Prem Keetanu movie review: Veer Pahariya’s Premalu remake tries to find its own voice, but loses what made the original click

Remaking a widely loved film is always a difficult balancing act. Stay too close to the original and the new version risks feeling unnecessary; change too much and it can lose the qualities that made audiences fall in love with the story in the first place.

That challenge sits at the heart of Prem Keetanu, director Apoorva Singh Karki’s Hindi adaptation of the 2024 Malayalam romantic comedy Premalu.

The film stars Veer Pahariya in the lead, alongside Aafiya Syed, Aparshakti Khurana, Nikhil Vijay and Rakesh Bedi.

While Prem Keetanu retains the central premise of Premalu, the adaptation changes the personalities, atmosphere and emotional dynamics of its characters considerably. Those choices are also where the film appears to run into its biggest problems.

What is Prem Keetanu about?

The story revolves around Vishal, played by Veer Pahariya, a college backbencher struggling to find direction in his career and personal life.

His closest companion is Magan, played by Nikhil Vijay.

Vishal’s otherwise aimless life changes when he meets Suhani, played by Aafiya Syed, and quickly develops feelings for her.

But there is another man in the picture.

Jeet, played by Aparshakti Khurana, is Suhani’s boss and close friend. Successful, polished and seemingly better settled in life, Jeet becomes a potential obstacle in Vishal’s pursuit of Suhani.

The basic setup will be immediately familiar to anyone who has watched Premalu. However, Prem Keetanu makes substantial changes to how these characters behave and interact.

Where Prem Keetanu struggles

One of the major criticisms of the remake is its limited character development.

The narrative moves quickly but rarely gives its central relationships enough time to grow naturally. Vishal and Suhani’s romance, in particular, progresses without enough meaningful conversations to make their increasing emotional investment feel fully earned.

Vishal is also presented differently from the comparatively mellow underachiever at the centre of Premalu.

Here, his inability to understand romantic signals is exaggerated, while later portions of the story introduce greater aggression and emotional confrontation.

Suhani, meanwhile, has comparatively little independent space in the narrative. Her friendships, ambitions and life outside Vishal and Jeet receive limited attention, weakening her presence as a fully developed romantic lead.

Delhi never becomes a character

Setting can be crucial to a romantic comedy, particularly when the story follows young adults building new lives in a city.

Yet Delhi, despite being the backdrop of Prem Keetanu, reportedly struggles to develop a distinct personality within the film.

Much of the action takes place in controlled or enclosed environments, giving several portions of the movie a staged quality rather than the lived-in atmosphere that could have strengthened its romantic and comedic moments.

The movie also relies heavily on background music, verbal cues and conventional song sequences, where stronger dialogue and more organic interactions might have served its characters better.

Aparshakti Khurana’s Jeet lacks enough threat

Aparshakti Khurana plays Jeet, the third point in the film’s central romantic equation.

The actor brings energy to the part, but the writing gives him limited room to become either an especially entertaining rival or a convincing threat to Vishal and Suhani’s relationship.

Instead, Jeet is portrayed more directly as insecure and unpleasant.

This becomes particularly noticeable during the second half. With the romantic rivalry carrying relatively limited tension, the central conflict struggles to generate enough dramatic momentum.

Nikhil Vijay and Rakesh Bedi provide some relief

Among the supporting performances, Nikhil Vijay as Magan provides several of the film’s lighter moments.

His comic timing and punchlines help inject humour into sequences that otherwise lean towards heavier emotions.

Rakesh Bedi, playing Suhani’s father, is another enjoyable presence.

His character’s preference for spending time with Vishal and Magan, rather than embracing the more rigid Jeet, gives the film some of its warmer and more playful moments.

It is one of the adaptation’s additions that brings a different flavour without entirely losing the lighthearted spirit expected from the genre.

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Why comparisons with Premalu are difficult to escape

A remake does not need to reproduce its source material scene for scene. In fact, a successful adaptation often needs to make meaningful changes for a different language, setting and audience.

The difficulty for Prem Keetanu is that it retains enough of Premalu’s structure to invite constant comparisons while changing some of the emotional qualities that gave the original its appeal.

The lighter humour increasingly gives way to confrontations and sentimental sequences.

A heartbreak sequence, for instance, becomes an angry musical outburst. Elsewhere, a misunderstanding triggered by a social media post ultimately results in Vishal physically confronting Jeet with a hockey stick.

These choices give the Hindi adaptation a noticeably more aggressive emotional register.

For viewers who appreciated Premalu for its relaxed humour, awkward romance and imperfect but endearing characters, that tonal shift may prove difficult to overlook.

Prem Keetanu movie review: Does the remake work?

Prem Keetanu has a recognisable romantic-comedy foundation and a supporting cast capable of generating entertaining moments. Nikhil Vijay and Rakesh Bedi, in particular, emerge as notable bright spots, while Aparshakti Khurana works with what the script gives him.

But the central criticism remains the adaptation itself.

By reducing some of the world-building, altering key character dynamics and replacing portions of the original’s understated humour with heightened emotion and aggression, the film struggles to reproduce the easy charm associated with Premalu.

Rather than simply suffering because comparisons with a successful original are inevitable, Prem Keetanu appears to invite those comparisons through the scenes and narrative structure it retains.

The result is a remake that follows a familiar road but changes much of the emotional texture of the journey.