Cast: Adil Hussain, Priyanka Bose, Shubham Jain, Sanjay Suri

Director: Prakash Jha

Rating: ***

Platform: ZEE5

The lotus flower is a spiritual symbol of growth and enlightenment, and it blooms in mud only, just like the lotus flower, Prakash Jha's 'Pareeksha - The Final Test' shows the reality of both mud and lotus, along with the truth of society, that if you have the ability, then no one can stop you from moving forward. 'Pareeksha' throws light on social status among different class sections and the achievement of fairness, justice, and impartiality in education in our society.

The film, inspired from the real-life story of the IPS officer Abhayanand, who teaches kids in a village in Bihar affected by Naxalism to help them clear the IIT-JEE exams, begins with Buchi Paswan (Adil Hussain), a rickshaw driver who lives with his wife Radhika (Priyanka Bose) and son Bulbul Kumar (Shubham Jain) in Bahujan Basti, Ambedkar Nagar in Ranchi city. Every morning Bucchi drops some school students on his rented rickshaw and sometimes brings books and bags left by rich children for his intelligent son Bulbul.

Bucchi's wife also works in a utensil factory and the poor couple weaves the dream of getting their son Bulbul admitted to Ranchi's prestigious Sapphire School. Somehow, Bucchi manages to get his son admitted to the school of his dreams but it brings more financial difficulties and hurdles in their life as a big school requires big money. Now, will Bucchi be able to provide better education to his sharp-minded son or will be lost in his alcohol, robbery and gambling habit, is the rest of the story of this brilliant piece of writing.

Prakash Jha, the one-man army has written a concise story with limited artists, which makes the audience feel connected to the characters and their life. Jha has once again adapted his old style of direction, which does remind you of his work in 'Raajneeti' and 'Satyagraha'. The screenplay is smooth and the way Jha captured the emotions and drama is brilliant as he makes you root for the characters. The setting, the accents and the Bihari culture is spot on as always just like in Jha's previous works.

Talking about performances, Adil Hussain impresses once again as a poor and helpless rickshaw puller Bucchi Paswan. A poor man's dreams' can be clearly seen in his eyes and at the same time, Priyanka Bose seems perfect in the role of his wife. Both Priyanka and Adil are well-known artists and both present Prakash Jha's vision aptly on screen.

The one who stands like a high-sky bird is Shubham Jain as Bulbul who tremendously stands out in his performance. The remaining star cast has also narrated the story with their realistic acting. Senior Superintendent of Police Kailash Anand, a character modelled on the real-life IPS officer Abhayanand Singh was also effectively played by Sanjay Suri.

Overall, Jha appears to live upto his old style of his film-making in 'Pareeksha', where the story does not require a big star as the story is the star of the film. Rest when Jha makes a film like this, you do know that its story will be special. After 'Super 30', Bihar-Jharkhand's education system has been perfectly neem presented once again on the screen.