Parampara review: This bloated, outdated family drama is a 'Baahubalian' disappointment!

1.5/5

Story:

Veera Naidu is a man of great repute in Vizag, quite influential and revered by the creme de la creme of the city for his generosity. He has two sons, Mohana Rao and Nagendra Naidu, the former being the adopted one. Nagendra Naidu just can't digest Mohan's popularity among the masses. When Veera Naidu is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Naidu takes utmost advantage of the situation to suppress Mohan and his influence. The bitterness between the brothers extends to the next generation as well, as their sons Suresh and Gopi are loggerheads with one another. 

Review:

Parampara had all the ingredients to be a nail-biting old-school family drama surrounding power-hungry men. The conflict is as classic as it can get - the family patriarch is murdered and there's tension as to who between his own and adopted son will take over the mantle from him. The adopted son is obviously the worthy successor while his insecure sibling does everything in his ability to snatch power from him. What if the adopted one prefers to be submissive while the other grows to be the crooked manipulator who uses his bloodline to his advantage? 

When the sons of these two brothers compete at a college election and are desperate for a victory, you foresee a fascinating contest. The scenario is as old as the hills, spanning multiple generations and it looks like an ideal point for Parampara to take off, except that it doesn't. The directors Krishna Vijay and Vishwanath Arigela don't know what to do with the backdrop or the familiar-yet-workable characters. The conflicts only get absurd and petty with time, the show loses its direction quickly and becomes one incoherent mess.

While the cousins fight over a college election initially, they also fight over the same girl later and go to ridiculous lengths to accomplish their aims. The girl almost feels like a trophy they're competing for. It is hard to understand why is Gopi so bitter and obsessed about ending his uncle's rein in Vizag. The see-saw between the two looks pointless. Amidst all the tension, it's strange that these characters live in a joint family setup. Why don't the brothers go separate ways, live in different households and put an end to this menace? It's a question that haunts you more as the show progresses. 

The bloated, non-linear screenplay, with a new character being introduced every minute, invites uncalled-for confusion and beyond a point, you stop caring and are too tired to connect the dots. Every second dialogue sounds like a motivational quote or a punchline and it's hard to find characters that behave and converse normally. The writing is very redundant - there's zilch drama and the characters repeatedly talk about their motives like parrots. Given an opportunity, you wish you could tell them 'we get it! now please move on!'

The sluggish pace gets to your nerves and many parts of the show look like an exaggerated television soap. The show-creators are least interested to keep audiences hooked. The characterisation is erratic, inconsistent and the mediocre performances add to the viewer's woes. The editing is equally horrendous, the absence of a good narrative flow is quite evident. The only sequences that work in the show feature the good-old, reliable Murali Mohan. The filmmaking is archaic and old-fashioned.

The lesser said about the women, the better. Excepting a character or two, the only links that connect the women are discussions on marriage, sarees and coffee. A woman calls herself an editor of a newspaper daily and is working on the same story for months. (what a luxury of not having deadlines!) The subplot revolving around Jenny and her (not-so) single mother is bizarre. There's hardly any meat in the show to merit a six-hour runtime. 

Jagapathi Babu and Murali Mohan are the only actors who make a genuine effort to slip into their characters. Naveen Chandra has a lot of screen time but he needs to mature as a performer to pull off such heavyweight drama. Sarathkumar's steely presence is a big plus though you wish someone else could have dubbed for him. Ishan is miscast in a role that has no arc or graph. Aakanksha Singh and Naina Ganguly have nothing more to offer than obsessing about the men in their lives. 

Kasthuri appears out of place as a politician who's under the mercy of Naidu. Shri Tej is impressive while he lasts. One can only feel for composer Naresh Kumaran - there's very little in the material that could inspire him to come up with a pulsating score. The cinematographer SV Vishweshwar makes an honest effort to further the story through his visuals. 

Verdict:

Paramapara, despite starting on an intriguing note, only flatters to deceive and is stuck in a time warp. Neither the writing nor the execution, performances create any meaningful impact. The show is a sight for the sore eyes, shot on a grand scale but what's the point when it doesn't have wings to fly? That it comes from a production house that backed films like Baahubali, Vedam and Maryada Ramanna in the past only adds to the disappointment.