Prem Tame is Pablo’s (Soumya Mukherjee) journey from giddying puppy love to falling in love with a puppy. The film starts with Pablo’s first day to college. A rookie in matters of the heart, Pablo wants to be a poet and plunges headlong into love with the first girl who holds him tight in distress. But even before romance can blossom and the boy could kiss the girl Arshi (Sweta Mishra), the college dadas (read anti-love squad) mess with their happiness and shoo Arshi away.

In walks Raji (Sushmita Chatterjee), a researcher and student activist who gheraos their Principal Ponchu and quotes Jorge Luis Borges to stand by the college love birds. And before you know it, Pablo clumsily falls in love once again and starts living with Raji and Khogen, Raji’s adopted mutt. The chaos continues with Pablo’s pious mother (Chaiti Mitra) leaving the house and Arshi resorting to intense jealousy.

The film showcases the statuesque colonial heritage on the banks of Hooghly. The grandeur of buildings, the strand, parks and cemetery of Chandannagar make for visually appealing frames, best enjoyed on the big screen. The songs of the films are already popular and nice, but sometimes too long. But the beauty of the love story is in the backdrop – a small town — away the hustle and bustle of Kolkata. Small towns have their quirks and their unique sensibility that may seem outdated for city dwellers. However, such places also retain a level of simplicity that Kolkata has deserted ages ago. While that simplicity comes clear through the ‘pasher barir boudi (Antara) or police officer (Anirban Bhattacharya), this is also where the film falters. The characters, especially Raji, look too urbane to fit into the character. While she has a beautiful presence on screen, she is not totally convincing as a researcher or an activist. Soumya, on the other hand, fits perfectly into the character of Pablo, a confused lover and wannabe poet. His confusion is well channeled by the director when Raji jokes that his name could be prefixed to a Neruda, Picasso or Escobar. Pablo’s character is a little more well defined than the others. Sweta also looks pretty as a girl from a small town with all its vices and virtues.

The show stealer, however, of Prem Tame is Khogen, aka Tommy — a desi dog, who enters just before the interval. While the film plays up all the cute stuff about canines, it also explores the nuances of man-animal bonding in the second half. When the myth of unconditional love bursts between two humans, Khogen stands out. The film embarks on a new journey in the second half that involves the dynamics of animal lovers and animal avoiders, and in no time it touches the right emotional chords of the audience. As a result, Khogen walks away with a piece of your heart.

The film has its shortcomings. But one has to watch it for Khogen and an honest effort to explore quintessential Bengali sentiments that many films often ignore, in a bid to appear smart.