Perilloor Premier League is a new Disney+ Hotstar special, a Malayalam language show that deals with the village of Perilloor, its politics, and how two main characters get embroiled in it. Several characters become part of the show and infuse color into it. How do they play a part in bringing the two main lead characters together?
Spoilers Ahead
What Is The Story Of The First Meeting Between Sreeram And Malavika?
Malavika, as a young teenager, had a major crush on Sreeram, and she dreamed of proposing to him using the dragonfly imagery, which was an important motif during their informal meetings outside their school. Sadly, a young Sreeram who was caught watching an adult film became the talk of the village, and was suddenly given a bad nickname associated with dragonflies. Malavika and Sreeram’s first official meeting ended badly because of the picture of dragonflies she had held out to him for a proposal. Years later, Malavika, a highly educated girl, and Sreeram, a Dubai-returned businessman, met through an arranged marriage. She shared the story of this awful meet-cute from school, and Sreeram was instantly attracted to her. Both were happy to have found each other, and Sreeram was glad to be with someone who’d liked him from a very young age.
Why Did Sreeram Reject Malavika?
Sreeram initially was adamant about marrying Malavika because of the confidence with which she confessed her love for him. Sreeram faced a major obstacle in the form of another woman he met at a family friend’s home. Based on that attraction, he rejected Malavika. Sreeram was like a typical kid in a candy shop who was given many options to choose from. To his shock, the woman for whom he rejected Malavika turned out to be married. Sreeram and his family were too embarrassed to approach Malavika’s family again. Sreeram was heartbroken but decided to move on.
Did Peethambaran Have Plans To Place Someone Else In His Stead?
Peethambaran was the local Panchayat President of Perilloor, but he was ousted on corruption charges. Peethambaran was a strong political figure with a lot of power and influence; as a result, many were willing to take over his job to put him in the back seat. Peethambaran was seeking someone who would only be a rubber stamp and make decisions based on his calls. The veteran leader wanted to remain in power by placing someone of his choice who would be a loyal puppet president. He chose Malavika, his niece, as his replacement as he was under the impression she could be emotionally manipulated into taking up the job, and she would do it out of familial obligation without realizing the amount of work that followed winning the elections.
Peethambaran’s wife, Gomati, was aware of her husband’s vicious plans and requested Malavika lose the elections intentionally. She was honest about the dirty repercussions of getting into politics, as Malavika might lose sight of her future. The young woman had plans to pursue a PhD and become a college lecturer. Her plans were not put on hold, but Malavika agreed to her aunt’s plan of losing the election, which should make her life easier.
What Were The Election Results?
Peethambaran incessantly campaigned for Malavika to win. Behind his back, the niece and aunt were instigating the locals to make sure they would not vote for her. Malavika’s uncle was parading her as his replacement in every village under the panchayat, but the young woman was trying hard to create a bad impression of herself. They also hired a local rowdy named ‘psycho Balachandran’ to beat up the opposition leader and blame Malavika and her uncle for the ambush. This would ruin their image for good and lead to a loss of monumental scale. This plan went awry, and soon the election results declared Malavika the winner.
Sreeram, on the other hand, was not very keen on seeing Malavika win because of his ego. He was still not over the mistake he made in rejecting her, followed by her plan to become Panchayat President. A few days after her win, Sreeram sent an anonymous letter to the local panchayat office stating Malavika had neither lived in the said village before the elections nor voted from this place. Malavika was glad someone was raising the issue of her impeachment, but her uncle had doctored the official voting records and placed her name in them. Peethambaran had preempted these accusations, which put his plans at the forefront while Malavika was put at a disadvantage.
Why Was Sreeram Being Rejected?
Sreeram was keen on getting married, but due to his bad luck, he never met the right match after Malavika. One woman was an extroverted vlogger, and Sreeram never understood her line of work. Another woman ran away with her boyfriend on the day of their meeting. The third woman had been in love with him from a young age, but her plans to make him propose marriage to her went wrong. Sreeram comes from a family of believers, but he falls for a woman who is an atheist. To impress her, he joins an atheist club, crushes a bunch of snake eggs, and accidentally eats them. He received a lot of flak from the villagers and his family for his tomfoolery. Sreeram was fed up with being rejected for random reasons, only to be approached by Peethambaran, who was recently informed about his almost-engagement with Malavika.
What Were Malavika And Sreeram’s Initial Plans?
