“Paranthu Po” Film Review

Paranthu Po is the sixth directorial of director Ram and his third consecutive film to premier at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film was initially intended for release directly on OTT, but the positive response at the Film Festival led Ram to release it on the big screen.

Paranthu Po is a delightful and heart-warming family comedy entertainer that looks at serious and pertinent issues in modern living. The film subtly paints a juxtaposition with the lives of the audience, making the film instantly relatable.

The film opens with 8-year old Anbu (Mithul Ryan) being chastised for his ill-discipline in an online class held during the school holiday. Both his parents work and, like many middle class families, are struggling to make ends meet because of the increasing costs of their chosen lifestyle. Anbu’s father, Gokul (Shiva) works at a food delivery service while his Anbu’s mother, Glory (Grace Antony) sells sarees.

The opening scene showing Anbu locked up in his apartment, craving for human contact, becomes a sustained metaphor throughout the film, as the viewer immediately connects this with the title of the film. A spontaneous road trip becomes a journey of self-discovery and fresh perspectives, but are these ideals compatible with the modern lifestyle? Paranthu Po does not provide a direct answer, but does enough for the viewer to draw an individual response to this question.

Although the film is a comedy entertainer, the realities of modern living are not sugar-coated. Instead, director Ram infuses humour into the complex situation to show that the human response to challenges does not have to be a self-destructive exercise.

This is what makes Paranthu Po such an outstanding film because not attempt is made to trivialise anything. The characters are very realistic and painstakingly well-written. This is further supported by acting performances that do not look like acting whatsoever.

Shiva is a sheer delight to watch. His portrayal of Gokul makes it easy for the audience to sympathise and empathise with him.

Grace Anthony in her debut to Tamil films plays her role to absolute perfection, conveying all emotions in a subtle but powerful manner.

Anjali is in a delightful role as Vanitha, while Aju Varghese in his Tamil debut as Guna Sekhar makes an indelible mark by the natural portrayal of the character.

Balaji Sakthivel and Sreeja Ravi as Anbu’s grandparents are both outstanding, but one if left feeling that Balaji Sakthivel’s screen time should have been doubled.

The scripting and portrayal of a child character is always a difficult one to manoeuvre, as there is always the temptation to get the point across at the expense of realism. Ram gets it right with the character of Anbu as it is brilliantly conceived and written. Child artist Mithul Ryan portrays the child by striking the perfect balance between the possible extremes, the result of which is a lovable, relatable and totally convincing portrayal of what the modern 8-year old experiences.

Jess Kuku as Jenna is a natural star, while good support comes from Vijay Yesudas and Dia as her parents.

Paranthu Po has 23 short songs sung by Yuvanshankar Raja, Vijay Yesudas and Siddharth. The unconventional lyrics have been penned by Madhan Karky. While the purists would find it grating, Madhan Karky has brilliantly captured the style, soul and references of the current generation through his trendy lyrics. The songs have been tuned by Santhosh Dhayanithi with a brilliant background score by Yuvanshankar Raja.

Cinematographer N.K. Ekambaram shows his brilliance through subtle touches. The sweeping shots, creative tracking and unusual framing are brilliantly composed without overshadowing the narrative.

Paranthu Po is fun-filled journey into the lives of middle class families, dissecting daily challenges in an unbiased fashioned, and using humour as a lens to examine our own lives. It is a fun-filled trip of self-discovery and re-discovery. There are many laugh-out-loud moments that soften the film’s deeply relevant message.

The film will release on OTT on the Jio Hotstar platform on 14 August 2025.

Paranthu Po scores 9 points out of 10.