Subhash K Jha takes a look back at Anushka Sharma-Prerna Arora’s PariPari is not an easy film to watch. While it duly declares that no animal was harmed during shooting, animals, including a pet dog and a parrot come to horribly harmful deaths in a plot that impales its characters to Satanism and challenges all the traditional tropes of the horror genre.
There are no creaking doors and shrieking banshees in Pari. The atmosphere is deceptively placid. Director Prosit Roy and his estimable cinematographer Jishnu Bhattcharjee shoot the macabre proceedings in the fading light of a terrifying twilight. Seldom have I seen a film’s look and appearance so commensurate with its mood, theme, and treatment.
This is not the Kolkata of Durga pujas and Howrah Bridge. Not even the bright tram-travel romantic city of Onir’s Kuch Bheege Alfaaz. Not a glimpse of the iconic landmarks of the city in Pari as it negotiates through dimly-lit lanes with barking dogs and snarling miscreants. Specially portentous is a chase sequence where the hero is followed by a seedy morgue assistant, played with heaving brilliance by Dibyendu Chattacharya.
The background score (Ketan Sodha), too, is minimal, interjecting intimacy and warmth into the gulps of grotesquerie that grips the characters.
The narrative never hesitates in pulling back from its satanic rituals to give the central love story room to breathe, and breed. Breeding, let me tell you, is central to the plot. The complex ritualism inherent in the dark omnipotent plot goes all out to claim its victims. But what I came away with was a tender love story of a homeless, childlike, psychologically traumatized woman and a kind, gentle man who provides her with a home.
Yes, this is Sadma territory, with Anushka Sharma and Parambrata Chattopadhyay using the measured spaces of a typical Bengali home (no fish curry smell wafting from the kitchen, though) to build a relationship between the homeless waylaid girl-child and a man so kind he makes Kamal Haasan in Sadma look a wee wily.
Parambrata’s unnerving empathy just flows out of the actor, making his character Arnab quite a contrast to his namesake in the media world. For Anushka Sharma, this is the career-defying role that she can brag about to her children. She sinks her soul into her traumatized role with a sighing innocence. Her Rukhsana bleeds and bleeds not just from the nose, lips, and eyes. The wounds run deep. This is a severely traumatized woman battling the sinner within that challenges the angel that she could have been if fate hadn’t willed a satanic karma for her.
In many sequences, Anushka undergoes severe physical humiliation and trauma. She rises to the occasion, sometimes literally, as her Rukshana climbs building sides like a ghetto Catwoman.
There are sequences of satanic rituals including glimpses of enchained women with their foetus being aborted that could easily have seemed gratuitous and repulsive. Throughout the upheavals, director Prosit Roy maintains a high level of vigilance over the proceedings. He directs his actors with a keen sense of compassion and tension. But he knows where to let go. The narrative strains on the leash like a hound that won’t stop until it bites. The impact is strong and yet moving. Anushka’s imploring eyes beseeching us to understand that those who are pulled into diabolism are often victims of circumstances beyond their control, will stay with us forever.
So, is this the finest supernatural thriller in living memory? Heck, yes! Pari is a film to see and not only for horror buffs. The real horror that this film explores is the exploitation of the weak by those who take on themselves the task of “protecting” the moral values of a decadent story. Rajat Kapoor, as a one-eyed exorcist, is chilling in his normalcy.
When he perishes, his false eye does a little dance of death on the floor. Like a child that will have its way even if the mother must be mortified in the process.
And yes, we will never inhale the scent of an agarbatti in the same way again.
Pari Producer Prerna Arora was very impressed by Anushka. “I am proud to say I was co-producer on Pari, which I consider Anushkaji’s best performance to date. The film was produced by Anushkaji, her brother (Karnesh) and me. Throughout the making of the film, I had the opportunity to observe the dignity, grace, and poise with which she conducted herself.”
Pari is indeed one of the physically toughest parts written for a female hero in Hindi cinema alongside Seema Biswas in Bandit Queen and Manisha Koirala in Grahan For Anushka Sharma, this is the career-defying role that she can brag about to her children.
Says Prerna Arora appreciatively, “You are so right. I would rate Anushkaji’s performance in Pari on a par with Seemaji in Bandit Queen. Anushkaji is not only a natural-born actress, she is also a terrific wife and a wonderful mother to her two children. Just see how she has prioritized her duties as a mother over her career! So many women find it difficult to balance out a career with their family obligations. Anushkaji has found that balance so beautifully. The only other actress in our industry who managed this tightrope walk so well is Sharmila Tagoreji. Today, on Anushkaji’s special day, I wish her all the very best. She is the best and deserves no less.”
Prerna looks forward to working with Anushka Sharma once again. “Oh, any time, any day. Whenever she is ready to do a film, I want to be there.”
