Pari (2018) Movie Review
Written By: SR
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Prosit Roy
Producer: Anuskha Sharma, Karnesh Sharma
Writers: Abhishek Banerjee, Prosit Roy
Date Released: March, 2nd, 2018
Cast:
Anushka Sharma as Rukshana
Parambrata Chatterjee as Arnab
Rajat Kapoor as Professor Qasim Ali
Ritabhari Chakraborty as Piyali
Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Sahu
Mansi Multani as Kalapori
Mithu Chakrabarty as Arnab’s mother
Santilal Mukherjee as Police Inspector
et.al.
Rating = 3/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
A victim of physical abuse and torture, Rukshana finds hope in the form of Arnab. He rescues her and takes her back to the safety of his home in Kolkata. She is child-like and Arnab acts as a father figure to her by teaching her the ways of the world. While their relationship grows stronger and intimate, a gang of thugs lead by Professor Qasim Ali track him down to give him some bad news about his new love interest.
Gore Factor
There is plenty of gore to provoke visceral shock and excitement throughout the film. Borrowing from the Nordik style of horror, Pari shows multiple scenes which make you squirm and feel a sensation of disgust hence, the R-rating. Truly, the makeup artists have left no stone unturned when it comes to creating realistic characters. The creators use a good measure of CGI and VFX in the cinematography and backdrops keeping this film pleasing to the eye.
The Grave Review
Directed by Prosit Roy, Pari (2018) is a promising debut with a well composed cast lead by one of Bollywood’s leading ladies, Anushka Sharma. It could be a classic victim-rescuer-perpetrator story, yet the plot slowly thickens and a blood curdling background story is revealed. The film is a stark outlier in Bollywood because it follows a Nordik style of horror which uses haunting carnography rather than jump scares. As a result, the film’s pace is slow winding and the shock factor is completely missing.
The story flows easily from the present to past and back. The history begins in Barrackpore and goes to Dhaka and finally, culminates in Kolkata. When it comes to character development, the director does not create a strong backstory. The characters seem to cling to their inherent nature till they reach a tipping point without too much of an explanation. Arnab keeps rescuing Rukshana till her greatest hour of need. Rukshana plays a consummate victim then suddenly she is evil incarnate. Professor Qasim is the bad guy till he reaches a dead end. In fact, the character development is a big flop leading to a confusing and bizarre plot.
The cast has been compiled well and each actor does justice to the intricacies of their character. Rukshana fluctuates as a feral child learning to survive in civilization after enduring years of chained torture and subjugation. She swings from being innocent to vicious. Arnab plays an appearance of being a ‘sorted young man’ however, his lonely and neurotic nature seeks expression from time to time. Professor Qasim is the stern older man who leads a normal family life with a creepy abnormal past which he keeps hidden. In a strange way, Pari shows the extremities which we see in life – from civilization to the jungle, the ancient to the modern, religious fanaticism to abject cult worship.
Overall, I recommend this film to those who would like to see an alternative to the standard Indian horror film. It breaks the mould by being thought provoking and revelling in slow gore. Sadly, the film is devoid of any shock value and the thrill and adrenaline rush of the horror genre. The pace of the film is slow enough for you to go through it without a single twitch.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Pari (2018) three graves out of five graves.
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