Pariyerum Perumal(2018)

When the first scene starts in the movie where Pariyan ( Played by Kathir) is playing with his hunter dog and soon within 10 mins the dog is killed by other caste people in the village, I could really understand that this film is going to be about century old subject of tamil cinema -caste discrimination. I was not expecting the film to be this good, despite the fact that this is tried and tested subject. This film surprised me in many ways i cannot clearly describe but I will try to express them to a decent level.

This is film is in summary the life of Pariyerum Perumal, the protagonist who studies to be lawyer and he is from a lower caste, a typical rag to riches to story is what you would expect but this not what happens in the end.
The one aspect i liked about this film was that, the way the cast discrimination is dealt is the quite relatable to things we see in our day to day life. Its never out right said, Its all the hints you need to understand. Its plain taboo to speak it out but people are still following it. This can be seen when the film progresses through.  We don't the parents of Pariyan, where he comes from or what is up against, it is all slowly unravel through the film. All of sudden, we can see that there are separate groups in college  and in his village who are up against him studying, even interacting with Jothi ( played by Anathi). The director keeps us guessing where the plot leads to but every time I was disappointed.

At some point in the movie, just after the song "Naan Yaar" ends, we can understand where this film is going to. Its the point where Pariyan fully understand what he is up against. I was really impressed by the storyline, because the way the Pariyan  is how exactly a matured individual will handle such a situation. By the way, Pariyan shows immense maturity in his character  and the way Kathir potrays it is too good, It almost puzzles me what the directors is trying to convery, May be it could be understand only if you would have felt something similar. Hats off for his work.

This film should be kathir's best performance till date and he does a 100 percent justice to the character of Pariyerum Perumal. There are some new faces in the cast ensemble who do a terrific job, like the hitman in the village and Jothi's father. At the unexpected end of the film. there is a conversation between Pariyan and Jothi's father, who is the closest antagonist in this film, it never a singular character when we see a film of such subject. Jothi's father becomes the voice of common man and he asks some questions to Pariyan which we all have throughout the film and finally we understand the true message of the film. Truely an exceptional work which took us all be surprise.

Star Cast: Kathir, Ananthi, Yogi Babu, G. Marimuthu