South Indian megastar Mammootty starrer ‘Peranbu’ explores very delicate issues of upbringing a teenage daughter with cerebral palsy single-handedly. The actor in the role of the father delivered every essence of one and not the type which we are used to seeing on the screen.
Amudhavan (Mammootty) loves her daughter so much, she means the world to him, but daughter Paapa (Sadhana) is too afraid of him to even let him close. She throws tantrums, gets uncontrolled and freaks when around her father. She even denies eating when Amudhavan is near her. They live like “Sun and Snow”, as described by the voiceover about the situation.
The single father does everything he can to make her feel secure and move to a wooden house with her close to nature. That’s when nature plays its part.
There is two very important essence of the story, emotion, and nature, which slowly help heal the relationship between the family of two. They start bonding over trees, birds, and horses and Paapa starts trusting her father. The whole film is divided into 10 chapters namely ‘nature is brutal’, ‘nature is love’, ‘nature is full of surprises’, ‘nature is unpredictable’, ‘nature is ever-evolving’ and so on.
The film even explores the female sexuality of a girl affected by cerebral palsy and how as a single parent Amudhavan deals with it and cope up with the society.
Anjali enters their life as a caretaker Viji and Paapa noticing the nail polish connects with her instantly.
Mammootty in his role as a single father defies all the typical South Indian hero quality. He is confused as a father but understanding for all the rest. He is not angry with his wife for abandoning them, he tries to find a reason behind it. He meets a transgender sex-worker Meera (Anjali Ameer) and doesn’t judge her. He is so committed to his daughter that he doesn’t mind helping her with sanitary napkins while she is on her periods.
This might not be the first movie dealing with female sexuality of a girl affected by cerebral palsy but it is definitely the first to show it effectively through the eyes of a father. One would surely leave the cinema hall with a heavy heart after going through such emotional trauma.