On Monday, the trailer of Prem Keetanu was dropped, leaving many unimpressed. To rub salt in the wounds, fans of the Malayalam film Premalu realised that it had been removed from OTT ahead of the Hindi remake’s release. Fans fumed at the film’s absence from the platform and took to social media to vent their frustration.
Prem Keetanu trailer released
A minute-long trailer for Prem Keetanu was released on Monday. Directed by Apoorv Singh Karki, the film stars Veer Pahariya, Aafiya Sayed, Aparshakti Khurana, Rakesh Bedi, Nikhil Vijay, and others. While the film follows the basic beats of Premalu, it also veers slightly by having the protagonists meet in college rather than later in life. It will be released in theatres on October 2.
“People are saying this is not a premalu remake. But this is official remake of premalu (but they killed the original movie) so even the premalu fans doesn’t know it’s a premalu remake,” joked one person on YouTube, responding to the trailer. The trailer was so different in tone that many others wondered whether it was really a remake of Premalu, as initially marketed.
Premalu fans fume about its OTT removal
Premalu was available to stream on JioHotstar in Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi, but it has now been removed from the platform. Fans were doubly unimpressed to learn this news. “But removing the original version from the OTT platform for this reason is absolute nonsense. #Premalu,” wrote one X (formerly Twitter) user reacting to the trailer. The Telugu dubbed version is still available to stream on Aha.
“Why for this you have to remove premalu from ott?” questioned another. An X user wrote, “Premalu will not work in hindi anyway. Why this circus of removing the original from OTT and all as if that’s going to save them?” One fan fumed, “Premalu has been removed from Hotstar. @BhavanaStudios get the film back to some other OTT platform ASAP pls.” A fan summed it up with, “Removing #Premalu from the official streaming service is really absurd. No remake can match even 1% of what #Premalu achieved.”
About the Malayalam hit Premalu
Premalu is a 2024 romantic comedy directed by Girish AD and produced by Bhavana Studios, Fahadh Faasil and Friends, and Working Class Hero. It stars Naslen and Mamitha Baiju, alongside Sangeeth Prathap, Akhila Bhargavan, Shyam Mohan, Meenakshi Raveendran, Mathew Thomas and Althaf Salim. It tells the story of young Malayalis who find friendship and love in each other after migrating to Hyderabad for jobs. A sequel was announced, but it has been delayed.