Pareshan Director Rupak Ronaldson on The Politics & Quirks of His Telugu Comedy

Hands down, the under-appreciated Pareshan is the wackiest Telugu film of the year. Set in Telangana’s Mancherial, its portrayal of the rural lifestyle, alcoholism, religion, and laidback characters are fresh in every sense, and rarely seen on Telugu screen, especially with such quirk. 

For Rupak Ronaldson, it’s a very personal film. The film tells the story of Isaac, an employed youth who spends his days drinking and playing around with his equally reckless friends. But his life turns upside down when he secretly lends his father’s money to a friend in need at one point. The father, a devoted Christian, wants to retire and take the path of faith but his decision comes across as an obstacle. The filmmaker shares that he, much like the film’s protagonist, hails from a conservative Christian family, and portraying the character’s relationship with the faith felt like a natural choice.

“Be it our belief system or how we see concepts like caste, faith, regional and linguistic barriers or any political sentiments, we learn most of it from our parents. We start forming our belief system based on the influence of our family; the society, communities and political climate around us come later. It all starts at home,” Rupak says. “In the film too, Issac’s father is trying to impose his religious belief on his son. He is also forcing his son to take up his job. It’s a very Indian thing—be it blackmailing children or imposing the beliefs onto the next generation. I tried to convey the same with subtlety.”

Pareshan is a film that thrives in mundanity. Small, trivial things snowball into major conflicts, and most of these are situations the filmmaker has witnessed. Speaking about the realistic nature of the writing and visuals, Rupak shares, “My main objective with Pareshan was to create a sense of newness to every scene. I’m someone who criticises regular staging, locations, performances, and dialogues while watching films. So I believed that the approach to Pareshan has to be fresh and realistic, and more importantly, I should like the dialogues and performances. Right from the scripting stage, I wanted everything to look real. Even while filming, if the performances weren’t looking real, I would caution the actors to tweak the delivery.”

From the camera movement to lighting and the usage of props, Rupak made a conscious effort to make it look natural. “Creating a staged look for a film is pretty easy; using the same space to create a realistic feel is tough. Beautification is easier to achieve; capturing the reality is tough. It takes a lot of thought to make your film feel real,” the filmmaker says, adding that even minute details matter. “The disposable glass the characters use to drink alcohol had to look slightly unclean. The peanuts had to fall down while the characters ate them. Even the fluidity and foam of the beer matter. We used real beer for some scenes.”

Portraying his culture on screen is a joyful exercise, Rupak admits and that’s what he tried to do with Pareshan too. Some of the initial negativity to the film sprouted from the disconnect between the critic and the culture portrayed in the film, he argues. “When one doesn’t understand the culture, lifestyle, or food habits being portrayed in the film, it might look weird. And if someone is reviewing a film with that feeling, they’ll naturally criticise it. I understood that clearly. When you do something new, there will be criticism, and it should exist. Only then will a filmmaker take a stance. It’s good to see both sides of the coin. Filmmakers should stand by their films, continue to showcase their culture, be honest, and make good films.”