Sai Pallavi was not director Alphonse Puthren's first choice to play Malar in Premam

In an AMA session on Facebook, filmmaker Alphonse Puthren answered quite a few questions by his fans and followers. One of the questions was regarding the Tamizh connection in Premam since Malar was originally a Tamizhan in the movie. He went on to clarify that he had initially written the character of Malar for Asin who was supposed to be from Fort Kochi. He could not contact her and later approached Sai Pallavi, who was roped in to play Malar. 

Alphonse Puthren's original choices for Premam

In an AMA hosted by Director Alphonse Puthren, a fan asked, "I noticed in your past films, the influence of Tamil language eg. malar character and Tamil background songs etc. I am sure that during your Chennai life, friend circle and surrounding might influence you, that reflected in your movies as well. How do you see the influence of Tamil language in Malayalam movies and what is your opinion if malar character is replaced with a Malayalam speaking character?"

To this, the director wrote back saying "In the beginning when I wrote the script it (Malar's character) was Malayalam. I wanted Asin to act in Malar's Malayalam version. The character was from Fort Kochi." He then said that he and actor Nivin Pauly tried getting in touch with her, and gave up eventually. "This is in the beginning stage of the script. I studied in Ooty when I was too young and then did my film studies in Chennai. That is why the strong Tamizh connection" he added. Sai Pallavi and Nivin Pauly's track became one of the most appreciated and celebrated parts of the movie. 

A little about Premam

Premam was written and directed by  Alphonse Puthren and was produced by Anwar Rasheed under the banner of Anwar Rasheed Entertainments. The movie starring Madonna Sebastian, Anupama Parameswaran, Sai Pallavi, and Nivin Pauly, was made on a budget of 4crores. The movie released on May 29, 2015, and went on to collect 60 crores. The music for the movie was scored by Rajesh Murugesan and was remade in Telugu with the same name, with Naga Chaitanya, Shruti Haasan, Anupama Parameswaran, and Madonna Sebastian in the lead. 

IMAGE CREDITS: SAI PALLAVI INSTAGRAM