Perariyathavar

The movie Perariyathavar has received the best film award in the Environment Conservation/ Preservation category. And it deserves to be appreciated for that aspect of the movie. The movie is looking in to the lives of those under privileged people who don’t have a home or a proper job. And in that journey, Dr. Biju includes all those socially relevant issues related to waste management and issues faced by the homeless people.

Our main protagonists are a father and son. They live in a slum with other financially backward people. The father works in the municipality as a temporary cleaning staff. The movie explores their day to day life and how it changes when certain incidents forced the father to find another job.

The film takes a dig at the attitude of the so called educated society. Our hero is seen taking care of the streets even when he is not on duty. The habits of the common people like throwing garbage on roads, leaving plastic in rivers and the most common spitting etc. are shown in the film in a way that’s less preachy. Dr. Biju doesn’t really limit his movie in to a creation that just talks about ironies in waste management. The movie also throws light on various kind of discrimination faced by the lower caste, financially backward people.

Suraj Venjaramood’s way of carrying the character is the beauty of his performance. From the body language to the way he talks, everything is very smartly underplayed. Master Govardhan was fine as the son. Veteran Indrans gets a good role and performs with his usual charm. The elaborate cast has many more actors like Nedumudi Venu, Sasi Kalinga, Sona Nair, Seema G Nair, Krishnan Balakrishnan etc. and they all looked apt for the role.

The making has this obvious slowness which wasn’t used to its fullest. There isn’t any theatricality in depicting the issues and dilemmas. Screenplay has certain not so relevant scenes in the first half. But it impressively tracks the life of such people and includes various kinds of torture faced by them. It mocks the society for its hypocrisy in waste management and it also shows the lack of care these people get from the authorities. M J Radhakrishnan’s frames at times silently convey the thoughts. The art department did a good job.

Perariyathavar has a content that deserves to be watched. The plot isn’t intense enough for us to feel for the father’s character as it approaches the end in a tragic way. As I said in the beginning, as a movie that invites attention on issues related to the preservation of ecology, it is worth a watch.

Rating : 3/5