What’s it about?
In a village in Telangana’s coal mine area, a group of friends, mostly irresponsible youngsters with no proper educational qualifications and no jobs, find any excuse to drink beer. Among these friends, Isaac (Thiruveer) is the slightly more educated one.
Isaac’s father (Muralidhar Goud) intends to take early retirement from his mining job in order to become a gospel teacher. His dad wants him to take over his job. He puts money aside and then has Isaac give it to a person who helps them land this job. But, Isaac uses Rs 50,000 to free his friend Pasha from a police case.
Isaac and his girlfriend Sirisha, on the other hand, have sex one day. Sirisha believes she is pregnant because she vomits the next day. Tensed Isaac plans to have her aborted, but his friends refuse to repay the money, and more financial problems pile up, leaving him in even more pareshan. Will he ever be able to get his money?
Analysis
There has been a recent trend among filmmakers to place their stories in a rural Telangana setting and narrate their wafer-thin plots with a few random jokes. Last week, we have seen “Mem Famous” which had similar problem of no cohesive story setting. This week, it is the case of “Pareshan”.
Mancherial and surrounding areas are backdrop for this film’s storyline. Under the guise of depicting small-town life and rural culture, the film consists primarily of cutaways from one drinking scene to another and a couple of funny incidents.
The plot hinges on the protagonist getting back Rs 50,000 from his friends who spent it. Three friends—a married man who has no job, a lover boy who can’t even sign his own name, and a funny man constantly roams on bike—claim they are broke. However, they spend days and nights chugging beer from cans. The cost of these beverages alone exceeds what the protagonist is attempting to recoup.
The entire film consists of these drinking scenes. In between these sections, the film features songs with terrible lyrics. Tiruveer and Pavani Karanam’s love story seems to have been lifted straight out of a different jamana (era). There is no sense of contemporaneity in the film at all.
Only in its depiction of Christian gospel and suvartha songs does the director Rupak Ronaldson’s narration add any real sense of freshness.
Tiruveer plays his role with sincerity. Pavani fits the role. Muralidhar Gowd as protagonist’s father shines again. Music is forgettable.
Bottom line: “Pareshan” is another film that tries to cash in on the rural Telangana comedy trend but offers nothing new. Except for a few laughs, this film has a hollow story and shallow narration. Utter crap, hare-brained attempt.
Rating: 1.5/5
By Jalapathy Gudelli
Film: Pareshan
Cast: Thiruveer, Pavani Karanam, Bunny Abiran, Muralidhar Gowd, Sai Prasanna, and others
Music: Yashwanth Nag
DOP: Vasu Pendem
Editor: Hari Shankar TN
Producer: Siddharth Rallapalli
Written and Directed by: Rupak Ronaldson
Release Date: June 02, 2023
