Paarijatha Parvam Review: Below Par Crime Comedy

Paarijatha Parvam is a 2024 Telugu-language crime comedy film written and directed by Santosh Kambhampati. The film has Chaitanya Rao, Sunil, Shraddha Das and Malavika Satheesan playing the lead roles while Viva Harsha, Srikanth Iyengar, Surekha Vani, Sameer, Gundu Sudarshan, Eshwar, Rohini, Muralidhar Goud, Lakshmi Narayana G, Abhishek A Raj, Madhu, B.Suresh & others are seen in important roles. The music is composed by Ree and the film is produced by Mahidhar Reddy & Devesh under Vanamali Creations banner.

Story:

Chaitanya (Chaitanya Rao) is an aspiring film director who wants to direct a film based on Bar Seenu (Sunil) with Harhsa (Viva Harsha) playing the lead role in it. Chaitanya keeps getting rejected by the producers for his choice of hero and one day, he decides to kidnap the wife of a producer who insulted him in the past. Both Chaitanya & Harsha plan the whole kidnap and execute it. But the twist in the tale arises when another gang also tries to kidnap the same person which in turn unfolds a big conspiracy and a lot of confusion. What happens later needs to be seen in the film.

What about on-screen performances?

Chaitanya Rao is pretty decent in his part but he offers no major variation from his previous films. Apart from the role he is playing in all the films, acting-wise there has not been much improvement.

Shraddha Das gets a meaty role and she performs well as Parvathi. She as usual looks gorgeous in her glamourous avatar and gives out natural expressions. She surely deserves to get more acting-oriented roles.

Sunil, Viva Harsha & Srikanth Iyengar provide some decent entertainment with their funny antics and frustration in the second half which is a big relief in the film.

Malavika Satheesan is very ordinary in her role as the love interest of the hero. Apart from a couple of love scenes, she doesn’t have much to contribute to the plot or the proceedings.

Surekha Vani, Sameer & Rohini also are funny in a few places and do their parts neatly while Gundu Sudarshan, Eshwar, Muralidhar Goud, Lakshmi Narayana G, Abhishek A Raj, Madhu, B.Suresh & others are fine in their limited roles.

What about off-screen talents?

The story by Santosh Kambhampati lacks novelty. Except for the small plot twist in the kidnap, there is nothing fresh in the film. The reason why the hero decides to kidnap is not fully convincing and might appear a bit silly to a few.

The screenplay too is poorly written. The whole movie angle and the love track in the beginning are the best examples of this. It is filled with cliched scenes and offers zero novelty in the way the scenes are designed. Except for a few confusing comedy scenes in the second half, there is nothing much to talk about in the writing part.

Director Santosh Kambhampati does a pretty mediocre job with the way he narrates the film. Firstly, the casting is not properly done. Sunil & Harsha trying to be heroes in the movies and Chaitanya narrating a story to make Harsha a movie hero never looks convincing on screen. Also, the track between Sunil & Shraddha Das looks very odd and again looks unconvincing. The director should’ve got these basics right and should’ve concentrated more on building a compelling first half to make the second half work.

The songs by Ree are forgettable. Except for the title rap song, none of the others make a mark. The background score is another big disappointment in the film. It is hard to say that the whole film actually runs on a couple of tunes that keep repeating with every scene that comes which never lifts the film by any level.

The cinematography by Bala Saraswathi is just about fine. There is nothing great in terms of framing or lighting in his work.

The edit by Sasank Vupputuri is very poor. There is a lot of lag in the scenes which could’ve been reduced and made the run time a lot more crisp.

The production values by Vanamali Creations are adequate.

What’s Hot?

* Shraddha Das’s Performance
* Viva Harsha & Sunil’s Comedy Portions
* Decent Second Half

What’s Not?

* Boring First Half
* Repetitive Background Score
* Too Many Routine Scenes
* Weak Love Track
* Forgettable Songs
* Drag In Both Halves & Editing
* Casting

Verdict: Overall, Paarijatha Parvam is a Below Par crime comedy film that had the potential to be a much funnier confusing comedy, but ended up as a wasted opportunity mainly coz of the writing and the boring first half. Can give it a try once it comes on the OTT platforms.

Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2/5