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sara rafeek

@Ooolalala

Stunner

+ 4

Posted: 7 years ago

#21

I REALLY REALLY want this film to perform well. Anushka took a huge risk with this one and I really hope this pays off. This will also pave a way for more movies having strong characters for actresses.

This looks brilliant. I really want to watch this film. I hope they release it here.

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1105912

Suspended

Posted: 7 years ago

#22

Pari movie review: India's Conjuring is here

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | ROHIT BHATNAGAR

Published Mar 2, 2018, 8:26 am IST

Updated Mar 2, 2018, 8:26 am IST

Pari is a delightful treat and it is advised that people with weak hearts should enter the theatre at their own risks.

Anushka Sharma in a still from 'Pari.'

Director: Prosit Roy

Cast: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajat Kapoor and Ritabhari Chakraborty

Far away from ugly ghosts, black magic and many such tried and tested formulas of horror in our Indian films, Pari is not only a great horror film with an intelligent plot but also is technically very strong. Director Prosit Roy, who marked his Bollywood directorial debut with this spine chilling film, shines bright with a paisa vasool entertainer!

Arnab (Parambrata Chatterjee) hits Rukhsana's (Anushka Sharma) mother while driving on a rainy day which lead to her death. In his guilt, Arnab decides to help Rukhsana but little he know about the consequences, the latter falls for him while the former is engaged to Piyali (Ritabhari Chakraborty).

Professor (Rajat Kapoor) is on his mission to find Rukhsana and kill her. Meanwhile, he accidentally meets Arnab and able to reach Rukhsana. Why the professor wants to kill Rukhsana is the question here? Will Arnab leave Piyali for Rukhsana? This is all what you have to find for yourself.

Pari, not a fairytale has an excellent plot! The captain of the ship Prosit Roy not only tells a spine chilling story with finesse but also impresses with his directorial skills. Few moments such as the interval point will hit you hard. It might be a possibility that you will see most of the film covering your face in fear, courtesy the brilliant background score and the crisp edit. Writers Prosit Roy and Abhishek Banerjee write a gripping story which will keep you glued till the end. However, second half is little dragged but it is easily overlooked.

Probably a Vikram Bhatt's 'Raaz' or RGV's 'Bhoot' did the same impact on screen last time and now Pari has joined the bandvagon of well made horror films in the Hindi film industry.

Be it professor's secret of his artificial eye, or Rukhsana's helplessness of being an abuse victim, from Arnab's finding the truth to revealing the mystery, everything about Pari is ridiculously horrifying.

Anushka Sharma easily attains the status of an actor post Pari. She is exceptionally good in the role of Rukhsana. She has some of the best moments on screen. The way she exposes herself to the outer world is emotional especially when she falls in love with Parambrata. Parambrata is the master of his craft. His act in Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani was phenomenal and in this one too he is noticeable. Rajat Kapoor does an excellent job as a scary professor. His character has an undertone of grey shade which is too admirable. Popular Bengali television actress Ritabhari Chakraborty plays her brief role with ease.

It is advised that people with weak hearts should enter the theatre at their own risks. Pari is a delightful treat to those who are fond of horror flicks. And stop complaining that Bollywood doesn't produce good horror films!!!

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Arunima Sarkar

@_Arunima_

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 7 years ago

#23

Film Companion

Pari Movie Review: The Devil Wears Dada

As an atmospheric piece alone, first-time director Prosit Roy's film starring Anushka Sharma could be to Hindi horror cinema what Kahaani was to thrillers

It's an odd first thing to say about an original horror film, but reading Pari as a novel might have made for a more powerful experience. It's not that debutant Prosit Roy's "not a fairytale isn't inventive or visually arresting. As an atmospheric piece alone, it could be to Hindi horror cinema what Kahaani was to thrillers. But its foundation derives a density rooted across so many sources from Middle Eastern supernatural mythology to Bengali children folktales, from Swedish romantic vampire movies to Hollywood alien franchises, from genocidal rape subversions and the Bangladesh refugee crisis to menstrual cramps and campy black-magic cults that its crowded newness feels somewhat shackled within the stylistic confines of moving images.

