Priyuraalu (2021) Review: Disgusting and Utterly Problematic

Priyuraalu is a romantic movie written and directed by Rama Raju, and starring Prithvi Medavaram, Kalapala Mounika and Kaushik Reddy, alongside other cast members. The movie is 114 minutes long.

– Priyuraalu review does not contain spoilers –

Priyuraalu starts off disgustingly romantic. Maybe I am a cynic, but having a romantic wishlist reminds me of The Kissing Booth (not the same, I know) and I hate that movie. A big chunk of the first half is dedicated to our two protagonists saying cheesy romantic stuff to each other. It also reminds me of people who make love and sex their whole personality.

Anyway, Priyuraalu then moves to a few months ago and we see how the two met. Divya and Madhav hit it off right away but their idea of love is quite odd. At one point, Divya tells him that his smoking cigarette is real love… or something. And I am very confused. Also, smoking is a horrible thing to love, please don’t do this to yourself.

Priyuraalu’s scene cuts are extremely odd and it feels like I am watching a YouTube video. The scenes don’t flow well, even the dialogues feel broken and disconnected. Additionally, Priyuraalu’s dubbing is horrible, and dialogue delivery, too, is absolutely abysmal. Everyone is very robot-like in their talking and interactions with people around them. The acting isn’t great either and the chemistry between the leads in a love (or lust?) story like this is absolutely horrendous.

But, I would be ok with all of this. In fact, I would have ignored it had the story been salvageable. With all the talk about love and its meaning, the story goes the very tried and tested cheating route. Now, I won’t mention who’s cheating on whom, but honestly, it’s quite disgusting. When that happens, you are left feeling confused and appalled.

Also Read: Shimmy (2021) Review: Short, Sweet and Heart Touching

And it’s more disgusting because the spouse is an absolute sweetheart. I can’t imagine anyone doing this to someone who’s an asshole. However, how do you do this to a good person who is doing everything for you? I hate these movies, movies that showcase cheating as love. This isn’t a love story and it’s disgusting that it’s shown as such. Everyone around the couple just talks about philosophical bullshit that really doesn’t make sense in the grand scheme of things.

Everyone in this movie just cheats. Like, as if that’s the norm for society? Men just go around cheating while having babies with their wives? I don’t understand this. There’s a whole side-story about the flat’s watchman who constantly stalks and harasses another woman. The shocking thing is that the woman, too, falls for Satyam after a while. I don’t understand this at all. These tropes are extremely harmful to people and society. Do not harass women!

Coming to the ending, it takes a death for Divya and Madhav to understand that what they are doing is probably wrong. However, till the very end, Priyuraalu showcases Satyam’s family as happy and fulfilled although he was cheating on his wife? As if the fact that his wife died is the only problem. I mean, he was regularly beating her, on top of cheating, but sure. I don’t understand Divya’s point as well. Would you do the same atrocities on someone else that have happened to you?

Summing up: Priyuraalu

Priyuraalu is a problematic, disgusting and shameful film that tries you tell you that asking for commitment is bad and cheating is fine in flowery language. I have seen many problematic movies, but never one that is so blatantly problematic, with its romantic songs throughout. Love shouldn’t hurt others and this film is so selfish that it forgets that.

Priyuraalu is streaming on SonyLIV.

Also Read: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Review: Delightful and Enlightening