As Grey As It Gets

My Favorite Movie Psycho’s Robbin Williams(Above) in a still from One Hour Photo

Character - Norman Bates (Antony Perkins) Film – Psycho Director – Alfred Hitchcock The granddaddy of all psychos he became synonymous with the word psychopath. He is in my list because, the shower and the basement scenes aside, this mellow character is as much a victim of ‚ “mother’’ as the other victims. After hearing for years how scary this film was I finally caught up with Norman, along with Kanishkaa when I was in my 1st year of college. More than scared I was disturbed by Norman's character. But I must admit the scene in which, “mother’’ reveals herself in her entirety gave me cramps in my stomoch. Character - Forgot his name (Kamal Hassan) Film – Sigappu Rojakkal Director – Barathiraja This misogynist, who seduces and kills women, burying them in his garden,planting a rose plant above each victim, redefined how a mentally deranged person is portrayed in Tamil films. This seemingly sophisticated character unfolds as the movie proceeds and we see snippets of insanity. Especially the videos of him murdering women which he records for his godfather to see is spooky ( Barathiraja has used a technique for these short scenes, later used in Blair Witch Project ). We are given a wider look at this character’s psychological profile when Sridevi discovers a room in the outhouse whose walls are scribbled with his story. And the finale in which the movie ends with Kamal as a prison inmate staring at the camera (audience) with a blank, melancholic look on his face is sheer class. Character - Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) Film – One Hour Photo Director – Mark Romanek

This lonely photo developer working in a supermarket who stalks, and in his mind becomes a member of a family, is the dark horse on my list. This relatively lesser-known film has Robin Williams in a role totally opposite to his showman like persona in most films. The spookiest scene according to me was one in which Sy is watching TV in a room in his house and the camera slowly starts focusing on a wall – the wall is filled with pictures of the family of 3(husband, wife and son) he stalks. He considers himself as, “uncle Sy’’ to Jake, the couple’s son. Misguided and in a screwed up way, well meaning ,Sy Parrish is as gray as it gets. Character – Vinod (Dhanush) Film – Kadhal Konden Director – Selvaraghavan Vinod is what I would call a psycho by default. Scarred by abuse and pain from childhood Vinod grows up like Oliver Twist. Adam teased in his college and treated as an outcast he becomes over possessive about Divya the only friend he has had in years. Though one sees shades of imbalance in him it is only in the latter half does the director reveal that Vinod is mentally ill. There is a scene in which the police find the corpse of a bar dancer (a nymphomaniac who tries to seduce Vinod) in his room. The setting is shifted at this point to a hilly area ( we now realize he has kidnapped Divya ), where Vinod is dancing with tribals to the tune of the famous kadhal konden theme song. That totally takes you by surprise and hits you on the face. Innocent and yet dangerous, he is a bundle of, a plethora of emotions. I read somewhere that the Vinod character was inspired by a similar one in some German film called Klassenfahrt (The School trip). That was bit of a dampener though. Afterword – I have always preferred psycho’s like those above who are victims as much as victimisers. They are normal humans driven over the edge by circumstances. It is this that fascinates me about them. I frankly find Hannibal Lecter kind of characters who, “kill for pleasure’’ depraved and sadistic. They are evil by choice and meant to give you cheapkicks. None of my favorite psycho’s above fall into this genre.