I suspect Pari is much more than its jarring jump scares and sound effects. A case in point is the situation of its enigmatic protagonist, Rukhsana (Anushka Sharma). Arnab (Parambrata Chatterjee) finds Rukhsana shackled in the back of a jungle hut after accidentally killing her mother. Driven by guilt, he allows this strange, curious girl who exhibits the social expertise of a wild, caged creature to stay in his Kolkata flat. Simultaneously, a one-eyed Bangladeshi professor (Rajat Kapoor) named Qasim Ali, once the brutal leader of the witch-hunting outfit called Qayamat Andolan, is still on the lookout for the one that got away.

Also Read: Top 4 Hindi Horror Films You Can Stream Now

The remarkable part about Rukhsana a cross between lost little girl and deflected zombie is that there is no point of reference for her character. Majority of the film has her home alone while Arnab is at work, where her identity remains a mystery to us. As a result, there is no wrong way to play her and Sharma employs this freedom smartly. If her fondness of cartoons doesn't already suggest a stunted intellectual capacity, the fact that she understands the "concept of love from an Akshay Kumar film certainly does. Either way, all of these familiar animal-in-civilization scenes especially those of Arnab being disarmed by her innocence could have gone horribly wrong in a horror-musical manner. Yet, the psychological flexibility of an unknown entity like Rukhsana is the clincher. She can sway from lover to villain to stalker and child within the same scene, and her story would be none the wiser.

Pari rivals in risk and imagination is M. Night Shymalan's tragically received Lady In The Water.

But again, there's so much subtext Arnab naturally gravitates towards her because he is a friendless virgin that perhaps Pari might have been a little more accessible through text. There's a lot going on between the pages. It suggests the existence of a parallel fantasy world with rules and history of its own one that, if read, might have assumed the form of a gothic love story, gory revenge drama or even a ghostly psychological thriller in our minds. Filming Pari lends it a language that, in this country, is obliged to acquire the tropes of horror cinema. Apart from the fact that the mere anticipation of a deafening jump scare distracts us from its politics, perhaps this isn't such a bad thing. In fact, the one film Pari rivals in risk and imagination is M. Night Shymalan's tragically received Lady In The Water. Centered on a similarly atypical relationship between an apartment superintendent and a mythical nymph-like girl, Lady In The Water made the fatal mistake of designing itself as a dark fairytale'. Pari explicitly sheds the fairytale tag in its title; it is dark, too, but in ways that will never be qualified as attractive.

It's rare to see a successful mainstream actress not only believe in this as a producer, but strip herself of beauty so fully that her hideousness becomes beguiling. She makes it occasionally possible to forget that Pari decorates the same old gayatri-mantra-horny-ghost-exorcism formula through some clever Bengali posturing. It's not just the light eyes, the freckles and the bloody toenails; it's the way she throws herself into the physical core of what is essentially a well-informed, technically sound supernatural drama. There's barely a moment in which she isn't suffering, even when she inflicts it upon others.

It isn't often I feel nauseated by the graphic gravity of the action on screen. It's no coincidence, then, that the last Indian film that had me repelled and simultaneously captivated despite not being entirely sure about its dynamics was Mrityunjay Devvrat's soul-sucking Bangladesh Liberation War drama, Children of War (2014). In it, a brilliant Pavan Malhotra played a deviant extremist Pakistani officer an "Ifrit (demon) of sorts who raped and impregnated the hapless Bengali women of his prison. Hence, the title. Pari is effectively a (super)natural extension of such despair, except it lays gory new ground for Hindi cinema's most bas***dized genre.

It can be argued that the current standards are low, but try telling that to an amorous couple whose matinee-show hopes of hanky-panky will most definitely be dashed by Pari's uncompromising audacity. One can be sure they'd much rather read the book, too.

Rating: 3/5

Source: http://www.filmcompanion.in/pari-movie-review-anushka-sharma-the-devil-wears-dada/

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Arunima Sarkar

@_Arunima_

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 7 years ago

#24

Bollywood Life

Pari movie review: Anushka Sharma and Parambrata Chatterjee's horror drama is no fairy tale for the faint-hearted

Anushka Sharma and Parambrata Chatterjee's Pari is bound to send chills down your spine. It's definitely not a fairytale, a warning that comes with all the posters, screamers and the teaser. It is by far one of best horror films that have seen in Bollywood in a very long time. Here's a detailed review of the horror flick.

