The emotional film by Prakash Jha points out the stark differences in opportunities available to those with privilege and those without.
Pareeksha review: Well-meaning drama on the right to education
Cinestaan Rating
Release Date: 06 Aug 2020
Sonal Pandya | Mumbai, 08 Aug 2020 15:31 IST
Rickshaw-puller Buchchi (Adil Hussain) has been ferrying students to the elite Ranchi private school Sapphire International for close to seven years. One day he finally asks the staff whether it is possible that his son, the bright boy Bulbul (Shubham Jha), can join the school. He is met with astonishment and, later, doubt that a boy of Bulbul's background could join such a prestigious school.
Shouldn’t Bulbul be allowed to study anywhere despite his background? Alas, though Pareeksha: The Final Test is a film, the circumstances presented in the Prakash Jha drama could happen anywhere in the country. Indeed, the film is inspired by real-life events that make up certain arcs of the story.
A determined father, Hussain’s Buchchi dares to dream above his station in life and resorts to committing thefts to ensure his boy, too, has equal opportunity as the city’s upper-class children. The Paswan family comes from simple means, Buchchi’s wife Radhika (Priyanka Bose) is a factory worker, and Bulbul tops the government school, tutoring the rest of the children in the basti (neighbourhood) as well.
But Bulbul’s smarts can’t be denied once he is in front of the Sapphire admission board. Appealing to the kindly school principal, Buchchi manages to enrol the boy but finds it difficult to keep up with the continuing expenses, besides the monthly fees. He graduates up the thieving ladder until it’s too late to turn back.
“Kitna janam lena hoga karza utarne ke liye [How many lives will we have to live to pay this off]?” Radhika says to Buchchi. But, as always, their love for their son triumphs over everything else, and they continue their personal hardships to get him by. Jha’s emotional drama presents the constant obstacles the small family must face as it tries to ensure that Bulbul can sit through the CBSE exams.
Hussain absolutely breaks your heart as the kind-hearted Buchchi who only wants a better life for his son. Pushed around by the world, he endures it all for the sake of his son’s future. The actor’s moving performance is the highlight of the film.
Bose and newcomer Shubham are superb, never going overboard with melodrama, as their world begins to crumble around them. The soft-spoken Shubham is earnest and leaves a mark. Sanjay Suri arrives late in the film as the kindly superintendent of police Kailash Singh, who takes an unusual interest in the Paswan family. The character’s entry and exit are abrupt, however.
The film begins to wobble towards the end, interjecting an external drama with politicians and other parents protesting against Bulbul’s inclusion in the school at the supposed cost of their children. These sequences, along with Bulbul’s scenes at Sapphire, feel awkward.
But Pareeksha, like Jha’s previous works on social themes, raises important questions and highlights the opportunities available to those with privilege. Those without privilege have to work doubly hard just to survive. They are told to be happy with what they have, and that a government school education should be enough for their son.
The film shows these stark differences, heightening the injustices the poor have to suffer at the hands of the rich. The social drama will have the viewer raise a fist for educational reform. Within 102 minutes, Jha brings across his message effectively. Everyone has the right to education.
Zee5 is now streaming Pareeksha: The Final Test.