Psycho (2020)

Director: Mysskin

Story: Mysskin

Cast: Udhayanidhi Stalin, Aditi Rao Hydari, Nithya Menen, Rajkumar Pitchumani

Music: Ilaiyaraaja

Time: 146 minutes

Bottom-line: A disappointment

Having seen four of Mysskin’s films till now, I became a fan of his moviemaking style, often experimenting with new techniques and stories. That was the case till I saw Super Deluxe (which he co-wrote), when he started to bring in the “more than what you see” film, i.e., merge philosophical messages, religion etc. with the main story. He should not have done that.

Psycho is the story of a serial killer, Angulimala (Pitchumani), whose modus operandi involves kidnapping females from different regions in Coimbatore, beheading them, and displaying their bodies the next day, stripped to their underwear. One of his victims is radio jockey Dahini (Hydari). However, as he is about to kill her, she challenges him that within a week, Gautham (Stalin) will stop him from committing any more murders. To prove her wrong, the killer keeps her prisoner for 7 more days. Gautham is a blind musician who is head-over-heels for Dahini. When the police – themselves clueless – refuse to help him, he seeks the help of a paralysed ex-cop, Kamala Das (Menen) to help him find Dahini. The events of the next one week form the remainder of the story.

Udhayanidhi Stalin as Gautham

Before I go further, I’d like to clarify that this film is by no means a remake of either Hitchcock’s Psycho or Andhadhun. If you haven’t guessed from the names of the characters already, Psycho is based on a particular chapter in Buddha’s life, where a serial killer tries to kill Buddha, but on meeting him, attains enlightenment. The film is far more violent than most other Indian films, and it also features nudity and conversations about sex, but that’s just Mysskin breaking barriers of the “typical” Indian film. The initial romance between Dahini and Gautham is annoying (except for the “Unna Nenachu” song) but after that, the tale seems to be a taut thriller. But Mysskin compromises on logic and tries to make this a poetic film, and that’s where the plot loses its grip.

 

Hydari as Dahini

You can either choose to just follow wherever Mysskin takes you, but the moment you pause and wonder what’s going on, you’re lost. The vivid re-enactment of Angulimala’s childhood can either be praised as a very imaginative portrayal of a disturbed mind, or can be thought of as a fancy gimmick with a lot of screaming. Apart from all these, Psycho has enough examples of Mysskin’s quintessential techniques – close-ups of feet, 75% of the film being shot in the dark and of course, the violence. There’s a lot of blood on screen but I must appreciate the edits and camerawork that still capture the brutality of a beheading without being entirely explicit.

 

Menen as Kamala

While Pitchumani’s character gets by with hardly any facial expressions - except in the climax, where he has done really well - Gautham could have been portrayed so much better by many other people; why Stalin?!. The standout performer is Nithya Menen – certainly one of the last people you would expect to portray a foul-mouthed, short-tempered paralysed cop. Hydari’s “innocent” face must have been pretty much the only criterion to choose her to play the role, which, in the end, does work out.

Psycho is certainly the result of a lot of experimentation, but I felt it was a bit too much of it. In many ways an unorthodox film, it does provide entertainment, but after a point, you just want to fast-forward to the end or walk away from the screen. I doubt Hitchcock would have approved of this.

My rating: 2/5