Parunthu is a feel-nothing movie that tries too hard to find its way into your heart. And in its frantic attempts to do so, it presents before us an outrageous premise and then fails to make us believe it.
Parunthu Purushothaman (Mammootty) is a hawk-eyed moneylender with a particular penchant for hot cash. There are quite a few families that have taken to the streets as the ruthless monster stealthily descends on them, as a falcon in hot pursuit of its kill. Purushu doesn’t think twice before rudely barging into a wedding and messing it all up, even as the bride Rakhi (Laxmi Rai) and her sister (Kalyani) gape speechless. In a mad fervor to crush the world under his feet, Purushu goes about waging a losing battle against truth, honesty and integrity.
The male leads in all of Padma Kumar’s films have thick streaks of villainy running through their veins. They are seldom champions for a just cause until brought in confrontation with a bitter truth that wholly rips them apart. In Parunthu it’s no different, and yet the makeover is terribly unconvincing due to a succession of events that are redundant, stiff and colorless. While the basic idea is an interesting one, two and a half hours of monotony is a bit too much to ask for its disclosure.