Pizza is an Indian Tamil language Supernatura Mystery Thriller film released on 19 October 2012. Pizza is the first film of the Pizza franchise.
The 2013 Tamil-language film Pizza II: Villa is a quasi-sequel to Pizza. Pizza 3: The Mummy is the 3rd Installment of the Pizza franchise released in 2023.
Cast and Crew
Cast
Vijay Sethupathi (as Michael) plays the lead role in Pizza. The film also features Remya Nambeesan (as Anu), Aadukalam Naren (as Shanmugham), Bobby Simha (as Bobby), and many others.
Crew
- Karthik Subbaraj - Director
- C. V. Kumar - Producer
- Karthik Subbaraj - Story
- Prasad Ramar - Story
- Karthik Subbaraj - Screenplay
- Santhosh Narayanan - Music Director
- Gopi Amaranath - Cinematographer
- Leo John Paul - Film Editor
Budget and Box Office Collection
The tentative budget for Pizza was 1.2 Crore INR. The film did commercially well and earned approximately 8 Crore INR at the Worldwide Box Office. By earning 8 Crore INR, Pizza became one of the Highest Grossing Tamil Movies of 2012.
Movie Plot
Michael Karthikeyan (Vijay Sethupathi) is a poor young man, married to Anu (Remya Nambeesan), and works as a Pizza delivery for Shanmugham (Aadukalam Naren). Srinath (Jayakumar) and Raghavan (Karunakaran) are collegue-cum-friends of Kunal and work for Shanmugham.
Anu is a struggling writer who likes to write ghost stories. She creates a ghostly ambiance at home, which often horrifies Michael. Anu gets pregnant, but Michael does not want the child because of their poor financial condition. However, Anu wants the baby, and thus Michael supports her decision.
Shanmugham is married to Smitha (Pooja Ramachandran), but they do not have any children. The couple seeks the help of an Exorcist (Veera Santhanam), and Smitha finally gets pregnant. Shanmugham strongly believes in the blessings of the Exorcist.
Shanmugham loves his wife deeply and is very happy for his unborn child. However, a ghost named Anjali possesses Smitha, and the Exorcist often treats her with his black magic.
One day Shanmugham gives a box to Michael with the directions to give it to his wife, Smitha. Michael visits Shanmugham's house and witnesses that a ghost/witch named Anajali has possessed Smitha.
After a few days, Shanmugham again asks Michael to give a box of chocolates to his wife. Michael makes various excuses because he is afraid to face Smitha, possessed by a ghost. However, Shanmugham) orders him to give the box to his wife, Smitha.
Twist in the story
Michael has to deliver a pizza at night before giving the chocolate box to Mrs. Kapoor. He reaches the destination and rings the doorbell. A pretty woman Smitha (Pooja Ramachandran), appears and asks Michael to come in.
The woman (Smitha) asks Michael to stay in the room, and she goes upstairs to bring money. After a while, the current goes off, and Michael hears a scream from upstairs. Curiously, Michael goes upstairs with the help of mobile light and is shocked to see that someone has killed Smitha with an axe.
Michael gets scared, and his phone falls from his hand. Leaving the phone in the room, Michael tries to leave the house but finds all the doors locked. He tries to make a call from the landline but finds the phone dead.
Meanwhile, Michael gets a call from his wife (Anu) and asks her to send the police. Michael gathers courage and goes upstairs but is surprised to see that the dead body of Smitha is not there and appears as a ghost. Frightened, Michael quickly comes down with the phone.
Bobby (Bobby Simha) is the husband of Smitha (Pooja Ramachandran). He suspects an extramarital affair with his pregnant wife. He reaches home and finds the door locked.
Bobby calls Smitha, but Michael picks up the phone. When Michael picks up the phone, it deepens Bobby's suspicion, and he thinks Michael is his wife's lover. The man asks Michael to open the door, but Michael is not able to open the door.
Michael can see the man through the hole inside the house and explains that he is not his wife's lover but has come to deliver a pizza. Suddenly that man disappears, and the phone gets disconnected.
When Michael calls the same number again, he hears the phone ringing from the upstairs room. When Michael gathers his courage and goes upstairs again, but gets shocked to see Bobby (Bobby Simha) dead in the bathtub.
Michael is horrified and goes downstairs, where he sees a little girl, Anjali, who calls Michael her father. Michael remembers that Anjali is also the name of the ghost who has possessed Smitha, the wife of Shanmugham.
Michael runs towards the doors to avoid the girl. Suddenly, the door opens, and Michael sees a police inspector (Umesh Jagtap) and a constable (Jai Shankar Tripathi) at the door. Michael asks the police to come out of the house first, but those policemen start questioning Michael.
Turning point
Michael pushes the policeman out of the house and comes out of the house. However, he is surprised to see that some invisible force drags both the policeman home. Michael runs away from there and reaches home, but surprisingly his wife is missing.
Michael goes to the police station to file a complaint about his missing wife, but Srinath and Raghavan forcefully take him to Shanmugham (Aadukalam Naren). Surprisingly, Shanmugham asks about the bike and the box instead of concerning about Micheal's missing wife.
The Backstory of Shanmugham
Shanmugham (Aadukalam Naren) does the illegal business too. The box of chocolate contains some illicit items, and thus Shanmugham is concerned about the box.
Shanmugham visits the haunted house with Srinath and Raghavan to find out the box. They see Anu, the wife of Michael. However, she is now under the possession of the witch. They get scared and run away from the house.
After hearing the entire story, the Exorcist (Veera Santhanam) concludes that the ghost of Anjali possesses only a pregnant woman like Smitha (Pooja Ramachandran), Smitha (Pooja Ramachandran), and Anu (Ramya Nambeeshan).
The Exorcist suggests that Anu should not come out of the haunted house because the ghost of Anjali has possessed her. And if Anu remains in the haunted house, the spirit of Anjali will not create any problems for Smitha.
Since Shanmugham loves his wife very much, he requests Raghavan and Srinath not to tell Michael anything about Anu.
Will Michael be able to find Anu? What happens to Anu? What happens to Smitha? The film Pizza gives replies to all such queries in a logical way.
Reception
Pizza was a critical and commercial success, with many praising its innovative storytelling and suspenseful plot. The film won several awards, including the Best Screenplay award at the Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards and the Best Actor award for Vijay Sethupathi at the South Indian International Movie Awards.
Remakes
The success of "Pizza" led to the film being remade in several other languages, including Hindi, Kannada, and Bengali. The Hindi remake of Pizza, released in 2014, featured Akshay Oberoi and Parvathy Omanakuttan in the lead roles and was directed by Akshay Akkineni.
Legacy
Pizza is often cited as a milestone film in Tamil cinema, as it marked a departure from the traditional formulaic approach to filmmaking and introduced a new wave of young directors willing to experiment with genre and narrative structure.
The success of "Pizza" helped pave the way for other critically acclaimed Tamil films like "Jigarthanda" and "Iraivi," both of which were also directed by Karthik Subbaraj.
