Pari (2018 Indian film)

Pari

Theatrical release poster

Directed by Prosit Roy

Anushka Sharma
Produced by
Karnesh Sharma

Abhishek Banerjee
Written by
Prosit Roy

Anushka Sharma
Parambrata Chatterjee
Starring Rajat Kapoor
Ritabhari Chakraborty
Mansi Multani

Songs
Music by Anupam Roy
Background Music
 Ketan Sodha

Cinematography Jishnu Bhattacharjee

Edited by Manas Mittal

 Clean Slate Films

Production
 KriArj Entertainment
company
 Kyta Productions

Distributed by Pooja Entertainment

Release date  2 March 2018

Running time 134 minutes

Country India

Language Hindi

Budget ₹21 crore[1]

Box office ₹40.41 crore[2]

Pari (transl. Fairy) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language supernatural horror film directed by

Prosit Roy in his debut.[3] It stars Anushka Sharma and marks her 3rd production venture for
her company Clean Slate Films.[4] Parambrata Chatterjee, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat
Kapoor and Mansi Multani feature in supporting roles.[5][6] Production on the film began in
June 2017 and it released theatrically on 2 March 2018.

Plot
The story of the film revolves around the concept of Ifrit and Auladhchakra, a satanic cult in
Bangladesh aiming to propagate and progress the bloodline of Ifrit. They branded the women
impregnated by Ifrit with the symbol of a foetus on their skin. Rukhsana (Anushka Sharma),
is the daughter of a Bangladeshi woman who was a victim of a ritual by Auladhchakra. She is
afraid of incense sticks and religious hymns and prayers, and hides her head in a bucket of
water to cut out the Azaan playing in a nearby mosque. Professor Quasim Ali (Rajat Kapoor)
used to head a group of vigilantes which sought out women impregnated by Ifrit, and killed
their babies by chopping off their heads. This drew a lot of flak from villagers eventually and
the group was ultimately shut down due to its radical approach.

The film begins with Arnab (Parambrata Chatterjee) meeting Piyali (Ritabhari Chakraborty)
on the terrace of her house. Arnab has come to meet her for marriage arranged by his family.
Piyali is a nurse, while Arnab runs a printing press. While returning from her house, in the
heavy rain, with his father driving, they hit an old woman. Although the woman died by
being run over, Arnab files the case with the local police inspector (Santilal Mukherjee) as
attempt to suicide. On visiting the accident spot, they discover the place where the old
woman used to live, locally called kuttewali budhiya, meaning dog lady, in a hut in the forest
by the road. Rukhsana is found chained in a dark corner of the hut, pale and bruised. Arnab
takes pity and after taking Rukhsana to visit her dead mother, he decides to take her in later in
the film.

Meanwhile, a mortuary assistant (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) who made a living stealing golden
teeth and the likes from corpses in the morgue, and who initially worked with the professor,
discovers that the dead woman, Rukhsana's mother, has the mark of foetus on her skin. He
decides to inform the professor and they decide to seek out Rukhsana. They reach Rukhsana's
hut in the forest, only to find that she had escaped. Later they track down Rukhsana to
Arnab's house, where she was supposed to stay until he found housing for her.

Rukhsana seemed to have been abused since her childhood. Arnab observes that she doesn't
have a soul to care for her, and hence takes care of her. Rukhsana inadvertently falls in love
with him, but also has hallucinations of herself bleeding when she is alone. The professor
meets another old woman, supposedly born of Ifrit, a kalapori (Mansi Multani), who
seemingly can communicate with others like her. She tells him where Rukhsana is, and that
she is going to seduce the guy she is living with to pass on the bloodline.

One night, Rukhsana gets the urge to spew poison out of her system, as her body generated
poison every month due to the Ifrit blood, and kills a dog near Arnab's house in the middle of
the night. The professor ultimately approaches Arnab and tells him her story, but he refuses
to believe him. One evening, the morgue assistant follows Arnab, and they end up in a
scuffle, leaving Arnab bleeding. Rukhsana tends to him and tells him of her affection for him.
She also kills the morgue assistant who had hit Arnab. She finally succeeds in getting
impregnated by him, but then her attitude changes. She forces him to stop meeting Piyali,
whom she sees as competition. On further argument, she grabs him by his throat and lifts him
clear off the ground. This brings him to contact the professor and find out more about Ifrit.

The Ifrit cannot be seen but only heard by its breath. Ifrit babies can be born by latching on to
human wombs. The babies are born over a month instead of nine months, and without an
umbilical cord. So when Rukhsana tells Arnab that she is pregnant, he contacts the professor
to take care of it. Piyali had come by his house once, and finding Rukhsana in his room
accidentally, breaks all contact with him. So, while the professor tortures Rukhsana so that
she died of her own venom, Arnab withdraws himself from his normal life and society, and
stays at his parents' home.

After one month, Piyali comes over to tell Arnab that he must convince his parents that she
isn't the reason for his voluntary loneliness, but instead gets to hear the truth about Rukhsana.
She also confesses about an earlier relationship and an aborted baby of her former boyfriend.
But things soon take a turn for the worse.

