Perumthachan (film)

Perunthachan (പെരുന്തച്ചന്‍)
Directed by	Ajayan
Produced by	G. Jayakumar
Written by	M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Starring	Thilakan Prashanth Monisha Unni Vinaya Prasad Nedumudi Venu Babu Namboodiri
Music by	Johnson
Cinematography	Santhosh Sivan
Edited by	M. S. Money
Production company	Bhavachitra
Release date	1991 (1991)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Perumthachan (literally The Master Carpenter) is a Kerala State Film Award winning film released in 1991. This film was also nominated for the Golden Leopard Award. It is a story of the legend Perumthachan (Thilakan), a carpenter and his son, the problems caused by the generation gap are explored in the relationship between a skilled carpenter and his tradition-breaking son. This film won Filmfare Award for Best Film - Malayalam

The film was directed by Ajayan from a screenplay by M. T. Vasudevan Nair.

In this Indian story, based on a Kerala legend, a pious and self-disciplined master carpenter of a supposedly mixed-caste background, moves easily in his world, building temples and then carving the stone statues which embellish them. He is at home in his traditional world, is at peace with his inner self and the social mores of the time. By way of contrast, he begets a son who is of rebellious nature and questioning of the traditional social hierarchies of the time. He falls in love with the daughter of a royal household which ultimately leads to his demise.

Raman Perumthachan (Thilakan) is unsurpassed as a wood-carver, sculptor and architect and his creations were so exquisite that he was regarded a reincarnation of the architect of the gods.He was also a man of great erudition. Though brought up as a carpenter, he was alluded to be the son of a Brahmin. Perumthachan himself doubted this supposition and in one part of the film he smiles approvingly when his son suggests to him that perhaps the made up story about his Brahmanical antecedents was a ruse by the uppercastes to lay claim to some of his ability and prestige.

The screenplay begins at dusk with an old ambalavasi trying to light a stone lamp. But due to a strong gust of wind the lamp struggles to remain alight. A man lying in the tanner pandal close by gets up and places a stone slab strategically in such a way that the path of the wind is breached. He wears a sacred thread(poonool) and hence is mistaken for a Namboodiri. But he tells the ambalavasi that he is no Namboodiri, but an Asari(carpenter) who had forgotten to remove his thread which he had worn during the construction of a temple. Immediately the ambalavasi recognises that this was no ordinary carpenter but the legendary Perumthachan himself. News spreads about the arrival of Perumthachan .