Karthik Subburaj directed Pizza hit the screens in Bangalore only yesterday, a week after its worldwide release, again thanks to the Cauvery issue. The director found critical acclaim with his short films in one of the shows in a Tamil channel and is promising enough in his early days. Well, after watching his debut movie I would certainly place him among the breed of contemporary directors who try their best to depict themes that are risky to debut in and he has managed to do so with conviction and class.
Michael (Vijay Sethupathi), a pizza delivery guy and Anu (Remya Nambeesan), an aspiring novelist live together. Anu is fascinated with supernatural phenomenon and other mythical things while Michael hardly gives a thought about it though at times he gets freaked with such stories from his girlfriend. Anu comes to know that she is impregnated by Michael and so forces him to marry her. After a great deal of argument they marry and lead a peaceful life. One fine day, Michael is asked to deliver pizza to a house. He goes there and things take a U-turn in his life from then on, putting both him and his girlfriend in jeopardy and trapping him in misery forever! The real reason behind the happenings in the house and Michael's stand gets revealed towards the climax.
Categorizing this movie merely under the 'horror' genre would be misleading; so I would have a sub-genre - an 'urban-horror thriller'. The last time I saw a similar genre in Tamil was a couple of years back with 'Eeram' and before that it was 'Yaavarum Nalam'.
The biggest advantage for the movie was its casting and background score. The cast sufficed the script and helped in creating an overall balance. Also the BGM was helpful in building up the thrill weaving the necessary ambience and packed a punch whenever needed to make the audiences spill their popcorns over their laps! Also the twist at the end was convincing.
Vijay Sethupathi as the pizza boy has given a matured performance and has graduated to emote with panache in his third film. The only reservation that I had was that of the freaky and grim expressions on his face throughout the movie and that proved to be a dampener during the course. But, it was a decent job overall.
Remya Nambeesan had some scenes during the first half and a couple more in the latter. She looked pretty and did justice for the role.
A cameo from Pooja was the crux in the tale and so her performance was of little significance.
Naren as the Pizza Shop owner was at his best as always and delivered a powerful yet toned down performance.
The supporting cast of Karuna, Veera Santhanam and Simha were well brought out as I mentioned before and were utilized intelligently to move the story forward.
Music by Santhosh Narayanan was good, though a melody resembled its counterpart in his previous movie 'Attakathi' (Aasai Oru Pulveli). The BGM was also good (But still I am trying to figure out from where did he manage to lift the BGM that played while the credits rolled!).
Cinematography by Gopi Amarnath was awesome. The angles were innovative and created the aura for a perfect thriller.
Editing by Leo John Paul was average. The thing that hampered the pace in the first half was the long drawn out romantic scenes and the thrill sequences. Without fast cuts, I felt that lacked the essential fizz.
Overall the movie is a definite one-time watch for people who would appreciate an alternative sub genre in the ever engaging horror genre of movies.
Verdict: A Definite Watch for alternative genre enthusiasts!
Rating: 3/5
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