PARIYERUM PERUMAL - THE BEAUTY, VOICE AND SOUL
The movie starts with a train-crash and ends with a train-crash and it’s not just karuppi and the old-man who get hit by the train, but the audience too. We are hit by a train of emotions ranging from a sense of compassion to that of pain and disgust, and you can’t help but be welled up half the time.
It strips naked the ugly truths of discrimination and that of humans. It almost makes you feel ashamed of being born in this cursed species that discriminates and dominates based on imaginary boundaries between each other. And the beauty of the movie is it never ‘says’..it only ‘shows’. Right from the first scene where a group of people urinate into the pond used by Pariyan and his villiage people, the movie establishes the dynamics of the world it is trying to portray and a 1000 words couldn’t have done what this scene did.
In mainstream tamil cinema whenever a movie is centered around an “issue”, it's just another core plot for the hero-villain template. If an insider’s perspective is presented in a realistic way, it no longer is mainstream but becomes “art-house” cinema that only visits film festivals but Pariyerum Perumal finds the right balance between these two because there is a beautiful story in it with genuine and relatable characters and the “issue” doesn’t stand alone but blends in with the story. The protagonist starts out as an innocent student who just wants to go to college, learn, be with his friends and even fallen in love but these basic things are made a privilege to him. He doesn’t even have the luxury to preserve his innocence which gets thrashed time and again, and a rebel is born(more like forced) out of him. But him becoming a rebel is not his arc. His arc is the change in the way he sees his father.Pariyan has an image for a father figure in which his father doesn’t fit into. He is ashamed of what his father does and hides him from the society but only when the society fails to embrace him, he embraces his father. He is not ashamed anymore. Because he realises it is the world that should feel ashamed to be so indifferent.
When the society cripples him, ties him down in one corner he wears the shades of blue and frees himself. Blue gives him an identity. The song “naan yaar” is the voice of the movie. It’s a cry of Identity crisis. The cry isn't because they don’t know which section of humans they belong to..but because they are made to question whether they even belong to humans. Their cry pierces
There is so much ugliness that the movie doesn't shy away from showing on-screen but inspite of that, it manages to be heart-warming because it has a soul and the soul of the movie is Pariyan and Jo’s bonding. It almost resonates with the bond he had with Karuppi. It is not possible to easily name their relationship. They are like saviors of each other’s innocence. When Pariyan’s father gets assaulted and is admitted in the hospital all he wants is revenge. He is desperate to see some bloodshed but when Jo comes to the hospital draped in white just like an angel that tiny light of innocence left over after the trauma he has been through shines bright. And he protects her from the ugly truths of her family no matter
what extent he is pushed to. He doesn’t blurt out a word that would disturb her. Their bond is beautiful and like Pariyan says, calling her his friend,lover,sister or just naming their relationship itself will only trivialize what they share. Some relationships are just unfathomable.
The characters even with less screen-time leave such strong impressions. The RKR thatha who takes the angst of his entire community and becomes their foot soldier, The law college Principal who is inspiration personified, Jo’s father..who is just a father scared for his daughter’s life. In an ideal world he wouldn’t have a problem with his daughter marrying Pariyan but the reality is too brutal and he himself is a victim of the system too.
There are no lengthy over-preachy dialogues. They fit in right and hit the audience at the right places. But the scene that I believe captures the essence of the movie is when Jo says "paa evlo kadha..naan la school ku ponen, pass aanen, appa sonnarunu law join pannen" it kinda summarizes the movie. What is simple and basic for one becomes twisted and privileged for another.
Subtle, warm and gut-wrenching are the words I would use to describe Pariyerum Perumal. It leaves you with an oxymoronic feeling of experiencing the extremes of humanity. The immensity of the love and hatred they are capable of spreading.
