“PERUSU” Film Review

Traditionally, Tamil films with adult content have rarely enjoyed box-office success. It has nothing to do with whether or not Indian audiences are “ready” for this category, but the reality that South Indian society has not yet reached the level of decadence seen by most other societies. The box-office failure of the film Perusu has been a hotly debated issue in film circles, but not an unexpected turn of events.

Produced by Karthik Subbaraj’s  Stone Bench Films, Harry Baweja’s Baweja Studios and Ember Light Studio, Perusu stars Vaighab in the lead role, supported by Sunil Reddy, Niharika NM, Chandini Tamilarasan, Deepa Shankar, Naxalites Dhanam, Bala Saravanan, Redin Kingsley, Karunakaran, VTV Ganesh and Munishkanth.

When Halasyam, a senior person in the village known as Perusu passes away, his sons, Saami (Sunil Reddy) and Durai (Vaibhav) must deal with an embarrassing situation that they try to hide at all costs. Perusu’s wife (Naxalite Dhanam), daughters-in-law (Niharika NM and Chandini Tamilarasan), sister-in-law (Deepa Shankar), and Durai’s friend, Ameen (Bala Saravanan) all try to hide a situation that can potentially bring huge embarrassment to the family. In doing so, they must battle against an incredibly nosy neighbour, a young boy smarting from an earlier incident with Halasyam, an unforgiving doctor and even an exorcist. The situation turns into an increasing vortex of hilarious lies and clumsy attempts to hide the damaging truth.

The premise is a good one and the script – penned by Ilango Ram and Balaji Jayaraman – has lots of wit, puns, naughty ambiguity and a fair dose of slapstick. These are supported by solid acting performances from the entire cast, including a highly improved but still annoying performance from Redin Kingsley.

Vaibhav’s portrayal of Durai, the borderline alcoholic, contrasts brilliantly with the attempted bravado of his brother, Saami – brilliantly portrayed by Sunil Reddy.

Niharika NM and Chandini Tamilarasan do a realistic portrayal of the daughters-in-law while Deepa Shankar’s comedic timing and facial expressions illuminate each of her scenes brightly. Munishkanth and Karunakaran are also in delightful roles.

The background music by Sundaramoorthy K.S. is very good and the two songs by Arun Raj are both melodious.

Sathya Thilakam’s cinematography is good with his creative angles, but there is very little experimentation with framing and lighting.

While the opening 45 minutes and the last 30 minutes are fun-filled, witty and absorbing, the pace drops significantly into the second hour. Had the film been trimmed by at least 45 minutes, the end result would have been a much more palatable one.

As suggested by the film’s trailer and classification, this film is not suitable for children, or easily offended adults. Despite the adult content, the film’s writer and director, Ilango Ram, must be praised for dabbling with a new approach to commercial films, but he needs to work more on his pace and screenplay in future films.

Perusu scores 6 points out of 10.