Peethambaran was keen on having him as a son-in-law because of his upbringing and the fact that he could be the right person to walk behind Malavika once they were married. Malavika was livid at Sreeram for rejecting her. Her ego was hurt because he refused to reciprocate the love she had professed. Instead, she proposed visiting his home instead of Sreeram visiting her, as is age-old tradition. Malavika wanted to break this ritual of educated women like her being put on display for men and their families to judge. She broke the rules and visited Sreeram’s home to form an opinion of him and decide if he would be the right partner for her.
Malavika planned to put him on the back foot and give him the taste of his own medicine by rejecting him. She rejected him because he confessed to having told her PhD guide about her being the Panchayat President. He was the reason she lost the opportunity to pursue her lifelong dream. Many of her plans were put on hold because of her uncle’s insistence on continuing to be the Panchayat President. She wanted to disobey her uncle by rejecting Sreeram, putting his plans on hold as well. Peethambaran was selfish, as he’d requested her to put her career plans on hold, and Malavika could not wait to show her rebellious streak.
Malavika offered her resignation letter to Soman, the opposition leader, and decided to run away the same night to avoid any confrontation with her uncle. Malavika was not going to stop working towards her dream of receiving a Ph.D. and becoming a college lecturer. She had no future here except to be her uncle’s puppet and make changes as per his plans for the village. The woman was running away to seek education as opposed to eloping to get married.
Sreeram, after his rejection, decided to move back to the Middle East in the hope of staying away from another embarrassment. Malavika rejecting him was the last straw, and Sreeram did not want to become the laughingstock of the village. This pushed him to move miles away so that he remained unaffected by gossipmongers.
Did Sreeram And Malavika Decide To Get Married?
Several events in the village culminated in the villagers catching Sreeram and Malavika conversing with each other in the middle of the night. The villagers gathered in the village to witness ‘Psycho Balachandran’s’ store getting engulfed in an arson. Many villagers were livid at each other, and this painted an accurate picture of the village life. A local marriage of a woman was disrupted by her uncle as he was seeking some treasure he claimed was placed beneath the well near his home. Many wanted to get rid of ‘Psycho Balachandran’ and put an end to his madness.
The villagers were fed up with Balachandran and his penchant for lunatic behavior and messing with people’s minds. Even though there could have been a chance of him reciprocating violently, the villagers were happy to deal him a blow. The element of chaos was added in the story at this juncture as a catalyst to get the show till the climax, bringing Sreeram and Malavika together.
Sreeram was drunk while Malavika was on the verge of running away, but she couldn’t because of the unavailability of any public transport. This incident was set up to prove these two were probably meant for each other, and one final meeting might change things for good. A drunk Sreeram was a practical man in love with Malavika, who requested that she pursue her dreams and seek a man who loved her. Sreeram had to get drunk to bring out a sincere side of him that surprised Malavika, and she was suddenly contemplating changing her plans. Initially, she stated that both were probably not meant for each other because of their histories, but ever since Sreeram’s kind words hit her ears, she was close to dropping her plans.
The duo was caught by the villagers, who were trying to douse the fire. The villagers themselves were shocked to witness both meeting in secret, implying there was an affair brewing and the couple could be trying to elope. Peethambaran used this opportunity to bring them together as a couple. The veteran political leader was always keen on getting the duo married, and this was the only chance to put them on a spot and probably shame them into getting married to each other. This was a mob forcing them, which is not the right way to begin any marital relationship. Meanwhile, Sreeram and Malavika found their way back to each other and were keen on getting married.
Perilloor Premier League ended with Malavika and Sreeram’s marriage getting fixed, and Peethambaran was excited about the upcoming nuptials. This was a win-win situation for everyone. Malavika would stay back in the village; she was happy to be marrying the person she loved from childhood, and Sreeram was happy to be with someone he was proud of. The sudden change of mind made by Malavika was out of character, for she was hell-bent on pursuing her dreams. One word of affirmation from Sreeram made her let go of her lifelong dream, which seems absurd.
Soman visits Malavika to let her know about the resignation letter, which got lost. He requested another letter from her, but Malavika refused to resign and decided to be the president for the next five years in the hope of bringing some changes to the village. As a woman, she was keen on how to find out the outlook of the villagers. As an upcoming leader, she wanted to make some changes. Soman, on the other hand, was happy to have Malavika back in the seat she was elected to. Soman probably knew he was incapable of being the President of the Panchayat and running the village. He was addicted to getting defeated, and he intended to do the same.
