The Emperor who mounts a Horse) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language drama film, written and directed by Mari Selvaraj in his directorial debut and produced by Pa. Ranjith.
Director Selvaraj, who wrote short stories for Ananda Vikatan in the past, was approached by Ranjith after reading some of his works.
The film features music composed by Santhosh Narayanan, with cinematography handled by Sridhar and editing done by Selva R. K. Pariyerum Perumal released on 28 September 2018, and received critical acclaim, with critics praised the technical aspects, direction, screenplay, performance of the film's cast, especially Kathir's performance.
Pariyerum Perumal, alias Pariyan is a youth hailing from Puliyankulam village near Tirunelveli, and belongs to an oppressed caste.
Pariyan moves on to secure a seat at Government Law College, Tirunelveli, where he wishes to become a lawyer like B. R. Ambedkar.
He meets Jothi Mahalakshmi, alias Jo, a naive girl from Ambasamudram who takes it upon herself to teach English to Pariyan.
In another part of the town, an old man is seen engineering unique methods to kill innocent people, for example, strangling a young girl, then hanging her, and drowning a student in the river.
[4] Ranjith approached Selvaraj after reading his works like "Thamirabaraniyil Kaapatrapattavargal", a short story and Marakavae Ninaikiren, a fictional series in Ananda Vikatan, and also decided to produce the film, after he narrated the script to the latter.
[5] Ranjith's regular collaborator Santhosh Narayanan, Sridhar, Selva R. K. and Ramu joined the team as music composer, cinematographer, editor and art director respectively.
[6] Mari Selvaraj, stated "I wanted faces that reflected a kind of simplicity and innocence, and Kathir and Anandhi fit that description perfectly".
[8] The film notably features a cross-breed dog named "Karuppi" onscreen, which has the traits of the Chippiparai breed.
[15] The film's first promotional poster which released on 14 February 2018, featured a dog with a collar and leash around its neck in the foreground while the silhouettes of a number of people can be seen in the background.
[21] Despite being released in 121 theatres, the film got limited screens, due to the higher profile Chekka Chivantha Vaanam.
After its successful theatrical run, the film was made available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from 11 November 2018.
[31][32] Srinivasa Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote "With such strong statements to make against caste, the film could have easily adopted a dark theme but it prefers to stay hopeful.
"[33] M Suganth of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 5 stars "Pariyerum Perumal is a hard-hitting anti-caste drama.
"[34] Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle rated 4.5 out of 5 and then stated it as "Pariyerum Perumal is a film that goes beyond your expectations and should not be missed at any cost!
"[36] Anjana Shekar of The News Minute reviewed as It can be quite easy to bind a film under seals of approvals like ‘masterpiece’ and ‘milestone’.
"[38] Sify gave the rating 3.5 out of 5 and stated "Pariyerum Perumal is an artistic masterpiece from debutant filmmaker Mari Selvaraj and set the standards high for directors who have noble intentions but end up making preachy propaganda films.
"[41] Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express said, "Pariyerum Perumal shows it’s not easy to overcome the challenges of all-pervasive caste.
[56] The film is being remade in Hindi as Dhadak 2, starring Triptii Dimri and Siddhant Chaturvedi, and produced by Karan Johar under Dharma Productions.