''Perariyathavar'' () is a 2015 Indian

Malayalam film Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both the mainstream film industry ...

directed by Dr. Biju. The film revolves around two sweepers and the problems they encounter in life, depicting the agonies of the marginalised section of society. The film stars

Suraj Venjaramoodu Suraj Vasudevan (born 30 June 1976), professionally credited as Suraj Venjaramoodu, is an Indian actor, comedian, impressionist, and television presenter, who appears in Malayalam films, television and stage plays. He has acted in more than ...

and

Indrans K. Surendran (born 16 March 1956), better known by his stage name Indrans, is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough ...

. It won the

National Film Award for Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation The National Film Award for Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation was one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by the Ministry of Informati ...

. Movie is credited as 200th film of Suraj. Suraj received the

National Film Award for Best Actor The National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India instituted since 1967 to actors who have delivered the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film indus ...

for his performance.

Synopsis

The story revolves around a widowed father and son working as scavengers in

Kollam Municipal Corporation Kollam Municipal Corporation (KMC) is an ISO 9000#Contents of ISO 9001:2015, ISO 9001:2015 certified civic body that governs the city of Kollam in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the fourth-largest city corporation by population in the state, ...

and the harsh life they face. They belong to a section of society which is marginalized in the mainstream. The father is working as a temporary cleaning sweeper. Chami is his friend and fellow worker who belongs to a tribal community. They collect the garbage from the city streets into a vehicle and dump it at a rural village. Sometimes father takes his son along with him. During the journey in a trash vehicle, father and son see and experience the life of many nameless, faceless marginalised people, including themselves, in the midst of huge buildings and roaring vehicles.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by K Anilkumar under Ambalakkara Global Films. It is the second film produced by Anilkumar with Dr Biju after '' Akasathinte Niram'' (Color of Sky). In an interview, Biju revealed that actors

Dileep Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, comedian and entrepreneur who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has also acted in Tamil, Hindi, and Kannada films. He has ...

Jayasurya Jayasurya (born 31 August 1978) is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist who works in Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a National Film Awards, National Fi ...

Biju Menon Biju Menon (born 9 September 1967) is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, and also has a few Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film credits. He made his debut in the 1994 Malayalam film ''Puthran''. In a career spanning over ...

and

Sreenivasan Sreenivasan (born 6 April 1956) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, dubbing artist and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Sreenivasan has starred in over 225 films. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplays of films such a ...

were approached to play the lead role. None of them accepted and the movie, therefore, was delayed for more than a year. Eventually, Biju chose

for the role.

Reception

Reviewing the film in 2015, Asha Prakash of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' rated the film 3.5/5 and wrote, "The pace of the film about a garbage collector's struggles is slow, and it requires patience and reading between the lines to appreciate it in its entirety. Suraj Venjaramoodu's acting is top notch".

Awards and nominations

The film was awarded Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation Award at the

61st National Film Awards The 61st National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals of India presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2013 in the Cinema of India, Indian cinema. The ceremony was held ...

in 2013.

was awarded the Best Actor Award. The noted filmmaker and jury chairman

Saeed Mirza Saeed Akhtar Mirza (born 30 June 1943) is an Indian screenwriter and Film director, director in Hindi films and television. He is the maker of notable Parallel cinema, parallel films such as ''Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!'' (1984), ''Albert Pinto Ko Gu ...

said in a press conference, "Suraj has played a municipal sweeper

n the film N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

but it is an incredibly dignified performance. He excels in comedy but in this film Suraj has brilliantly played a reticent character. I would not have been able to sleep had his name not been in the list of awardees."

List of awards

Festivals

* Official selection

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia, sometimes called "Asia-Pacific Oscars". In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting a ...

, 2014 * Official selection/competition

Mumbai Film Festival The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in the city of Mumbai, India. Priyanka Chopra, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the chairperson of the trust while Shivendra Singh Dungarpur serves ...

, India, October 2014 * Official selection African Diaspora International Film Festival, New York, November 2014 * Official selection Jaipur International Film Festival, India, February 2014 * Official selection Fajr International Film festival, Tehran, Iran, 2015 * Official selection Kazan International Film Festival, Russia, 2015 * Official selection, Kolkata Film Festival, 2014 * Official selection Pune Film Festival, 2014 * Official Selection International film festival of Kerala, 2014 * New Generation film festival, Stuttgart, Germany, 2014 * Edmontan film festival, Canada, 2015

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 3529050 2010s Malayalam-language films Films featuring a Best Actor National Award–winning performance 2014 films Films shot in Kollam Films directed by Dr. Biju Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation National Film Award winners