How does a family conduct funeral rites for a corpse that still has some life in it? Sunil and Vaibhav and a game supporting cast sell this comedy, which also has some good drama. The rest of this review may contain spoilers.
Halasyam is an elderly man in a village, and he is affectionately called “perusu”: it means someone older. But when Halasyam dies, the word comes to mean… something that’s big. Now how does one say what this thing is ? Um, let’s just say it rhymes with… election. And there are similarities. At least among men, an – um – election is democratic. It cuts across age and caste and class lines, and it penetrates everywhere. An – um – election denotes power. It decides who’s on top. Like the candidates who give speeches, there is a lot of “standing up” involved. In some cases, like some political parties, the hand symbol could be invoked. Other times, there could be a coalition, which the dictionary defines as a temporary union for a common goal. I hope, by now, you have discovered what I am talking about. Because that is what this story is about. Perusu, the man, dies with an, um, election, and it is also… perusu. How does a family conduct funeral rites for a corpse that is pointing to heaven?
Firstly, full marks to the Censor Board for allowing this movie to exist. They do blur out the tent caused due to the, um, election – but it’s still visible. The film has some big laughs, but even at 130 minutes, it has some trouble… um, keeping it up. Some stretches are flat, or, um, flaccid. You feel more could have been milked from certain characters, like the gossipy neighbour played by Rama. But overall, Perusu is very enjoyable. It is a one-joke movie, and they have, um, elongated this as much as possible. The stretch towards the end that begins when the Subatra Robert character enters the dead man’s house – it’s a brilliantly sustained piece of madness, with wordplay that confuses, say, “aattakaari” and “auto kaari”. And it also tells us why the ‘Vanithamani’ song from Vikram was playing when the old man died. As the film ends on a high, the low points are easily forgiven.
Writer-director Ilango Ram gets his screenplay structure right. He introduces a basic premise, and then keeps bringing in new characters to keep adding to the confusion. The basic premise is that the dead man’s family is embarrassed by the, um, election that shows no sign of ending. In this mix, we get a godman, a female doctor, a male doctor, an ice-box rental agent, the dead man’s brother, a youngster who wants revenge, assorted in-laws… The comedy is broad and obvious. In other words, the film sets a low bar for itself and clears it comfortably – and that’s its success. There is one aspect of the narrative, about the dead man’s character, that is a little creepy. Yes, we get the fact that his libido is still high, and we know that desire is ageless. But depicting him as a kind of stalker who ogles at bathing women is a weird decision for this kind of movie. Maybe the point is that… men will be men?
What’s impressive about this comedy is its detours into drama. Vaibhav and Sunil play the dead man’s sons, and both of them are very good. Sunil displays an acting range we didn’t know he had, and a scene staged in the backseat of a car – with a static frame – is fantastic. It tells us that holding onto grudges is likely to produce regret later on. You can almost sense the older brother’s jealousy about the younger brother’s closeness with their father, to the extent that they used to drink together. And the way this drinking angle is completed in the climax is just beautiful. The mix of comedy and drama isn’t smooth, but it works. The freshness of the premise, the writing, the performances – all result in a film that grows on you, inch by inch. Who knew that we’d see a Tamil movie based on morning wood. It proves that age is just a lumber.
