Parunthu - Review

Director M. Padmakumar's latest film Parunthu opens with the mass suicide of a family due to the harsh dealings of Parunthu Purushottaman (Mammootty), a 'blade' mafia chief having a particular affinity towards money, operating in Kozhikode city. But Purushu's heart is least moved by the mass suicide; he does not believe in any form of relationships since his mother abandoned him at a young age, leaving him to grow up as the right-hand man of a moneylender, Kunjikka (Mamookoya).

Purushottaman continues to thrash other families who are unable to repay the loans they took from him and to drive them out of their properties. The latest in his list is a Gujarati businessman Hemanth Bhai (Jagathy Sreekumar), who is on the verge of big losses due to pending court cases.

Hemanth Bhai fails to return the money and is threatened with dire consequences on the eve of the marriage of his elder daughter Rakhi (Lakshmi Rai). Purushu halts the wedding; this leads to Bhai losing his mind and finally surrendering his life.

The story takes a different twist when Bhai's daughters are taken under the protection of Kallayi Azeez (Jayan), another cunning blade mafia don. Kallayi Azeez had always defeated Purushu in soccer during their childhood days by cheating. In the midst of all these incidents, Azeez creates some situations that demand fights and intense dialogues. In the meantime, Vinayan (Jayasurya), an associate of Azeez, joins Purushu. The latter portion of the story presents the predictable and unavoidable change of the cruel hero into a soft-hearted person with a sentimental climax!

Apparently the negative traits in Parunthu are largely inspired from Mohanlal's Devasuram. Like Mohanlal's character in Devasuram (Mangalaserry Neerakandan), Mammootty's character is also very negative. But the difference is that Parunthu is a character-driven film, lacking a good story.

Performance-wise, Mammootty as Parunthu Purushottaman is good, but his character lacks soul. There is nothing much to talk about Jayan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Lakshmi Rai, Kalyani, Jayasurya, Cochin Haneefa, Mamookoya and Suraaj Venjaramoodu, who all deliver nothing new.

The mediocre script is the weak part of the movie, which was not expected from T.A. Razzaq who created screenplays for blockbusters like Ente Sreekuttikku, Raapakal, Vesham, etc. With this insipid script, how can we expect more from director M. Padmakumar, who has directed hits like Ammakilikoodu and Vaasthavam?

Of the three songs composed by Alex Paul, 'Nee cheytha karmangal' sung by Jayachandran is good while the other two songs appear to be deliberately pushed into the film. The background score by Ousepachchan is good. Sanjeev Shankar behind the camera and Ranjan Abraham in editing just go through their routine jobs. There is nothing great about the technical aspects of the film. Though Parunthu offers a few good moments, it provides little to rise above other films with similar plots!

Banner : Dreams Frame Productions
Producer : Howly Pottur
Cast : Mammootty, Jayan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Lakshmi Rai, Kalyani, Jayasurya, Cochin Haneefa, Mamookoya and Sooraj Venjaranmoodu
Director : M. Padmakumar
Scriptwriter : T.A. Razzaq
Music : Alex Paul
Camera : Sanjeev Shankar
Editing : Ranjan Abraham