‘Pareeksha Movie Review’: Just about passing marks for Adil Hussain’s fight against the education system

Directed By
Prakash Jha

Produced By
Prakash Jha

Cast
Adil Hussain, Priyanka Bose, Sanjay Suri, Shubham Jha, Shourya Deep

Bollywood Bubble RatingEducation forms the very basis of society. It can uplift the downtrodden, bring about a revolution and can put an off-track society on a progressive path. But, getting quality education can be literally a back-breaking task for those who are underprivileged and live life on the fringes. This week’s Zee5 release ‘Pareeksha’ directed by Prakash Jha explores the idea of quality education and the challenges it poses to the oppressed and financially struggling class of people. The film based on a real-life story is about a rickshaw driver who strives hard to give quality education to his son and is willing to go to any lengths for the purpose. It tells us how vulnerable people on the lower rung get exploited and have to take up illicit ways of living their lives just to keep their heads up in an oppressive structure. ‘Pareeksha’ is a story of a father, whose only aim is to ensure that his brilliant son doesn’t have to endure the same travailed life that he has.

The film stars Adil Hussain, Priyanka Bose, Shubham Jha and Sanjay Suri. Adil, who plays the lead Bucchi, has as always put up an amazing act. He effortlessly portrays the helplessness of a desperate father. However, the dialogues act as roadblocks to his performance; one can actually see this at instances where he emotes without any dialogue. The man really tears it apart in such scenes by using his entire body, in the absence of any dialogue. Priyanka Bose as Radhika perfectly complements Adil Hussain as Bucchi’s wife. She brings out the physical and emotional drain of a factory labour, a mother and a wife with absolute ease. As for Shubham Jha and Sanjay Suri, they both have stuck to their parts and delivered what was expected from them through a very calculated performance

The writing could have had more depth, in terms of both the screenplay and the dialogues. The film tries to explore too many things with too little effort. Themes like caste discrimination and commercialization of education have been taken from Prakash Jha’s ‘Aarakshan’ but, the screenplay doesn’t do justice to the themes entirely. The conflicts are resolved too fast and seem rushed. While the installation of the story is real, its narrative tilts towards fiction. Overall, the writing lacked the equilibrium between its themes to maintain the flow of the story.

The cinematography though good, misses out on a few key aspects that could have made a difference. Similarly, the production design and art direction are good but are held back by an average work with regards to the colour palette. Like the navy and Egyptian blue have been prominently used for the physical space of Bucchi and his family to define their Dalit identity and the locality where these characters come from, thereby making it too obvious.

At places, where the film fails to sustain the momentum it’s salvaged by the tastefully done background score which makes good use of the string section and the symphony.

Education is not a privilege; it’s a right of each and every individual for it opens the gates to a better future. But sadly, in a dysfunctional society, it becomes a tool to exploit the already suffering people, who barely manage to tie their lives together. ‘Pareeksha’, with a little more stability in its narrative could have portrayed this wonderfully. But, despite having the right intent, the film falls a bit short because of its loose ends.

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Also Read: ‘Raat Akeli Hai’ Movie Review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s finesse and Honey Trehan’s twists makes this detective murder mystery a viewer’s delight

Ramesh Modi

Consulting Editor @ BollywoodBubble.
You can also find me on – https://twitter.com/RameshPModi