What's It About:

Not for the faint hearted is a phrase often used with horror films. These disclaimers haven't done justice to an Indian horror film in a very long time. Hollywood films like The Conjuring and Annabelle have found audience at our shores, but our filmmakers have stayed comfortable in the tried and tested formula of horror meets sex and seduction. Prosit Roy's Pari breaks the stigma associated with our horror films with great finesse. Set in Calcutta the film revolves around a Desi folklore that involves demonic possession of a woman to take ahead the lineage of the devil. Ruksana (Anushka Sharma) plays the role of Pari, a victim of a supernatural form of abuse who crosses paths with Arnab (Parambrata Chatterjee) after a freak accident. Pari's entry in Arnav's life results in a series of bizarre and unexplained events that lead us to trace the origins of the folklore surrounding her past. Rajat Kapoor plays a professor who is on the hunt to finish off a job he started decades ago. Without giving away much of the plot, I can easily say that Pari has a solid story line that ties all the loose ends in a harrowing climax that will leave you restless and uneasy.

What's Hot:

A good horror film needs 3 things a strong plot, a cast that understands the genre and a director who has some understanding of the human mind. True horror goes beyond the gory visuals and taps into your real fears. The ghost that lurks in the dark and figures and sounds the mind conjures up are the buttons that need to be pressed to make a successful horror film. Director Prosit Roy is able to do all of the above with ease. The way he's treated the subject and build the narrative is a stroke of genius. The production values and the technical aspect of Pari right from the cinematography to the background score are exemplary. The star of the film is the poster girl Anushka Sharma whose risk of dabbling with a not so popular genre has paid off big time.

As Pari and Ruksana, Anushka physically becomes a creature we will not be able to forget for a long time. Her facial expressions, body language, the use of eyes and the way she speaks, everything adds up to make Pari a nightmare to watch. Parambrata Chatterjee is the perfect cast as the man trapped in a situation that has no logical reasoning. His initial scenes with Anushka are brilliant and their timing is superb. Pari is disturbing and there are several moments that will not only scare you but make you extremely restless. The true sign of a successful horror film is when you try to find some way of making light of the situation cause you don't want to participate in what's happening on screen. The make up department needs a special mention cause their skills are put to full use in the film.

Rajat Kapoor's act as the professor out to get Pari is eerie and scary in a good way! There are at least three to good scares in the entire film that will haunt you even after the lights turn on. Also under the garb of a horror film, Pari is actually a love story which has a heart breaking climax.

What's Not:

Pari does have its flaws. The first half is good but the second does get a bit lethargic. The song in the first half kills the pace and tempo of the film. Anushka's interaction with Parambrata get a bit monotonous and predictable as the film nears its climax. The folklore and the story surrounding the devil is a bit winding and confusing to follow at first, but does make sense once we reach the near end.

What To Do:

If you love horror then Pari is a fitting tribute to the genre. I suggest sleeping with the lights on if you end up watching a late night show ! Yes, it's that good.

Rating:4 out of 5

Source:http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/pari-review-anushka-sharma-and-parambrata-chatterjees-horror-drama-is-no-fairy-tale-for-the-faint-hearted/

Edited by _Arunima_ - 7 years ago

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Arunima Sarkar

@_Arunima_

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 7 years ago

#25

Filmfare

Movie Review: Pari

Pari: Not A Fairy Take, says it's moniker. The better thing would have been to say Pari: Not A Horror Film. It's one of those projects which look hot AF on paper but get screwed during the execution. Prosit Roy would have profited from watching the cult classic The Omen (1976) before making Pari. Because it's central tropes are all inspired from that film. The Gregory Peck starrer is a textbook case of how atmospheric horror is evoked. It teaches that blood and gore aren't necessary to send a chill down the spine of the audience. Good cinematography, great lighting and a brilliant score is enough to do the trick. And yes, good plot points as well. You can see Peck going round the bend trying to make sense of what's happening around him. And in the climax, raising against time to set things right. We know he's doomed and yet, having invested in him emotionally, we want him to succeed...

Director Prosit Roy starts the film along the right lines. A chance encounter brings Parambrata Chatterjee and Anushka Sharma together. He pays for her mother's funeral and accompanies her back to her hovel situated in a secluded place. It's a shaded area, full of trees and strange sounds. It's raining, the night has set and suddenly he finds himself spooked. He can't find the way back and she guides him back to the road. He can't get her out of his mind. Things take a turn when she turns up at his place, seeking shelter. He tries to be the Good Samaritan but more trouble brews when she falls for him. We are then introduced to Rajat Kapoor's character, who is a Muslim exorcist of sorts. The Bangladeshi professor has been fighting the good fight against evil spirits for long and has lost some of his marbles in the process. So we gear up for the classic good versus evil match with the innocent caught somewhere in between.

