Release Date : 02
Mar 2018 (India)
Run Time :
134 minutes
Language : Hindi
Directed by : Prosit
Roy
Cast : Anushka
Sharma
Parambrata
Chaterjee
Rajat
Kapoor
Ritabhari Chakraborty
Ritabhari Chakraborty
Budget : 18
crore
Box Office : 40 crore
There is a dearth of good horror movies in Bollywood. The last really scary movie I can remember is the 1992 horror flick Raat by Ram Gopal Verma. True, there have been a few good ones here & there like Bhoot & Vaastu Shastra but nothing else much worth remembering. So, when Pari came out in 2018 with Anushka Sharma as its leading lady, we had high hopes for the film. But does the movie live up to its hype? Let’s find out.
The
plot of the movie is set into motion when the car in which Arnab (Parambrata) is travelling accidently hits a woman killing her. This leads to the discovery of Rukshana (Anushka), a woman who is
chained in a cottage in the woods & who evidently has had little contact
with civilization. With nowhere to go & people lead by the mysterious
Professor Quasim Ali (Rajat Kapoor) chasing her she takes refuge in the house
of Arnab. What follows is a beautiful love story between the shy Arnab &
the naïve Rukshana. But all is not what it seems to be. Slowly but surely the
mystery surrounding Rukshana begins to unfold & we are taken to the world
of Djinns & mysterious cults &
learn about Ifrit & the satanic cult
in Bangladesh called Auladchakra & of the deadly secret involving Rukshana.
The
problem with the movie is it’s length. With a run time of 2hr15min the movie
feels at least half an hour too long. A lot of time is taken in setting up the
story & unravelling the plot. There are enough gut wrenching & stomach
churning scenes in the movie like the scenes involving forced childbirth &
killing of the new borns, the killing of the dog, the morgue scene, & the
director employs such classic techniques such as killing a man by rotating his
head 180 degrees. But such scenes are scattered far apart in the movie & as
a result the plot loses it’s grip on the audience.
The
movie is set in Kolkata. The suspense in the movie is mainly atmospheric, and
what adds to this is its setting. We
have seen the joyous side of the city in movies like Piku, but here we
are also shown the dark side of the city. The city with it’s narrow lanes &
by-lanes, with it’s decrepit buildings not only adds to the atmosphere but here
it becomes a central character. On the one hand we see love blooming in the
open spaces of Maidan, on the other we see the horror in it’s
claustrophobic lanes. DOP Jishnu Bhattacharjee has beautifully captured both
sides of the city.
Another
saving grace of the movie is the performance of it’s lead actors. After NH
10 Anushka delivers another chilling
performance. She is magnificent both as the vulnerable & frightened girl
Rukshana and as her horrific counterpart. Parambrata delivers a subdued
performance as the shy & introvert Arnab. Ritabhari who plays the part of Arnab’s
fiancée also looks charming enough. Rajat Kapoor looks menacing as the
Professor with one glass eye.
The
movie falls short of our expectations and does not quite fill the void in the horror genre in
Bollywood. But it has a beautiful and unusual love story between it’s main
protagonists. You can enjoy it as a supernatural love story. The movie asks the
question – who is the real Monster and the answer is quite unsettling.
