Parinthu

Mammootty as Parinthu Purushothaman does an unusual negative role, as a moneylender (blade) riding a Bullet bike and with hardly any human emotions. He brings about a primal mixture of crudity and savagery into his role, which is the highpoint of the film.

Mammootty has to be appreciated for trying to break the mould or his do-gooder super hero image, by portraying the role of a ruthless ‘blade mafia’ chief with élan. Sad, for though you could applaud the actor’s attempts at innovation, you can hardly savour the film in its totality.

Purushothaman (Mammootty) is a moneylender in Kozhikode town and runs his own blade mafia. He is like the proverbial ‘Parinthu’ (hawk) with a sharp eye who looks up from the skies to sweep down on his prey. Purushothaman has no human emotion as he was a born a bastard and his mother had abandoned him at a young age.

His only form of entertainment is eating ‘Nadan’ Chicken fry and watching football matches on television, and whenever he outsmarts his rivals, his favourite punchline is- Adichu Oru Penality.

Purushu occasionally spends the night with Seetha (Lakshana), whose property he has taken over after her husband ran away as he defaulted on his loan!

Those who have taken loan from him pledging their property at cut-throat interest rates normally end up committing suicide or are driven out of their property by his thugs.

Purushothaman celebrates by bursting crackers whenever he takes over the defaulter’s property. His biggest rival is Kallai Azeez (Jayakumar). They were together in blade business, but are now competitors gunning for each other.

Puroshothaman’s associates are Vinayan (Jayasurya), trapped in a ‘Hawala’ case by Azeez, and now protected by him . Kunjachan (Cochin Haneefa) a defaulter becomes his cook and Poojapura Mahendran (Sooraj Venjaranmoodu) a small time blade.

One day Purushothaman takes over the house of Hemant Bhai (Jagathy Sreekumar), a business tycoon who lost heavily and has taken a loan. Parinthu goes to Hemanth Bhai’s house on his daughter Rakhi’s (Lakshmi Rai) engagement day and makes a scene which results in the marriage being called off.

A shattered Hemanth Bai and his daughters Rakhi and Bhuvana (Kalyani) meet Azeez and borrow from him to pay back Parinthu leading to a dramatic twist in the tale.

The trouble with the film is that in commercial cinema you have to show the hero with negative shades turning over a new leaf for the better to justify his early villainy. Here Parinthu in the first half is completely black, with no redeeming features.

But in the second half, writer T.A Razzak and director Padmakumar makes the character have a change of heart, and in the last scene he becomes too sentimental. Purushothaman tells Azeez in the climax fight- Nammal randuperum villain mara. Villain jayakuna charithrame illa….

The makers’ justification for turning a rock hard guy with no emotions suddenly into a emotional wreck is the film’s major flaw. The climax is jerky and loses the razor sharpness required of an action entertainer.

However Mammootty’s performance, makes the film compelling. He brings about a savvy freshness to the negative role he does in the first half. The rest of the star cast does their usual job, Jayakumar a TV serial actor as the villain Azeez is a revelation.

Cut out the tuneless songs including an embarrassing ‘Kavadi’ song of Mammootty, Sooraj and Haneefa, the tendency to tilt towards slapstick, prune away the jagged edges Parinthu ,would have been a far better film. Still it is worth a dekko.

Banner:    Dream Team
Cast:    Mammootty, Lakshmi Rai, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Cochin Haneefa, Jayasuriya,
Devan, Sreelatha, Sabitha ,Saiju Kurup, Mamukkoya, Abu Salim, Kalyani, Lakshana, Jayan
Direction:    M. Padmakumar
Production:    Howly Pottoor
Music:    Alex Paul