Perariyathavar

The story revolves around a widowed father and son working as scavengers in Kollam Municipal Corporation and the harsh life they face.^[3] They belong to a section of society which is marginalized in the mainstream. The father is working as a temporary cleaning sweeper. Chami is his friend and fellow worker who belongs to a tribal community. They collect the garbage from the city streets into a vehicle and dump it at a rural village. Sometimes father takes his son along with him. During the journey in a trash vehicle, father and son see and experience the life of many nameless, faceless marginalised people, including themselves, in the midst of huge buildings and roaring vehicles.

The film was produced by K Anilkumar under Ambalakkara Global Films. It is the second film produced by Anilkumar with Dr Biju after Akasathinte Niram (Color of Sky).

In an interview, Biju revealed that actors Dileep, Jayasurya, Biju Menon and Sreenivasan were approached to play the lead role. None of them accepted and the movie, therefore, was delayed for more than a year. Eventually, Biju chose Suraj Venjaramoodu for the role.^[4]

Reviewing the film in 2015, Asha Prakash of The Times of India rated the film 3.5/5 and wrote, "The pace of the film about a garbage collector's struggles is slow, and it requires patience and reading between the lines to appreciate it in its entirety. Suraj Venjaramoodu's acting is top notch".^[5]

Quick facts Awards and nominations, Award ...

Suraj Venjaramoodu awards and nominations

The President, Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Rajat Kamal Award for Best Actor for this Perariyathavar Movie to Suraj Venjaramoodu, at the 61st National Film Awards function held at New Delhi on May 03, 2014
Awards and nominations Award Wins Nominations
Totals[a]
Wins	5
Nominations	5
Note [a] Certain award groups do not simply award one winner. They acknowledge several different recipients, have runners-up, and have third place. Since this is a specific recognition and is different from losing an award, runner-up mentions are considered wins in this award tally. For simplification and to avoid errors, each award in this list has been presumed to have had a prior nomination.

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The film was awarded Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation Award at the 61st National Film Awards in 2013. Suraj Venjaramoodu was awarded the Best Actor Award. The noted filmmaker and jury chairman Saeed Mirza said in a press conference, "Suraj has played a municipal sweeper [in the film] but it is an incredibly dignified performance. He excels in comedy but in this film Suraj has brilliantly played a reticent character. I would not have been able to sleep had his name not been in the list of awardees."