Perilloor Premier League Review: Helmed by director Praveen Chandran, PPL is a Malayalam-language Indian web series that released on Disney+ Hotstar on January 5, 2024, with 7 episodes concluding the season. The comedy political satire stars Nikhila Vimal as Malavika, Sunny Wayne as Sreeram, Vijayaraghavan as Peethambaran, Ashokan as Soman, Aju Varghese as Psycho Balachandran, Sajin Cherukayil, Sarath Sabha and others in pivotal roles. All episodes have a runtime ranging between 30-45 minutes.
The show’s crew involves the collaboration of Mukesh R Mehta and CV Sarathi as producers, Deepu Pradeep as the writer, Anoop V Shylaja and Ameel working on the cinematography with Mujeeb Majeed composing the music. The project has been produced under the banner of E4 Entertainment, and is now available on the streamer in other languages too – Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi on with English subtitles.
Watch the Perilloor Premier League Trailer
-Perilloor Premier League Hotstar Review Contains No Spoilers-
Hotstar Perilloor Premier League Review
The Hotstar Specials series maps out a past and present through Malavika’s character as she reveals her reason for having returned to Perilloor village for her childhood crush. As much as she’d hoped for her connection with him to be mended, nothing of the sort works out in her favour, rather even more troubles head her way as she’s dragged into contesting for the panchayat elections by her uncle against her will.
This nexus of political authority emerges as a mindlessly comical satire, as neither the actions nor the narrative that follows has any intention of shedding light on the existing corrupt ties. But, what’s essentially important to note here is that the series doesn’t intend to either. It merely proceeds in its own kooky direction, reflecting the eccentricity that is at play in such a place where all residents and institutions seen as its identity markers are wacky.
Through it all, Nikhila Vimal’s grapples with her unreciprocated love arc and plays a rather believably reluctant pawn in the schemes concocted by her uncle to counterattack his local political rival, an equally out-of-sorts man. Vimal brings out a credible performance as a submissive and passive agent in this political warfare initially. One can almost feel her desperation to flee the village and follow her original plan of action. Simplicity peaks with her side of the story, which otherwise plays on as a consequential segment in a saga of related and intertwined stories that bind the massive ensemble of characters, all proud and somewhat hilariously supernaturally twisted participants of the village.
Each action in this series is followed by a reaction that most definitely walks in the opposite direction, but also in the most madcap way possible. Supporting characters like the ambitious and crafty politician through and through, who single-mindedly approaches his political reign – Peethambaranambitious, his political rival who never seems to catch a win – Soman, ‘Psycho’ Balachandran and the village’s very own curiously failing enthusiast of space conspiracies, to name a few, will get you face-palming as you simultaneously chuckle at their ludicrous instances of tomfoolery. The world-building of this somehow universally preposterously laughable landscape encapsulated within the Perilloor village is efficiently entertaining.
As long as you remember that the show and its writers have no plans of perpetuating political accuracies or correctness, they’re simply there to enjoy the bumpy ride, while a slapstick comedy is churned out as a result. With all 7 episodes of the season releasing on the same day as opposed to the usual trend of weekly episode premieres, Perilloor Premier League is a delightful family watch.
Not all episodes are evenly paced out, as certain sections may lose your interest in the final episodes. The portrayal of Sunny Wayne’s Sreeram is one such inclusion that often led to my wandering attention span. Even if he’s represented as a relatively decent (if you could call him that) philanderer or ladies’ man, after a point, his characteristic streak became a bit frustratingly repetitive, leaving barely anything more to his character’s design.
Perilloor Premier League Hotstar Series: Final Thoughts
This is the kind of easy-going and supposedly feel-good web series that wants you to kick back, relax, and in the meantime also renounce any and every sense of logical thought from your mind. Once you make the move of purging rationale and practicality from your system, it will become fairly simpler and easier for you to enjoy the mindless absurdities and goofiness it has to offer.
Initially, you may feel reluctant to dive into the pantheon of characters, considering the Perilloor premise takes a detour from the prevailing streak of usual dark and serious content released nowadays. However, if you devote enough time, you’ll eventually find yourself warming up to them as the show, its characters and its “lost-case” silliness grow on you, reminding you of the quirky Y2K comedy Indian movies that used to play on our TVs endlessly.
Perilloor Premier League Malayalam Series is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Also read: Man On The Run Review: Shocking Financial Scandal That Will Make You Lose Faith in the Government