Nothing Wrong With Drawing Inspiration: Cheran Discusses Premam’s And Autograph’s Similarities

During the week of Valentine’s Day twenty years ago, the film Autograph (2004), directed by Cheran, hit theaters. The effect of the film was encapsulated in a review published in the Kalki magazine upon its premiere. “Autograph will steal several days of sleep for viewers of any age,” the article said.

Ten years later, Alphonse Puthren’s Premam (2015), which chronicles the coming-of-age experience of Nivin Pauly’s character George David, was published. It explores similar themes of first love, collegiate romance, and heartbreak. In an interview, Cheran recalled that since Autograph and Premam were so similar, a lot of people had advised him to sue Puthren.

Numerous filmmakers and media representatives came up to me, highlighting the remarkable similarity between Premam and Autograph, implying that my narrative was transformed into Alphonse Puthren’s movie. They even urged me to assert my rights in light of Premam’s achievements. There are a number of other parallels between the two movies outside of the main story. George begins to feel something for Malar (played by Sai Pallavi), a Tamil lady who takes a guest lectureship at George’s institution in Kerala, at the same time that Senthil moves to Kerala for his college studies and falls in love with a Malayali woman called Lathika (played by Gopika), he added.

Furthermore, he said, “I didn’t take offense when people mentioned how similar the two movies were. One may get inspiration in many places, not only when viewing foreign films. Our films are also a source of inspiration for Indian filmmakers. So shouldn’t we be pleased when someone makes a movie that is inspired by ours? Why shouldn’t we see it favorably? I’m happy to believe that Autograph contributed to Premam’s success.

Cheran also said that, after his viewing of Premam, he spoke with Puthren and mentioned that the two movies had different tastes. I explained to him that while the main plots of the films may have come from one source, the way the characters were portrayed and their journey provided distinct experiences. Consequently, it would be incorrect to say that Premam completely borrowed from Autograph.