Paradha Movie Review

After delivering Cinema Bandi, a neo-noir dramedy film and Subham, a horror comedy film, the director, Praveen Kandregula made a social drama film, Paradha with Anupama Parameswaran in the lead role and Darshana Rajendran and Sangeetha Krish in crucial supporting roles. The film initially grabbed the attention of moviegoers with interesting posters.

Anupama Parameswaran and Praveen Kandregula were vocal about the film during the promotional campaign. They asked the audience to watch the movie in theatres only if it gets good reviews. After being in the news for the lady few days, the film was finally released in theatres today. Did Praveen Kandregula deliver a gripping social Drama film? Did Anupama Parameswaran deliver a successful film in the lead role? Did the film have enough content to revive the trend of female-centric films as wished and hoped by the director and the lead actress during the promotional campaign?

More importantly, does the content of the film match the enthusiastic statements made by the director before the release? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

The people of Padathi, a remote village, strongly believe that they are cursed by the goddess, Jwalamma. As per the curse they believe, the women in the village should wear a mask on their faces once they hit puberty and can show their faces only to their family members. And, if any woman shows her face to any man who does not belong to her family, the villagers believe that the goddess will get angry and will not let any woman in the village give birth to a baby. What happens when the mask on the face of Subbu(Anupama Parameswaran), a soon-to-be-wedded girl in the village, accidentally falls off her face due to the wind? Why did the villagers take an oath to kill women who show their faces intentionally or unintentionally, to the men who aren’t part of their family? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Anupama Parameswaran in the role of Subbu delivered a very commendable performance. The way she expressed the pain and helplessness through her eyes deserves a special mention. There are at least four emotional sequences in the film where she delivered a first-rate performance. It is inarguably one of her career’s best performances in a film, if not the best.

Darshana Rajendran in the role of Amishta Aka Ami, a fierce architect who fights her own battle in the corporate world, delivered an equally commendable performance. Yesteryear heroine, Sangeetha Krish, in the role of Rathna, delivered a very good performance. Her innocence, comic timing and ability to perform in emotional sequences without going overboard, worked out very well.

Harsha Vardhan in the role of the husband to Rathna generated a few laughs. Rajendra Prasad in an extended cameo role made his presence felt. He made his experience count in the ‘bird story’ sequence. Rag Mayur did a decent job but his performance should have been better. Chaitanya Rao Madadi did a blink-and-miss cameo. Tamil director, Gautham Vasudev Menon did a crucial cameo. He made his presence felt but the writing for his character would have been better.

Technicalities:

Gopi Sundar’s music worked in favour of the film. A couple of songs and background score at most parts of the film, worked out well. Cinematography by Mridul Sujit Sen deserves a special mention. He captured the rustic village setup and the picturesque & breathtaking landscapes of Dharamshala very well with his camera. Editing by Dharmendra Kakarala should have been better, especially in the second half of the film. Production values by ‘Ananda Media’ are adequate. Let’s discuss more about the director, Praveen Kandregula and writers, Poojitha Sreekanti & Prahaas Boppudi’s work in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Basic Storyline
2.⁠ ⁠Performances
3.⁠ ⁠Background Score

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Second Half
2.⁠ ⁠Preachy Tone
3.⁠ ⁠Unidimensional Narration
4.⁠ ⁠Slow Pace
5.⁠ ⁠Predictable Climax

Analysis:

Although certain stereotypes against women are being broken at a rapid pace in India, there are still a lot of women out there who are forced to practice quite a few age-old superstitions and adhere to societal norms. Cinema is a powerful medium across the globe, especially in India. A filmmaker may not be able to change a person’s thought process completely but he or she can certainly put a thought in the mind audience with powerful and thought-provoking storytelling. It indeed is a good idea to use the cinema as a tool to empower women and to challenge the superstitions and stereotypes. But, the approach should be balanced. The two rules for any filmmaker who tries to make socially relevant films are not to take any sides and not to sound preachy. Unfortunately, Praveen Kandregula, the director of Paradha and his team, failed to follow both the rules.

In one of the sequences in the film, there is a dialogue – ‘Men can’t empathise with women in this world’. This dialogue sums up the thought process of the director and his team. It is up to the individual to agree or to disagree with the above statement but certainly, a director who wants to make a socially relevant film should stay away from making such ‘generic’ and ‘unidimensional’ statements.

Paradha struggles, especially in the second half, due to this unidimensional thought process in storytelling. In an era where every corporate company in the country, giving utmost importance to diversity in hiring and promotions, it is baffling to see a filmmaker taking the side of women and bashing men. Yes, women still are facing issues at work and elsewhere as well but it seems like the director went overboard and certain things he tried to convey were far from the reality in today’s corporate world.

The basic storyline of Paradha is interesting and intriguing as well. It can be told as a gripping edge-of-the-seat thriller or as a slice-of-life film. The director chose to narrate the story as a slice-of-life film. He started the film on a good note, explained the backstory behind ‘Paradha’ in a very interesting way and executed the first half decently. He and his writing team seem to have followed the balanced approach up until the intermission. It is in the second half, the film completely loses track. It gets into a preachy zone and feels like watching a moral science documentary on women’s empowerment in the backdrop of the picturesque locales of Dharamshala.

After dragging the film with not-so-engaging sequences one after the other throughout the second half, the director ended the film with a very predictable and uninteresting climax. However, the background score used for the climax portion is worth appreciating. Gautham Vasudev Menon appeared in a cameo which is crucial to the conflict point but the justification given for his act would have been better.

Going by his work in his earlier film, Subham and now, Paradha, the director Praveen Kandregula, seems to have a very good taste in selecting scripts and is good at executing a film with a limited budget. He also seems to have a very good grip on all crafts, especially music. However, his tendency to take sides while narrating a story and overemphasis on ‘trying to be different from the rest of the pack’, worked against him in both films. Overall, the core point of Paradha has the potential to become a very engaging film. Anupama Parameswaran, Darshana Rajendran and Sangeetha Krish delivered very commendable performances but the unidimensional narration and the forever dragged second half made it a boring watch in theatres.

Bottomline: Preachy

Rating: 2.25/5