Perariyathavar Malayalam Movie
In his new film 'Perariyathavar', director Dr. Biju turns his camera towards the slime and gunk of a bustling city, where numerous despondent lives get stamped beneath affluence. Denied of the basic rights to live, the destitute thrash about to stay alive, even as they are starved, abused and often left for dead.
Suraj Venjarammoodu plays a municipal sweeper in the film, whose whole world revolves around his son (Govardhan). Not enrolled in a school, the boy accompanies his dad to work, and together they remain spectators of the misery and gloom that pervade the lives of scores of nameless people around them.
There are often occasions when you want a film to touch your hearts, having seen the very noble purpose that it has, and yet it merely passes by making no impact whatsoever on your soul that you had laid bare before it.
'Perariyathavar' does occasionally move you, but very rarely does it slice through your spirit, evoking a compassion for its key characters.
This peripheral involvement is all that the film manages to evoke in the viewer, and it's here that the sudden realization dawns on you that this film that tells the tale of the nameless is desolately soulless. It simply isn't enough that a film throws open before you a cultural milieu to explore; it is equally important that it cautiously places on it an array of personages who robustly draw you into their midst, inviting you to be one among them. In 'Perariyathavar' this sadly doesn't take place.
The issues that the movie deals with are multifold, and it even looks at times as if the film has got in its mouth much more than it can chew on. Perhaps it is this lack of focus that leads to none of these individual tale trails leading to a culmination, or on second thought, one even wonders if there is an attempt to stay close to life itself in these fragmentary accounts. Thus it is, that the film makes an effort to throw light on diverse themes as displacement, marginalization, gender politics, urbanization and what not, and ultimately leave a mark in neither.
There are the chestnuts as well, and in a film that takes itself as seriously as it does in 'Perariyathavar', this does come across as a rude shock. Granted that they are sparse, but they still feel way out of place, when the concerns are as grave as those being discussed in the film.
Suraj Venjarammoodu is without doubt a revelation in the film, and his welcome departure from comedy is one of the few reasons why I would recommend you to watch this film. There are a few other strong performances as well, like that of Indrans, Sona Nair and of Nedumudi Venu, and it should be stated that these gifted actors give their respective roles the very best, coming up with stellar performances.
While it remains that it shouldn't be the responsibility of the film maker to offer resolutions, when all that a film puts forward are random revelations, it becomes a prerequisite that these disclosures are downright effectual. I have this strapping conviction that Dr. Biju might have opted on purpose to take on the role of a mere onlooker in 'Perariyathavar'. Whatever be the case, it is this aloofness that mars the film, despite the very righteous intents that it has in mind.
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