While a running gag in a murder investigation, the investigating officer indulging himself in bonda, bajji and even pani puri during the critical moments of the investigation may sound harmless enough. In Parimala and Co, it perfectly encapsulates the biggest problem of the film. This crime mystery is being directed by Pandiraaj and he is doing his best to deflate the drama. It opens with a good hook: The family’s fear is at its breaking point because of the presence of an evil stalker, a sinister death, and the realization that there may be someone within the house who knows something they are not saying. It’s the sort of premise that can get audiences leaning forward in their seats. Rather, each time a moment of tension begins to heighten, the movie veers off into humorous flights of fancy, lessening the stakes, and eliminating the urgency of the mystery. With all the elements of a good thriller, Parimala and Co. nevertheless comes across as more baffling than absorbing.
Parimala (Jayaram) and his wife Suthandhira (Urvashi) are the main protagonists of the story. They live frugally with their two daughters. Disaster comes into their lives in the form of a notorious local rowdy, who is relentlessly pestering the younger daughter. As he stalks her, claims her, makes messes outside their house and even threatens the older girl when she tries to stop him, his obsession escalates. The family is trapped, frightened and helpless. They have no support system, and no apparent way out, so one night they come together and reach a shocking conclusion. They think the man will not leave them, and they are not capable of facing him, so they determine to kill him and get rid of him.
The next day is a shocking turn-around. The rowdy is found dead. The issue is that no one of them actually committed the murder. Panic sets in as the household starts worrying and suspicion starts to slowly work its way through the household. Every family member begins to suspect that another member of the family may have conspired to carry out the plan. At the same time, a police investigation begins and a mystery should be interesting, tense, and suspenseful.
This is where the film goes wrong. There’s no denying the resemblance in the plot to the famed thriller Drishyam. The important factor, however, is in the doing. Drishyam was a film where the doubt created doubt. I never really felt like the protagonist was going to be able to save his family, even though he desperately tried, but I didn’t feel like he would. Each scene builds up tension and real suspense. Parimala and Co doesn’t create that feeling. From the beginning, I didn’t think much of the family killing him. Even if they did, the script never gives the impression that they are going to get caught.
The movie looks set to start off as a comedy before plunging into a serious thriller. However, the change does not take place. Rather, the story frequently comes across as a lengthy spoof. The humour is never very good and never really sells the story. Whenever suspense is about to break through, another forced comic moment comes in and that diminishes the impact.
Treatment of the antagonist is another significant problem. At first, he is depicted as a serious and serious threat to other people, conducts criminal activities, has a history of violence, traffics in drugs and harasses women. Of course, viewers are unlikely to have sympathy for such a character. It is strange that later on the film tries to spin him in a different direction, as if he was misunderstood. This shift is disjointed from all that went before it and makes it feel like the filmmakers weren’t really sure of the story that they wanted to tell.
The police investigation is too silly to be the backbone of the suspense. It’s one of the running jokes that the investigating officer is forever snacking. He eats bonda and bajji in the scenes, and even takes pani puri once while walking on the road. These scenes do not make the character memorable, but rather lessen the investigation’s gravity and dilutes the thriller aspects.
I was really disappointed in the comic scenes with Yogi Babu. He’s the kind of actor who can take mediocre stuff and make it great with his presence on the screen, but in this case he has hardly anything to work with. A significant part of his job involves being placed on stairs, close to gates, at doorways or on upper floors to perform jokes that he rarely lands. These scenes tend to be repetitive and irritating rather than adding to the proceedings.
The major challenge is at the end. The film takes more than two hours to shift through several story lines before suddenly letting us know that most of what we’ve just been seeing isn’t really what it’s about. Suddenly switches to a message-oriented ending in its final minutes. This is not a meaningful change in pace, but a last minute change which appears disjointed from the rest of the story.
The title itself begars questions. The main naming concept of the film is never convincingly explained. In the end, I felt it was one of the least important problems – the confusion of titles. But the real issue is a script that can’t seem to pick up a theme of comedy, a thriller, a family drama or a social messages movie.
Parimala and Co had all the makings of a fun mystery. A family on the run, a sudden death and a police investigation could have made for a captivating film. However, the film’s inconsistent writing, lack of effectiveness in its humor and confusing narrative style make the film fall short of potential. For a crime drama, it’s a tedious and flawed film.
Rating: 2/5
