pallavi debuted as a main female lead in the 2015 movie premam alongside nivin pauly. she played the role of a malar, a college teacher. she went on to win several "best female debut" awards that year, including the filmfare award for best female debut – south. premam grossed an estimated sum of ₹60 crore (us$8.7 million) worldwide making it one of the highest-grossing malayalam films of all time. it became the first malayalam film to run for over 200 days in tamil nadu.