Bollywood has had a love-hate kind of an affair as far as the horror genre is concerned. It has never been able to quite crack the formula unlike its Japanese and Korean counterparts. While few movies have been notable attempts in this genre, the rest have just recycled the same old formula. This week releases Pari, Bollywood’s latest attempt at revisiting the horror genre. Does it succeed in scaring the living daylights out of the audience…lets find out.

I cannot really reveal the story without letting out a few spoilers and so I am not doing it here. But the story is a good one. The screenplay almost entirely creates that right atmosphere to hold your attention but it dips and dips pretty steeply in the climax. The cinematography is good with the screen painted with green and blue hues which adds to the ambience. First time director Prosit Roy seems to know his stuff creating an eerie atmosphere minus the creaking doors and loud sounds( well almost). However, the climax is a red mark on his report card.

Anushka Sharma (like her hubby) is in red hot form and is as convincing as one can get as Ruksana. She is ably supported by Parambrata Chatterjee whose last notable attempt in hindi was Kahaani. Rajat Kapoor is also sincere. All others have done a decent job.

On the whole, Pari does manage to create an atmosphere of fear and a few jumps in the narrative. Probably after RGV’s Bhoot, this can be termed as a somewhat original story in the horror genre. So despite its largely underwhelming climax, this film can be given a chance.