Alas, it isn't to be. After setting it up all nicely, the director inexplicably let's things fly way from him. Maybe the macher jhol served on the sets wasn't upto his usual standards. Whatever the reason maybe, the viewer is left with a product which is unintentionally comic at times. You wait and wait and wait for something that might send some scares down your way but it just doesn't happen.

Then, you don't get to emotionally connect with either Parambrata or Anushka. And that's the major flaw of the film. They should be made to feel like victims of circumstances not of their own making but that doesn't get achieved. It's not that they haven't tried hard. Anushka has gamely let her face be infused with all sorts of cuts and bruises and plays her character with hundred percent conviction. She jumps, kicks and growls like her life depends on it and gives it all to her role. Param too gets all the character traits of a good natured Bengali boy right. Ritabhari is efficient as his somewhat possessive fiance and Rajat Kapoor too gets the mumbo jumbo down pat as the ghost busting professor. Full marks to them all for delivering the goods with a straight face.

A more dramatic story and tauter screenplay would have turned it into a true blue horror film. But in the present form, the only feeling it evokes is of sadness brought out by the fact that a brilliant opportunity got lost.

Rating: 2.5/5

Source: https://www.filmfare.com/reviews/bollywood-movies/movie-review-pari-26874.html

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blue-ice.

@blue-ice.

Achiever

+ 4

Posted: 7 years ago

#26

Anushka SharmaVerified account @AnushkaSharma 48s48 seconds ago

This Holi, the devil's coming to play with you. Are you ready? #HoliWithPari

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blue-ice.

@blue-ice.

Achiever

+ 4

Posted: 7 years ago

#27

^^ Goodness...now I will have nightmares😭

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Zeal17

@Zeal17

Stunner

+ 10

Posted: 7 years ago

#28

^ Dekhlo movie theatre mai jaake nahi to Pari ghar pe aake dikhaygi😆

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Arunima Sarkar

@_Arunima_

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 7 years ago

#29

Indian Express

Pari movie review: The Anushka Sharma and Rajat Kapoor starrer fails to rise above its silliness

Written by Shubhra Gupta

That this is an anti-fairy tale we know because the tagline tells us so. But Pari, which styles itself as a supernatural horror flick, takes the burden of its song very seriously indeed: right from the beginning, and in almost every frame subsequently, there is darkness, evil, blood, Satanists, satanic verses, bruised women in chains and men with hacksaws. It's all drummed in. That's your supernatural part.

The horror part of it unspools right alongside. Thunder, lightning, rain, women in black robes with rotten skulls for faces, noises off, creaking doors. What you don't get, in all this blood-and-gore and groan-and-moan and slash-and-burn, is a film.

By the time we begin piecing the pieces, it's well past the half-way mark. And then, very rapidly, Pari becomes all exposition and explanation. We start getting answers to why the mysterious Rukhsana ( Sharma) who emerges from a hut by a swamp in a forest (yes, all those things in a row) behaves the way she does, why Arnab (Chatterjee) feels like he owes her something, and why the two of them seem to constantly be swimming through murk, why a man with a damaged eye (Kapoor) shows up with a bunch of his weapon-bearing men.

But the whole enterprise never rises above its silliness. The plot, trying desperately for gravitas by referencing certain yesteryear events in Bangladesh, without really giving us a credible reason, never hangs together, never feels true. Mumbo jumbo about ifrits' (evil spirits) is bunged in, and a lot of blood is let. By the end of it, a good couple of quarts of the red stuff have been spilled, but instead of scary, it's all too dreary.

Is anyone fully wicked? Conversely, is anyone really all good? And cannot love conquer all? If the film had been able to incorporate the ideas that it throws up, Pari may have had something to say. But it doesn't.

Anushka Sharma plays Rukhsana with a great deal of bloody enthusiasm. You cannot accuse her of not trying hard, but the film is so poorly-written, and so scatter-brained that nothing can rescue it, not even a leading lady who is determined to do something different with her producing heft. Poor Parambrata Chatterjee is left trying to hold up the story, such as it is, and is the only one left standing.

In Sharma's previous effort, we met cheery ghosts (Phillauri). And now, it is evil spirits. She clearly wants to break out and do something unconventional, but this is not it. How about plain ol' humans the next time around?

