By Vivek Ramz

Thirukumaran Entertainments has delivered another winner this year after its first flick 'Attakathi' that released a few months ago and was both a critical & commercial success. Their second film 'Pizza' is completely different one from the previous and is a horror thriller. The film opens on a stunning note and gets you completely glued from scene one. A few college boys go to a haunted house to find out about ghosts and the scenes have been picturised well with 'paranormal' effect. It builds the setting perfectly for a thrilling ride.

What's it about?
Michael, (Vijay Sethupathi), a pizza delivery boy lives with his girlfriend, Anu (Ramya Nambeesan). She is an aspiring novelist writing a ghost story and researching for the same, whereas he doesn't believe in supernatural powers. One particular day when he goes to deliver a pizza to a girl in a bungalow, he witnesses an unusual murder and tries to escape from the scene but without luck. Later, he finds out that the house is haunted by a ghost. Soon after it kills another man who tries to help Michael. The reason behind the killings and how Michael handles it are explained with unexpected twists and turns.

The first half of the film totally engages the viewer with neat screenplay and thrills. However, the film loses its grip towards the end, while revealing the mystery. Even though the twists in the second half are pretty much unexpected and shocking, the final scenes go little bit overboard, losing out on the logic front. However, the final touch, without taking any sides and leaving many things unexplained to make the audience guess themselves, saves the film. An experienced director would have handled this part of the film better as at the end of the day, it feels somewhat hollow towards the end. Still, debutant director Karthik Ubburaj deserves credit for superb narration in most parts of the film.

Vijay Sethupathi is simply brilliant throughout the film. His character of pizza delivery boy looks fresh, after seeing him doing village-oriented roles in the national-award winning 'Thenmerku Paruvakaatru' and the recent hit 'Sundarapandian'. Ramya Nambeesan is back after a gap and makes her presence felt, especially in the romantic scenes. Naren impresses, even though his screen presence is minimal. Pooja and Simha are good choices and have done complete justice to the roles. The protagonist's friends, Karuna & Veera, also do their job well.

Technically, the film scores high on all fronts. Santhosh Narayanan's 'Mogathirai' song is an instantly hummable one and picturised beautifully too. His background music is the biggest strength of the film and he's showed lot of finesse, especially during the thrilling moments in the film. Sound mixing with 7.1 surround effect is better experienced than spoken about. Gopi Amarnath's cinematography is top notch. His camerawork raises the bar and lighting work is amazing. Editing by Leo John Paul is pretty neat.

Overall, 'Pizza' is a well made suspense thriller that keeps you guessing for most parts. If Karthik concentrated more on the climax, it would have ended up as one of the best horror movies in recent times. But it is still a decent watch with a gripping screenplay.

What to do?
It's definitely a must watch for those who love horror movies and the others should also go taste it once!

in.com rating – 3.5/5