Pari Movie Review: As Anushka Sharma already warned; Not a fairytale!
Anushka Sharma has forayed into the horror genre for the second time in the row. Before Pari she appeared in Phillauri, but this time her ghostly avatar is insidious, spine-chilling unlike Shashi in her previous venture. The actress has refused to typecast herself into a girl-next-door image in the industry. She has been experimenting with her roles, varying from a tormented young woman in NH10 to a pixie cut struggling journo in PK. She knows it well how to portray a different picture of Anushka Sharma every time she’s present on silver screen.
Pari Review
As Anushka has already warned in the poster of the film- Not a fairy-tale, forget about watching the film if you find yourself covering your face with your hands every time something eerie pops up. The film is nothing short of moments when you’ll be scared to death even to look besides yourself to check who’s sitting. Yes of course, you’re going to have this picture of blood-bathed Pari saying I Love You in the most grotesque manner.
As described by the makers, Pari is nothing like you’ve seen before. Bollywood has ventured a lot into the genre of erotic-thriller, with hideous looking demons and extra-loud music to cash on our basic instincts of jumping on our seats. But surprisingly, Pari does the job even while omitting the key ingredients of a clichéd horror film. The plot is twisted, enigmatic, mind-boggling enough to the job well. A disoriented forest girl Rukhsana, who is rescued by Arnab, is far more mysterious than he thought. The cause of her agony is a lot more distressing than it seems.
Lead actress Anushka Sharma, who also is the producer of the film, leaves no stone unturned to nail two contradictory roles in Pari. Her acting game is stronger than ever. It’s as if the actress is upping her acting game by one notch with each of her project. The terrific acting of the star cast is partially successful in shrouding the many flaws that Pari’s screenplay carries. The audience gets carried away by the course of the film so hypnotically that they coerce themselves to overlook everything that’s amiss in the execution of plot of Pari.
The debutant director Prosit Roy delivers a noteworthy performance with Pari. After watching the film, I would like to welcome him to the director’s tribe of Bollywood, hoping to watch many more of his works in future. The first-time director relies on subtlety in Pari, which was a fresh take for a horror film in Bollywood. We were so accustomed to watching loud and flashy horror films in Indian cinema, that Pari’s freshness is a welcoming change. However, the efforts of Prosit Roy gets crashed at many points due to flawed screenplay. Parambrata Chatterjee is not a surprise. He has already floored us with his role in Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani, in which he played an ally to Vidya Balan. He nails the role of a gullible man, who lets himself fall into the catch of arrange marriage.
In short, Pari is a lethal variation in Anushka Sharma’s last venture Phillauri. And it’s deadly in a welcome way. She dives so deep into her role, that it’s hard to come to terms that it’s the same actress who slays every time she steps on a red carpet.
There are some flaws in the film but Anushka makes it worth a watch. As the lady has left behind her bubbly image with Pari, now cinema lovers have high expectations from her upcoming ventures.
Well, the actress will next be seen in Varun Dhawan starrer Sui Dhaga and Sha Rukh Khan’s Zero.