Pareeksha Movie Review: Adil Hussain, Priyanka Bose Pass the Test with Flying Colours

On a daily basis, Bucchi takes kids on his rickshaw and through an incident is led to believe that children going to private schools get a fair chance at opportunities in life. Now, he is adamant on sending Bulbul to an international school and even manages to get him in. Later, when expenses of ‘good’ education become a burden, a seemingly innocuous rickshawala treads the path of stealing and deceit.

Hussain has pulled off the lead role convincingly by working on his dialect, demeanour and physique. Its easy to take him as a rickshawala and in that the character gets more depth instead of just being on-surface. Priyanka Bose, who plays Bucchi’s wife, is given a plump role to bite into and she does not let down. Child actor Shubham is also on par with seasoned actors around him. The ensemble cast put together, Pareeksha achieves in creating the milieu envisioned by Jha.

The film does verge on melodrama every once in a while and may fail to strike a chord in some scenes but since the story is moving ahead with various plot points, it does engage with the viewers on the themes of class, treatment and economic status in the Indian society.

Pareeksha does not preach on the pretext of tackling the life of a rickshaw puller and neither does it victimise the poor. Those are the plus points. It brings forth the story of people who are in our vicinity, geographically, but seldom take centre stage.

Rating: 2.5/5