Did Alphonse Puthren plan to make another movie before Neram?

Film maker Alphonse Puthren who helmed blockbuster movies like Neram and Premam had planned to direct another movie before these films which made him a household name in both the Malayalam and the Tamil industries. The note posted by a cinema lover named Athul about the details of the movie that was supposed to be directed by Puthren, on a cinema group has now become viral.

Athul begins his post by saying that he had read the interview of Alphonse Puthren by Bharadwaj Rangan on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the release of Premam.

In the interview Alphonse mentions that he had intended to cast actor Jai in the Tamil version of the movie Neram. Later, Alphonse planned a movie with Vaibhav Reddy in the lead role. However, the project didn’t take off due to many reasons.

In the post, Athul recalls an event that happened in the year 2012 when he was a student at the EFL University in Hyderabad. “Actress Archana Kavi who is a close friend of one of my friends visited us at the university when she was at Hyderabad for the pooja ceremony of a movie. She invited my friend to the ceremony next day. I too accompanied her for the pooja at the studio in Jubilee Hills (Annapoorna Avaranam). When I reached there, I immediately noticed actor Vaibhav Reddy. I have been a fan since I watched his movie Saroja. We spoke to the movie’s producer Raj Zacharias who had earlier bankrolled movies like Anwar. I saw on the posters that the director’s name was Alphonse Puthren. The name Puthren made me curious; I assumed that he was a Keralite. He had already directed a short film and it was his first feature film. However, we couldn’t meet Puthren that day,” writes Athul.

After the pooja ceremony, Athul and his friends took Archana Kavi to the iconic Charminar where the actress purchased some pearls. They even enjoyed the classic Hyderabadi biryani before dropping Archana at the airport.

“I have been looking for news reports about that film ever since that day. However, that project didn’t take off due to some reasons. The next time I noticed the name Puthren was next year when his movie starring Nivin Pauly was released. I still remember how I laughed my head off watching that movie at the Rose theater in Mukkam. So, what I have been trying to say is that ‘Neram’ (time) comes in two ways. One is a good time and the other is a bad time. Even if one experiences bad time, can good time be far behind? Congratulations, Mr. Alphonse Puthren!” Athul concludes his Facebook post. 

Alphonse Puthren had directed a music album with Nivin and Nazriya, Nenjodu Cherthu. He then decided to cast the same pair for Neram, after they considered Jai and Vaibhav. Later, his thrid project Premam released on May 29, 2015 and was a sensation.