Persiakkaran Malayalam Movie

'Persiakkaran' is a melodramatic tragedy that sedates you in no time. Which is why, for all the good work that must have gone into it, the film still feels as ersatz than ever. Oct 19, 2014 By Veeyen

Asok R Nath's 'Persiakkaran' is a mopey affair that gets increasingly frustrating with every passing moment. The characters in it lack individuality and the film falls short on insight, which makes 'Persiakkaran' a trite and shallow film that leaves you unconvinced.

Varmaji (Mukesh) is an affluent NRK based in the UAE, who runs a charitable institution that opens a gateway to heaven, for several of those expatriates who have had their lives destroyed after having landed in the Middle East. Aravind (Adil Ibrahim) who works as an RJ, runs into a call girl Aparna (Sudakshina), and starts following her around.

It's extremely difficult to chalk out a story from 'Persiakkaran', since it's more like a series of anecdotes that have been stitched together in no particular fashion. There are a few occasions when the events almost tend to rake up your interest, but for the most part, it's a royal disaster from the word 'go'.

Ashok R Nath has floundered real bad this time around, and it's only with a sense of disbelief that you can watch Aparna's story unfurl in flashback. This is a tale that totally belongs to a long bygone era, and in 2014, its way out of place and time.

The camp that Varmaji has set up for the less fortunate ones, is headed by Becker Sahib (Kochupreman), who harbours no hopes of returning home. There is a man who keeps mouthing lines from a play in English, a young girl who has been deceived and who has ended up pregnant, and a few others who have tasted the sour side the Middle East dream.

The film does focus on three generations - Becker Sahib, Varmaji and Aravind - of Malayalis who had landed in the Middle East, with hopes of striking gold. A few fleeting points on expatriate life are made here and there, but the film entirely fails to take a stand or leave a definite mark.

When Varmaji hints at a romance, you start fumbling for your keys in your pocket and get set to head home at the earliest. We do get the idea of a man and a woman sharing a flat and remaining the best of friends, but it has been portrayed dreadfully in 'Persiakkaran'.

There are also a few songs that follow in quick succession that make the going even tougher for the viewer. Suffering from an already diminished level of interest, you start wondering if this slog through wackiness is gonna take much longer.

If you ask me if there has been something about the film that has left me impressed, I would say it's the highly impressive performance by Adil Ibrahim, who dons the lead role in the film. Sudakshina however, does not prove to be the right foil to Asil's endeavours, and at times fails to get the right act in place. Things are further spoiled by some disastrous dubbing as well. Perhaps in no other film have you watched Kochu Preman perform this brilliantly, and here is yet another actor whose potentials have been so under-explored.

'Persiakkaran' is a melodramatic tragedy that sedates you in no time. Which is why, for all the good work that must have gone into it, the film still feels as ersatz than ever.