Paramathma

The Supreme Being and his confusions

People are evacuated out of a cinema hall after it is announced that a bomb will explode any minute. Turns out that it is a ‘prank’ played by irate fans disgusted with the film.
It is debatable if the director had a premonition of sorts and decided to spoof even the fate of films badly made.

Paramathma is Yogaraj Bhat all the way – dialogues reigning supreme; emotion, feelings and substance be damned. The director delves yet again (yawn) into the intriguing mindset of youth and brings up yet another talk-a-thon.

Yogaraj has no peer in diluting philosophy to help unravel the complex young minds – too much thinking leading to unnecessary complication. Continuing the good work that first peeped out in Manasaare and took definite form in Pancharangi, the director’s dialogue-based cinema has perhaps reached its peak with Paramathma.

Shedding form and image, Puneet plays the quintessential youth from Yogaraj’s school - snow-pure at heart, generous with money and its perks but not at ease with himself initially. He is mandated to go ‘discover’ himself. He climbs the Everest (with no frost bite!) and learns ‘authentic’ kung-fu in China only to unlearn it in dingy fightclubs of Gujarat and elsewhere. He also prowls Dalal Street and makes a tidy pile. And yes, he also falls in love without much fuss - with a gifted musician. There’s also a classmate, or two, pining for the hero – fiery yet vulnerable.

The director works Puneet out rather well – his protege Ganesh pops up during some stock dialogue delivery. Even Diganth would have suited the role just fine!

Santosh Rai Pathaje, Guruprashant Rai and team lift their work some, but are easily overshadowed by the drama ‘generated’ by fantabulous dialogues. Harikrishna’s music is rich and inspired, burning the charts. 

The director has employed the flashbacks pretty well... Sixth Sense anyone? Rangayana Raghu’s frustrated attempts to escape his bachelorhood that ends in tragedy fails to sink in though.

Motifs like Karadi Majalu are all woven well into the narrative, but the climax is a rude awakening for fans of both Puneet and Yogaraj. This Paramathma lives up to his billing – shattering many myths (good and bad) and hype.