Vishwaroopam

Well the much controversial film of the year, Vishwaroopam from Kamal Hassan is one of the most realistically made fictions on a relevant topic. We have seen many films on terror in the recent past which followed the very same pattern of showcasing the frustration of the innocent and how it turns out to be the seed for new terror forms. Well Vishwaroopam is thankfully not such a narration. It is a totally fictional plot that traverses through some portions of the terror side that were never really discussed before. And the level to which Kamal Hassan has taken it is the basic reason of the whole controversy.

Telling the story in brief or even a small outline could well be a spoiler. So all I am saying is that it’s a phase in Muslim’s life where he actually fights against terror in a very very non typical manner. It is a journey through the multi faced life of Wasim Ahmed Kashmiri aka Vishwanath.

The main factor that excited me while viewing this cinema was the amount of research put on the subject. Well I am not an expert in these matters, but the way they have made this film kind of attracts us in a very unique way and it exposes the background stories of the terrorist mind sets and their world in a never before seen manner (at least for me). And the ending of the film is where the real fight beginning and that can be considered as a negative.

Well the technical aspects deserve to be mentioned first. Even though the script has a bit of clarity issues in terms narration and character structuring, I think Vishwaroopam is a movie that was totally in the hands of the director. The way Kamal Hassan has visualized this whole concept made me wish that he should have directed Dashavatharam. Apart from the few helicopter shots that involved relatively low standard VFX, I think Vishwaroopam is a very less compromised film in technical aspects. The first fight sequence where Nirupama gets shocked seeing the action avatar of her husband was an absolute beauty. At its first fast and fast edit the fight looked quite ordinary but the rewind was something worth watching. To carry out such stunts with dynamics at this age is something that is amazing in my view. Mahesh Narayanan might have had a tough time in the editors table in this crisscross narrative, but he did his part very neatly. Cinematography was also up to the standard of the movie. Music isn’t used in the typical way it’s rather treated as a BGM. Art direction is damn good, especially in the afghan sequences. The brutal nature of the fight and the attacks on the terrorists can be unpleasant to your eyes.

On the performance side, Kamal Hassan is just brilliant. The dance, the action, the anger and the signature style of acting only enhances his onscreen charisma. Among the rest of the Cast, Rahul Bose did a good job as Omar and so does Jaideep Ahlawat as Salim. Pooja Kumar as Nirupama did her part very neatly. Andrea and Shekhar Kapoor had very little to do and they also didn’t disappoint.

Vishwaroopam is totally a director’s movie. I think to understand the role of a director in a movie Vishwaroopam can be used as a study material because the movie depends a lot on visualizing the whole concept without losing its feel. My rating for this movie is 3.5/5. Please do keep in mind that this is not a typical Tamil film with whole lot of action and over the top characters. The movie demands an open heart and your thinking cap.

About the controversy, I think some people are trying to showcase the antagonists of this movie as the representatives of whole Muslim community, which I believe is quite rubbish. The film is just a fictional thriller against terrorism.