Pisaasu (Ghost) - A ghostly oxymoron!

What more does director Mysskin want to do with his films than to just dip them in a sea of darkness with raw nerved characters carefully nudging past the virtually delicate “line” sketched by the director himself who wishes to blur the thin line separating the dramatic theatrics from the naturalness as defined in films. A supernatural thriller from one of my favorite directors in Kollywood is more than a welcome addition to his endearing oeuvre that has by and large created a cult of sort in Kollywood.

Pisaasu is the journey of an innocent soul of a young girl, Bhavani (Prayaga Martin), whose posthumous presence as the supernatural ‘Pisaasu’ in the life of Siddharth (Naga), a violinist, causes unfathomable jitters as he is unable to comprehend with the happenings around him. Siddharth digs deeper only to find the bitter truth behind Bhavani’s untimely demise and the cause for the same.

The movie’s narrative seems to be prismatic, adding so many dimensions to it’s structure - love, fear, laughter, agony and the list would go on. I even mused at the possibility of it being a full fledged commercial structure camouflaged cleverly as an artsy fare - but naah, that’s what Mysskin’s creations are all about, weaving mysteries within myths, hiding the shadows within darkness - simply quite unexplainable. During the course of the movie, I simply can't resist an unconscious smile on my lips which was provoked out of admiring a screenplay that was a product of sheer passion and dedication.

How often have we seen the person on screen matching his action of playing an instrument with the notes that we end up listening? How often have we seen a well orchestrated scene in a violin orchestra where the protagonist proves his presence by maintaining a motionless poise initially while the rest of his crew are in full flow before pouring his heart out with the strings when the rest of the crew end theirs? These are all the little things that make this movie tick, of course along with some cliched thrills that could have been let go. But somehow it was fun to watch a ghost putting its foot forward to fight against evil - it fights over the false belief of exorcism, blasphemy (the guy with a tee bearing the US flag - should it wring something on our minds Mr.Mysskin?), chauvinism (the psychic husband pounding his wife) and above all self-pity (this one if revealed would certainly induce a spoiler).

The director has been supported heavily by the men who were in front and behind the screens. Naga and Radha Ravi who play crucial roles have made sure that their performances stand out among the rest and substantiate the sentimentalities that were built over time by the narrative. The man behind the camera, Ravi Roy (former assistant of PC Sriram), has wielded the eyepiece in an extremely fluidic fashion in order to make us float along with the lost soul. Arrol Corelli (who was named so by Mysskin), the music director has delivered a brilliant score and is here to stay.

Spiced with Mysskin’s signature spices (sans the yellow saree cladded item girl), this supernatural story has got its own sweet tale to narrate, which can otherwise be called as a ghostly oxymoron, or at least that’s how it occurred to me. Also I understood from this story that the ghosts have an alternative way of redemption. Last but not the least, thanks to director Bala for producing this piece of yet another brilliance by the cult creator!!

Verdict: Good!

Rating: 3 / 5