Purushaha, produced by Kalyan Productions, was released in theatres today. In this section, we are going to review the latest BO release.
Plot:
Govind (Pavan Kalyan Battula), Sattibabu (Saptagiri), and Srinu (Rajkumar Kasireddy) are childhood friends whose marriages unravel due to stubborn misunderstandings. Their wives, Kamala, Lakshmi, and Geetha, eventually file for divorce. Seeking an escape, the trio attends the wedding of their mutual friend, Kissu (Vennela Kishore). However, trouble follows when the wives discover Kissu’s old diary. The journal exposes the men's mischievous childhood escapades, specifically detailing Govind’s past romance with a girl named Rosy.
Tensions peak at the wedding when the wives witness their husbands getting close to another woman, Devika, fueling further suspicion. Will this new wave of insecurity shatter their marriages completely? Do the wives ever truly understand their husbands, or will the court grant the divorces?
Post-Mortem:
Since Kshemanga Velli Labhanga Randi (2000), the trope of three middle-class friends clashing with their respective wives has been an idea many filmmakers have tried to revisit in different ways. KVLR, which had some of the most hilarious scenes involving Brahmanandam and Rajendra Prasad, had so much going for it: financial struggles, petty male egos, toxicity, and a genuine crisis resolved through collective action. Purushaha is least interested in nuance, real-life scenarios, or balancing the gender narrative.
When you have written a story involving three couples, you are supposed to use the six characters to represent different sections of society and personality types. The Govind-Kamala duo is afforded a serious-minded conflict that is resolved in a melodramatic fashion, occasionally rendered unintentionally funny by an outdated backstory. The other two couples are just there to play the second fiddle.
The second half narrates a painfully slow love story that doesn't add anything to the narrative the film wants to convey. Throughout the film, the conversations men have about women lack substance; they are full of gender stereotypes, wife jokes, etc. Director Veeru Vulavala has no real-life insights to offer except pander to the male audience. The dialogues, including the ones between the husbands and a judge (played by the excruciatingly monotonous VTV Ganesh) devolve into the insufferable when they repeatedly perpetuate the same narrative against women. The slapstick comedy becomes too much to stand in the second half. In one instance, a wife unleashes her martial arts skills. Saptagiri is terrified the way he was in Prema Katha Chitram.
Right from the beginning, the male characters are warning the manosphere against getting married. Kasireddy's character continues to speak in half-sentences, leaving the rest to others' imagination. And, every time, they involve sexual innuendos. Lustful sounds in the background suggest that couples iron out their differences in bed, around midnight. Probably, the director itched for more than two item songs but couldn't afford it because of runtime constraints. Saptagiri plays a failed businessman-turned-Pastor who uses the Telugu word 'Bidda' some fifty times.
The film also features Vaishnavi Kokkura, Vishika, Hasini Sudheer, Sri Sandhya, Gabi Rock, Anaira Gupta, Vennela Kishore, Rajeev Kanakala, and Pammi Sai. Shravan Bharadwaaj's music lacks soul.
Closing Remarks:
Purushaha attempts to revisit the familiar “three married friends in conflict with their wives” formula but ends up relying heavily on stale gender stereotypes, forced comedy, and endless innuendos.
