Peranbu trailer shows Mammootty as Amudhavan, a father who tries to support and understand his disabled daughter, but realises he’s falling short constantly. The daughter Paapa, played by Sadhana, is not dependent on her father. She’s in fact afraid to let him too close. She has to develop a sense of self on her own. The trailer looks at all the falls they have in this process.
This is a very relieving break away from the father-daughter relationship we usually see. Neither of them are sitting atop a hill, dancing and singing together. Both aren’t even in one frame together. And to add to their distance, there’s some external danger and plan of attack on them.
It’s realistic to see Mammootty as a single father whose life is not all about his daughter, and he maybe also has a sexual life. Anjali stars as the lead actor Viji in the film. She seems to be a care-giver for Sadhana, and although she calls Mammootty ‘sir’, and is not a relative, she drops him clues about Sadhana, and about when and how to talk to her.
The three of them, in their relationships with each other, figure their own struggles. The film is set in Kodaikanal, and amidst scenic visuals of lakes and fog, we see the actors from the other side of windows and grills, inside a cramped car or a closed room.
We see little of Anjali Ameer, the transgender model who is making her feature film debut with Peranbu. Mammootty said in an interview, “In the film, she’s my heroine.” Both of them are together for a second in the trailer, but it suggests that there might be love between them.
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The film is written and directed by Ram, and produced by PL Thenappan. Ram has reportedly said that Amuthavan’s role was written with Mammootty in mind, and he would’ve withdrawn the film if Mammootty had not signed up. The film was influenced by MT Vasudevan Nair’s films and writing.
The film was in production since January 2016. It made festival rounds last year, after a world premiere at the 47th International Film Festival Rotterdam in January. At the festival, it was voted to 20th out of 187 films that competed under Audience Awards category. The film’s Asia premiere was at the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival in June 2018.
Peranbu is scheduled for release simultaneously in Tamil and Malayalam. The release date is yet to be announced.
Here’s the trailer: