Barker has admitted that The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror” series directly inspired Obsession, specifically a season 3 segment in which Homer gets a monkey paw. However, Bear’s poor wish-making decision isn’t positioned as a cautionary tale, and the character is never let off the hook for wanting to exert control over a woman’s emotions. This is a depiction of a man who lacks the self-awareness to comprehend his domineering, misogynistic impulses, but it’s not an overbearing commentary on toxic masculinity, as Barker keeps any social views firmly in the background so the protagonist can gradually become aware of the havoc he’s created on his own terms. Bear isn’t given the chance to atone for his sins, and everybody in his orbit suffers a fallout from the emotional torture he unleashes. With a protagonist like that, Barker more than earns the right to succumb to his most mean-spirited impulses.
An innocent family ends up killing an unwelcome guest and has to escape the wrath of law enforcement. Ever since George Kutty walked out of that under-construction police station, a slew of films capitalising on the Drishyamwave have made their way to our screens. Titles like Bharathanatyam 2: Mohiniyattam, Revolver Rita and last week’s release, Blast, ruminate on the basic throughline of a family that has inadvertently or has been forced to commit murder. Director Pandiraaj’s latest flick, Parimala and Co., starring Jayaram and Urvashi, also follows suit. Except, here, the one murdered isn’t just the unwanted visitor, but also screenwriting, the anticipation of watching comedy films, and your patience.
The story follows the murder of Varghese (Sandy Master), a crooked goon who has been eve-teasing a young woman named Madhumitha (Ananthika Sanilkumar), and has been a cause of trouble to her sister, Parasakthi a.k.a Sakthi (Sanjana Krishnamoorthy), mother Sudhandhiram (the ever-impressive Urvashi), and father Parimala (an underserved Jayaram). The twist here is that nobody really knows who killed Varghese. While the members of the Parimala family are busy pointing fingers at each other, Inspector Empurumaan (Mysskin gives his all, as always) begins to investigate the case.
A still from ‘Parimala and Co.’
| Photo Credit:
Think Music India/YouTube
The chinks in armour appear much earlier, in how the writer fails to even convince us that one of these seemingly innocent members of the family is the killer. Even the first major narrative step in the story — the decision to murder Varghese — feels rushed and unconvincing. Parimala goes to great lengths, including approaching the police, to save them from the troublemaker, but what leaves you scratching your head is how instantly this innocent middle-class family (and a UPSC trainer father) broach the idea of killing off a human being. And how calmly they take the idea that one of them could have killed off someone.
But it is with a heavy heart that I say that these initial portions feel like great writing when compared to what is to follow. With every following scene, Parimala and Co. only ends up more trite, bafflingly amateurish, and outright yawn-inducing. Much of the film moves in a routine pattern. Show a scene at the Parimala house that vexingly tries to make you laugh. Now cut to introduce some random detail about the gangster world. Yogi Babu rags the Parimala family; now a minister threatens Mysskin. Parimala does this; a new potential villain does that. And collectively, the film feels like a mash-up of already ill-conceived scenes glued together like pulled hair on a rag doll.
Parimala and Co.
Director: Pandiraaj
Cast: Jayaram, Urvashi, Sanjana Krishnamoorthy, Mysskin
Runtime: 138 minutes
Storyline: After a notorious gangster is mysteriously murdered, a middle-class family finds itself entangled in a web of suspicion, secrets, and a police investigation
Nothing makes any sense, and you stop caring about what would happen to any of these characters. What was the whole point of the trip to Palakkad? What does Varghese’s mother, Sengamalam, have to do with the story? What’s the point of the siblings of Parimala and Sudhandhiram? Firstly, what was the point of any of the character-specific details, like the love-hate equation between the sisters or the fact that a housewife is named Sudhandhiram, when they don’t get sentimental pay-offs or find a callback in the plot? Well, the biggest curveball the director throws is that even the titular Parimala family eventually ends up feeling inconsequential to the story.
Given how many details — like the water tank being full all the time due to overuse of the motor, or a girl drinking wine for cosmetic reasons, or how Sakthi always forgets to switch on the switch while charging her mobile — never find any utility in the thriller narrative, it makes one wonder if this was an attempt at imbuing the story with real quirks. If that’s the case, Pandiraaj has chosen the most ill-fitting project to do so. At the end of the day, what really bothers one is how incredible performers like Urvashi, Jayaram and Mysskin end up getting the raw end of the deal. While Mysskin has truly grown to become one of the most sought-after character artists, Jayaram and Urvashi offer a few glimpses of comedy gold (like a scene set in the living room that also features Mysskin), further making one wonder the potential Pandiraaj had in his hand.
Urvashi in a still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Think Music India/YouTube
Parimala and Co. ends with a dull stretch about the horrors of drug abuse that screams tokenism, and if anything, this is a film that would make you want to drink, either a hot cup of coffee or a shot of vodka, to forget and forgive.
In life, sometimes, all that can go wrong will go wrong, and we are bound to think of Murphy. You might end up in a place where anything you touch turns for the worse, and this is precisely what happens to the Parimala family and Varghese — but I am also sad to report that this is what has happened to the Pandiraj-directed film as well.
Parimala and Co is currently running in theatres
