Perilloor Premier League web series review: A well-written satirical drama on politics and social issues

Perilloor Premier League, the new comedy web series streaming in Disney+ Hotstar is the latest addition to the Malayalam web series.

The web series has nothing to do with any match but is a content-driven satirical drama with slapstick comedy.

Perilloor is a fictional town in the Valluvanad area of Palakkad district in northern Kerala. The characters speak their native language.

But interestingly, the number plates of the vehicles in the village also bear “PL”. In Kerala, “KL” is used on number plates.

A village with a separate number plate for vehicles is a smarter way to depict the happenings in the film. Thus, writer Deepu Pradeep establishes that Perilloor is a unique place and that the events happening here do not happen anywhere else.

Synopsis

Perilloor Premier League starts with Peethambaran (Vijayaraghavan), a veteran politician who can’t contest the Panchayat election due to legal issues. He has been the president of the Perilloor Panchayat for a long time.

Keman Soman (Ashokan)  is Peethambaran’s opponent and contests against him every time but in vain.

A cunning politician, Peethambaran asks his niece Malavika (Nikhila Vimal) to contest the election from his party. Malavika hesitates to accept the offer as she wants to pursue PhD and is interested in academics.

But she decides to be in the fray as she loves Sreeraman aka Sreekuttan (Sunny Wayne), who hails from Perilloor.

Perilloor Premier League invests its time in building characters with peculiar characteristics.

Every character in the series is quirky and witty. The characters that resemble caricatures are the major highlight of the web show.

For example, Peethambaran is a cunning politician, and his party symbol is Fox.

His opponent Soman is never unhappy about not winning the elections and keeps saying he will meet in the next polls. That’s his spirit!

Sreekuttan is an NRI who is looking for a bride. He falls in love with every good-looking girl. He has a flex printing shop, and his employee Jaffar always makes mistakes while printing the flex boards.

Jaffar makes a spelling mistake in the title of a new bus service owned by a Gulf returnee. And the owner becomes popular by this mistaken name of the bus.

Psycho Balachandran (Aju Varghese) gives away false information to villagers. Though they know this, they believe in him and commit errors.

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A well-written satirical drama

The web series mocks every aspect of society. It gives a tight slap to people who believe in superstitions and fake atheists. It is a satire on our political system.

Malavika is the only character in the series who has mature thinking. But she is least bothered about the happenings in the village.

At one point, she takes a different stand, which does not go down well with her uncle Peethambaran.

When Peethambaran knows about the love story of Malavika and Sreekuttan, he takes the initiative of getting them married. Well, it is a political strategy.

Slapstick comedy

Deepu Pradeep’s earlier outings — Kunjiramayanam (2015)  and Padmini (2023) — were also comedy films. The writer has proven himself in creating a fictional village like Kunjiramayanam.

Debutant director Praveen Chandran incorporates slapstick comedy that forms the backbone of the web series.

Unlike the realistic approach in new films, the characters here are loud. There are numerous characters in the web show, and most of them assemble at the tea shop in the village.

The characters that resemble caricatures remind us of old films directed by Priyadarshan, Johny Antony, and Rafi Mecartin.

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Performances

The web show has many good performances.

Senior actors Vijayaraghavan and Ashokan are the show stealers. Their performance as rival political opponents is a feast to the eyes.

Nikhila Vimal delivers a subtle performance as Malavika, the Panchayat president of Perilloor. Her expressions after winning the elections and her helplessness in making decisions against her uncle are brilliant.

Sunny Wayne gets a memorable character (of Sreekuttan) in his career. The actor is impressive in comedy scenes.

The seven-episode series has two songs composed by Mujeeb Majeed, which elevate the situation. The background score is apt for comedy scenes.

The cinematography by Anoop V Shylaja is appreciable. The night scenes and blast scenes are picturised well.

Final take

Perilloor Premier League is an impressive satire on political parties, superstitions, fake atheists, and other issues. Narrated against the backdrop of a fictional village, the web show ends up as a full-fledged entertainer.

(Views expressed here are personal.)