Cast: Anupama Parameswaran, Darshana Rajendran, Sangeetha Krish, Rag Mayur, Gautham Vasudev Menon Crew:  Written by Praveen Kandregula, Poojitha Sreekanti, Prahaas Boppudi Editing by Dharmendra Kakarala Cinematography by Mridul Sujit Sen Music by Gopi Sundar Directed by Praveen Kandregula Produced by Sreenivasulu P. V., Vijay Donkada, Sridhar Makkuva Anupama Parameswaran has become one of the most popular actresses in Indian and Telugu Cinema. She is taking a different route with lady-orinted film like Paradha, after being part of several entertainers, romantic films. Writer - Director Praveen Kandregula, after his popular films like Cinema Bandi, Shubham, directed this film. With promotional material, the movie created good buzz and released on 22nd August. Let's discuss about the movie in detail.  Plot:  Subbalakshmi (Anupama Parameswaran) aka Subbu, hailing from Padathi village, falls in love with her schoolmate Rajesh (Rag Mayur). Their engagement is set to happen in next three days. As the preparations are underway, village goddess jathara is conducted. Goddess backstory establishes that she used to wear a veil over her head and even though she is a pregnant, she attacks her harassers, and commits suicide. Village people honor her sacrifice and make her their village goddess. The village have a rule that women who fail to wear a veil, would have to commit suicide for the betterment of the village and the prosperity of new born children. Subbu records a message for her father to sell veils, as she is getting ready to marry Rajesh. Unfortunately, her veil is blown away by the wind and a photographer (Gautam Vasudev Menon) captures it and publishes on magazine cover. As she removed her veil, she is asked to commit suicide but she gets a miraculous boon to find the photographer and prove her innocence. Ashmita (Darshana) and friend of her mother (Sangita) try to help her. Can she prove her innocence? Will she be able to understand the oppressed mindset behind veil? Watch the movie to know more.  Analysis:  Anupama Parameswaran is good in her role as a village belle. She is able to deliver a convincing performance as a girl, who got brainwashed to believe in her rural beliefs. She delivered one of her best performances in her career but her look and diction are not convincing. Hailing from an Andhra village, women do have a slang but she did not really try to grab it. But she did well in emotional scenes.  Darshana Rajendran as a career-driven woman looking to fight her way to the top against male dominant society is good in major parts. But her role doesn't have a real punch that such kind of a film requires to make her a case study to Anupama's character, to learn and grow out of her cocoon. Sangita is good but her character looses meat as the film follows. She could have been given a little bit more to perform to showcase how home-makers can think about living for themselves too.  Praveen Kandregula tried to bring to life a story that seems like a 90's driven film rather than a present story. While character conversations are current, the kind of beliefs that the writer created look more close to 80's and 90's cinema. Even if such practices still exist, it cannot be "Duck out of the water" situation for the main character. It feels the same way for watching audiences too. The rituals and practices needed to be more pronounced.  At times, it feels a tad bit under written as the characters don't really stick. It feels random with each moment seem to be artificial at places. The random change in attitudes of certain characters and the parallels drawn with goddess story, don't really bring out the desired results. The writing goes haywire in the second hour as things drag to the point of no return. Still, the performances keep the movie lively to watch to an extent.  Women empowerment doesn't start and end with male chavunism but they tend to go deeper into the oppressive ways that historically been a part of several traditions. It is important to bring out such a message to the society that not every tradition needs to be adhered at the same time, it should not be a lecture. A theme that resembles Queen, Magalir Mattum, Paradha needed even impactful independent voice to stand out yet it is watchable for the genunity in the attempt.    Bottomline:  Paradha tries to be a voice of women empowerment but stumbles over the path to find its unique pitch.    Rating: 2.75/5  Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this review are personal views/opinions shared by the writer and organisation does not hold a liability to them. Viewers' discretion is advised before reacting to them. 

Megastar Chiranjeevi has taken a big leap of faith with Anji, almost two and half decades ago. Post Ammoru, producer Shyam Prasad Reddy, announced another huge VFX marvel but this time with Chiranjeevi. The movie took 6 years to complete but it did not live up to expectations with its box office performance.  While the movie earned cult following, it did not end up successful at the box office. Hence, Chiranjeevi did not attempt such big projects in his career, till Vishwambhara. The movie, once again, turned out to be a long delayed project for Chiranjeevi.  Makers have planned movie's release for January 2025 but had to delay it due to extensive VFX work. Even the teaser released a year ago, did not meet the expectations of the fans. Now, they have decided to push the release to Summer 2026 and wait for the output to be spell-binding and satisfactory.  UV Creations are producing the film and they are in no rush to release it. Vashistha Mallidi is directing the film and fans are anticipating some good update from the film on 22nd August, for Chiru's birthday. We have to wait for the confirmation from the makers regarding both the reports.  Disclaimer: The news article is written based on information shared by various sources. The organisation is not responsible for the factual nature of them. While we do try to do thorough research at times people could misguide. So, we would encourage viewers' discretion before reacting to them.