Director: Rupak Ronaldson
Cast: Thiruveer, Pavani Karanam, Bunny Abiran, Sai Prasanna, Arjun Krishna, Shruthi Riyan, Buddarakhan Ravi
In every great film, there comes one point—a sequence, a scene, a shot, or at times, a single moment—that assures us that we are in the hands of a tasteful filmmaker. That point in Pareshan arrives nearly 25 minutes into the film when Isaac (Thiruveer), an ordinary youth from Mancherial in Telangana begins to develop feelings for Sirisha (Pavani Karanam) at the launch event of a locally produced music video named ‘Musi Musi Navvula Manjula’. This song, conceived as a peppy dance number by the youngsters of the town, suddenly transitions into a melodious version as the scene segues into montages of Isaac and Sirisha falling in love. Moreover, this entire song sequence is bookended by the dialogues of a local news anchor named Rajitha. There’s something about this simple but delightful sequence, which places great emphasis on music and its variations, that instantly affirms that Rupak Ronaldson is crafting this film with so much confidence and style, although the latter quality is not conspicuous in every frame and scene. The style and its motive are to create frames and scenes that look deliberately raw or say, un-stylised. The people, their faces, voices, their clothes, the colours in the frames, their houses… everything looks real. Yet, the premise is painted in outlandishness and garnished with just the right amount of quirk and silliness. Pareshan manages to balance its eccentricity with grounded nature and how!
It’s interesting that Pareshan is releasing just a week after Mem Famous, a film about three aimless youngsters from a Telangana village trying to make an identity for themselves. Pareshan’s central conceit too entwines itself with the direction of its protagonist Iscaac’s life as we saw in Mem Famous. Likewise, the characters in both films share nonchalance about life and a conflict—financial burden. In Pareshan, money plays a crucial role. At one point, Isaac is preached about priorities and reminded that human life is more important than money. Just the fact that Pareshan emphasises the need for money in the young protagonist’s life is a testament to how close the film is to reality. Basically, money is the cause of all the Pareshan (trouble) here.