On the last day of the month, Rukhsana sets herself free. She kills the professor and his men
before heading over to Piyali's house. Arnab heads over to his own house to find the others
dead, and hurries over to Piyali's house. Rukhsana manages to injure Piyali, but is
momentarily distracted by an accidental push on the TV remote, which turns on a cartoon
show she used to watch at Arnab's house. Piyali frees herself and hides. But then, Rukhsana
goes into labour, and Piyali, being a nurse couldn't bring herself to kill her. She eventually
helps Rukhsana have her baby, which is shown having an umbilical cord. Rukhsana leaves
the baby to Piyali, while Arnab rushes to the old hut where Rukhsana goes back, injured and
near-death. In her last struggle to spew poison into Arnab or let it remain in her system, she
chooses the latter and dies. Before dying she tells Arnab that the baby isn't like her and is
human. The film ends with Arnab saying that Rukhsana's love made the baby human, rather
than Ifrit's hatred.

Cast
 Anushka Sharma as Rukhsana
 Parambrata Chatterjee as Arnab
 Rajat Kapoor as Professor Quasim Aali
 Ritabhari Chakraborty as Piyali
 Mansi Multani as Kalapori
 Mithu Chakrabarty as Arnab's mother
 Rohit KaduDeshmukh as Arnab's friend
 Santilal Mukherjee as Police Inspector
 Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Morgue worker
 Arijit Dutta
 Sraboni Biswas

Marketing
The first look of Pari was released on 13 June 2017 by Sharma via her Twitter handle.[4] The
film's motion poster, promotionally called Screamer, was released on 9 January 2018,
showing the face of Sharma's character getting bruised.[7] A 30-second clip, the second
"screamer", was released on 3 February 2018, which showed Sharma watching a cartoon on
television with an idyllic smile, giving the impression that she is safe and okay. However, the
camera pans to show that her hands and feet are bruised, and she is chained to the bed.[8] The
official teaser of Pari was released on 7 February 2018 by Sharma via her Twitter handle.[9]
The third screamer, released on Valentine's Day, opens with Anushka and Parambrata's
characters watching television when Anushka says "I love you" to him. She becomes
disturbed when she hears an eerie female voice respond, "I love you too." The camera pans to
show a bloody and battered version of herself, grinning and terrifying the real Anushka.[10]
The official trailer of Pari was released one day later, on 15 February 2018.[11] After the
trailer, two other screamers have been released.[12][13]

Controversies
During the shooting of the film in August 2017 at Basanti State Highway, 24 Pgs. (S) district
of West Bengal, a technician was electrocuted. The shooting of the film was immediately
stopped but was started again after a while.[14]

The film has been banned in Pakistan for allegedly promoting Black Magic, some non-
Islamic values and anti-Muslim sentiments.[15]
Soundtrack

Pari

Soundtrack album by

Anupam Roy

Released 5 March 2018[16]

Genre Feature film soundtrack

Length 9:58

Label Zee Music Company

External audio

Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The music of Pari was composed by Anupam Roy while the lyrics were written by Anvita
Dutt.[17]

Tracklist
No. Title Singer(s) Length
1. "Meri Khamoshi Hai" Ishan Mitra 5:18
2. "So Ja So Ja" Rekha Bhardwaj 4:40
Total length: 9:58

Reception
Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 50% based on
6 reviews with an average rating of 5 out of 10.[18]

Positive reviews gave a definite praise for Anushka's performance and praised the makers for
doing a movie on this genre. While Renuka Vyavahare of TOI called it “Anushka’s strongest
work as an actor-producer so far”, she also went on to add that, “Pari has the ability to
redefine the genre as it’s refreshingly different, atmospheric and moody”.[19] Rajeev Masand
of News18 gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 saying that, "Pari, co-produced by and starring
Anushka Sharma, is a competently made film that’s rich in atmospherics.”, but he went onto
conclude that “Pari doesn’t come together in a coherent, satisfying way. What starts out
interestingly, ends in a mess."[20] Rohit Bhatnagar of Deccan Chronicle stated: “Pari is a
delightful treat to those who are fond of horror flicks. And stop complaining that Bollywood
doesn't produce good horror films!”[21] Koimoi reviewed Pari as “one of the best to come out
of this genre”. As a last word they added: “Hollywood, please take out the notepad and write
down the stuff from Pari on how to make a non-cliched horror film. Surely one of the best in
this genre & a must watch for the fans. Producer Anushka Sharma needs a special mention to
make this possible” and rated the film 3.5 out of 5.[22] Gulf news gave the movie 3 stars out of
5 and wrote that “Anushka Sharma’s horror film is a world apart from other ghoulish
Bollywood offerings, and that’s a good thing”.[23]

Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave the film a rating of 1 out of 5 and said that, "Anushka
Sharma's film Pari is a confusing tale of ghosts, ghouls, djinns and forced legitimacy. Pari
appears puzzled as if they don't know how to end what they started. With 136-minute screen
time, Pari doesn't head anywhere."[24] Lakshana N Palat of India Today gave the film a rating
of 2 out of 5 saying that, "The story of Pari is submerged under irrelevant scenes, jump
scares, and the desperate need to fall into the horror-film category. It's a shame, because the
storyline was actually quite a unique and interesting one."[25] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian
Express gave the film a rating of 1 out of 5 and concluded her review by saying that,
"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."[26] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV said about the film that, "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." and gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5.[27]

Awards and nominations

Award Category Nominees Result, Ref.
Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards Best Producer Anushka Sharma Won[28]