Director SP Jahananathan's 'Peranmai' is a different take into political economy and the life of tribes that has a whole lot of loopholes dissuading the interest factor.

Promising an action adventure in hand, the movie changed the romantic star Jayam Ravi into a rugged looking forest officer and boasted for having no heroines except for the cast of five female leads to bolster the script. While trying to usher in a series of errs in the society including degradation based on cast, exploitation of innocent and uneducated tribes in hilly areas and the encroachment of foreigners to logjam the nation's growth, Jahananathan got lost somewhere in the woods in the flimsy output.

The story is quite simple about a forest officer and his meticulous efforts to save the nations from hired henchmen of international countries. Duruvan (Jayam Ravi) comes from the scheduled tribes with no proper means to get education but manages to attain the post of a forest ranger through aided studies. On his chance trip with a group of egoistic girls from the NSS training camp, he encounters militants trying to sabotage India's plan to launch an advanced rocket.

Assisted by the five girls and relying on his natural instincts, he brings down the heavily armed gunmen by using the forest as a camouflage. Meanwhile, a mean officer played by Ponnvannan is out to prove Duruvan is a culprit for kidnapping the girls and in the end they save the day with few irreplaceable losses.
On the table, the script promises a bunch load of actions sequences and a gripping tale of fight for survival. But, all the essence goes missing in the on screen product that has loop holes big enough to irk even the simple entertainment loving crowd. The director has made a feeble attempt in defending the rights of tribes but in fact he convolutes without taking a proper side.

The series of cuts in the dialogues to avoid issues should have been rectified as it gives a bad start to the movie.

Credit goes to Jayam Ravi for his taut muscles and a rigid performance in every scene. He looks charming and has a good rapport with the debutant girls. Yet, sadly he has nothing much to do in the script that constantly demands him to be a tour guide explaining everything right from the trees to the model of guns along with their specifications. The characterization of the male lead neither has the confidence nor the guts to fight back for his rights.

Expressions are right and sometimes go overboard for the debutant girls around whom the story revolves. And, there is no need to show them as so crude people and speaking vulgar all the time. Vadivelu is another surprise in Jahanathan's movie for he never opts for commercial comedy which is another failure.
Musical score has the Hollywood touch in the acoustics deployed while cinematography and scenic locations steal the show. The editor should have better used his scissors to cut short the three hour long movie and maybe tried to tie the loose knots in the end than the abrupt climax.

Really for those who expect an offbeat film from the maker of 'Iyarkai' and 'E', it would be a sad disappointment to see such a movie that doesn't has action or the entertainment quotient.

'Peranmai' is good in bits and pieces for the message tried to be conveyed but with Jahanathan's potential it should have been made better watchable than this amateurish effort.

Verdict: Fails to fulfill expectations