மற்றும் திரைக்கதை – நிவேதிதா போஹங்கர்
கூடுதல் திரைக்கதை & வசனங்கள் – இளன் , ஹரிஷ் GY
DOP – தினேஷ் கே பாபு
படத்தொகுப்பு – பிரதீப் இ ராகவ்
தயாரிப்பு வடிவமைப்பாளர் – ஏ. கோபி ஆனந்த் , ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ் கலிங்கா
CEO – ரைஸ் ஈஸ்ட் என்டர்டெயின்மென்ட் – கேஎஸ்ஆர் சந்துரு
நிர்வாக தயாரிப்பாளர் – குமார் கிருஷ்ணசாமி
ஒலி வடிவமைப்பு – சச்சின் சுதாகரன் , ஹரிஹரன் எம் (Sync Cinema)
பாடல் வரிகள் – இளன்
மக்கள் தொடர்பு : யுவராஜ்
*CAST :*
Elan – Elan
Saanve Megghana – Pavithra
Radhika Sarathkumar – Chandra Rani
MS Bhaskar – Rajasekar
Yogi Babu – Vinoth
Senthil – Nadhas Thatha
Geetha Kailasam – Nirmala
Elango Kumaravel – Srinivasan
Maaran – Ganesh
Deepz – Michael
“Raja Rani” Pandian – Advocate
Rajamani – Aaya
Mohana Priya – Elan Sister – in – law
Aarush – Elan Brother
*CREW :*
Direction – Elan
Produced by – Sreenidhi Sagar
Presented by -Netflix
Music – Yuvan Shankar Raja
Story and Screenplay by – Nivedita Pohankar
Additional Screenplay & Dialogues – Elan , Harish GY
DOP – Dinesh K Babu
Editor – Pradeep E Raghav
Production Designer – A. Gopi Anand , Srinivas Kalinga
CEO – Rise East Entertainment – KSR Chandru
Executive Producer – Kumar Krishnaswamy
Sound Design – Sachin Sudhakaran , Hariharan M (Sync Cinema)
Lyrics- Elan
PRO – Yuvraaj