Rating: 1/5

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/pari-review-anushka-sharma-5083109/

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Arunima Sarkar

@_Arunima_

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 7 years ago

#30

NDTV

Pari Movie Review: Anushka Sharma Pulls Out All Stops In Uneven, Forgettable Film

Saibal Chatterjee

A more inaptly titled film there has never been. But that isn't necessarily a smart sleight. Pari, which means fairy, is a horror flick that does not transport us to a universe of angels. The film may not be outright horrid in terms of quality. However, in seeking to deliver an unending supply of heavy-handed chills and thrills, it goes all out without a safety net. It comes up short and falls with a thud. The screenplay is the principal culprit. It is all over the place.

Dark, gloomy and dripping blood and gore from every pore, Pari is - without giving away the twisted plot details - about a chained, bruised and disoriented forest girl Rukhsana (Anushka Sharma) who is given shelter by Arnab (Parambrata Chatterjee) after his car runs over an old woman. Turns out that there is far more to the distressed damsel than the immediate, apparent cause of her anguish.

The lead actress is also the film's producer. She spares no effort in either of the two roles to prop up Pari. The technical attributes are well above average, the acting is strong, and the intent seems to be to blend genre elements with a certain degree of social relevance through the means of referencing recent events in India's neighbourhood. It is, in the end, too laboured a film to enthuse us to ignore its many failings and get into the swing of things.

Pari isn't exactly the sort of supernatural thriller that Bollywood fans are accustomed to watching, yet it abounds in several of the obvious tropes of the genre. Its flights into fear and foreboding are frequent. It leaves nothing to the imagination and yet feels exasperatingly fudgy. First-time director Prosit Roy gives a wide berth to subtlety. Like the heroine of the story, he goes hammer and tongs at the job of creating a full-on scare-fest. The effort falls flat because it stretches credulity to snapping point - and then some.

Pari is a 'deadly' variation on Anushka's previous production Phillauri, in which a benign, impish spirit had pined sweetly for an unrequited love from an earlier era. Here, the focus is squarely on malevolent spirits. Amid all the cinematic fire and brimstone, blood flows free. Some restraint might have helped.

Anushka, who plunges headlong into her role and does not hold back at all, has a perfect foil in the form of the solid, steady Parambrata Chatterjee. He gets into the skin of a gentle, unassuming soul who lets himself into an arranged marriage. On the way back from the nuptial rites, a car accident unleashes forces that he cannot understand, let alone control.

There are many passages in the film that fall between two stools - the romantic and the morbid - and fails to be convincing. Anushka and Parambrata, bred in divergent cultural spaces both as the actors they are and the characters they portray, display fine rapport, which is strained at times owing to the inordinate length of the film and the disconnect between the two opposed strands in the storyline.

Surely a horror flick can do without musical interludes. Pari does not and pays a price as a consequence. The director and the actors pass muster when they are doing what is central to the film - summoning the ghouls and rustling up dread-inducing acts.

Pari is an uneven film that could have benefitted from the intervention of a more assertive editor. While it is replete with twists, these throw the audience off rather than aid in enhancing clarity. The film does not keep up the pressure all the way through because it meanders into unnecessary spaces en route to its goal. When it does get where it wants to, the pitch soars, the melodrama goes out of hand and the competent acting all around counts for little.

Rajat Kapoor, playing a fearsome man whose job is to spout unbridled mumbo jumbo, tries gamely to rise above the absurdity. But there is just too much muck and murk in the concoction for it to be fully salvaged.

Pari will definitely be remembered for Anushka Sharma's spirited performance. It isn't difficult to see why she has put her money on the film. It gives her a role of substance and she does full justice to it. Unfortunately, the film on the whole is eminently forgettable.

COMMENTSThe casting of Parambrata Chatterjee is felicitous. He is an actor who is great at downplaying the dramatic moments. The film frequently falls prey to excess, but the lead actor holds on to his poise all through the din. He serves as a strong anchor in a film that allows the heroine to pull out the stops.

One thing that Pari isn't is predictable. But that isn't good enough. It just isn't the sort of spine-chiller that the pre-release "screamers" would have us believe. It lacks the narrative consistency that its in-your-face methods needed in order to be truly effective. In the end, the makers of Pari try way too hard. The outcome is an extended blur that leaves you dazed but totally unimpressed.

Rating: 2/5

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/pari-movie-review-anushka-sharma-pulls-out-all-stops-in-uneven-forgettable-film-1818857