Perilloor Premier League, the latest Malayalam original series on Hotstar, is a signature creation of its writer Deepu Pradeep, who has previously written movies like Kunjiramayanam and Padmini. The kind of quirky characterization we have seen in those movies can be seen here as well. And I would say the series format has given Deepu a breathing space to establish several characters with a purpose to the content. Directed by Praveen Chandran, the Perilloor Premier League is a wannabe Panchayat that somewhat achieves that quality in totality.
As the title suggests, the story happens in a village named Perilloor. The current Panchayat President, Peethambaran, couldn’t contest the upcoming election due to some irregularities in his nomination form. Just when the opposition thought the election would become a cakewalk for them, Peethambaran decided to make his niece, Malavika, the next candidate. A disinterested Malavika’s stint as the President of the Panchayat, along with many other stories that unfold in that village is what we see in Perilloor Premier League.
Deepu Pradeep’s writing has a peculiarity. His plot development tools are pretty jarring, and he also uses character detailing to a great extent in world-building. While I was watching the series, something that came to my attention was the limitation in Deepu’s character creation method. If you look at this series, the character played by Sunny Wayne, Sreekuttan, has the shades of Kunjiraman from Kunjiramayanam. Other than Keman Soman and Psycho Balachandran, almost every other character in the series has that unsurprising Deepu Pradeep character identity stamped on them.
Praveen Chandran uses the extensive script smartly in doing the world-building convincingly. And he also makes sure that the series never really goes into that excessive caricature comedy zone. After creating the characters and their quirks in the initial episodes, Deepu uses the final episodes to amalgamate the various subplots into one showdown. And in my opinion, that climax sort of justifies the reason why those numerous subplots were in the series. The interlinking of all the minor tracks in the series looked funny, and the overall treatment of the series has that peppy binge-watchable size and rhythm.
Nikhila Vimal is a delight to watch when she handles humor, and here also she performed the cluelessness of the leading lady Malavika very convincingly with optimum level of expressions. Sunny Wayne, as Sreekuttan, struggled with the accent that sounded very forceful. Vijayaraghavan, as Peethambaran, is in that eccentric zone and was good considering the pitch of this comedy. Keman Soman by Ashokan was a fun character, and I hope if there is a second season, they will explore that character and Psycho Balachandran more extensively. It was refreshing to see Aju Varghese in such a character. Arun Pradeep is there as Sreekuttan’s younger brother, Sarath Sabha is hilarious as the astrologer Ambareesh and Adhri Joe is there in a small yet funny character along with several other actors in characters that managed to register their presence.
Perilloor Premier League is a breezy comedy that is definitely engaging due to its genre. There is problematic and forcefully added humor as well in the package. But in totality, there is that sporadic joy of witnessing something like a Peruvannapurathe Visheshangal. If the humor could be a bit more fluent and essential to the plot, the second season would become more compelling.
In totality, there is that sporadic joy of witnessing something like a Peruvannapurathe Visheshangal.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
