These days, living in a non-Thamizh speaking state seems to be a boon, when it comes to watching Thamizh movies. Which also means, I got to watch the unedited, uncut and unmuted version of Kamal Haasan's magnum opus, Vishwaroopam!The first question anyone asked me when I said I saw the movie is, what is wrong with the movie, that it drew so many protests? Nothing at all!! I am appalled that the Muslim fraternity is upset. There are enough reasons for many other communities to feel offended, actually! (பாப்பாத்தி/we dunk him in the sea..anyone??) :)
That apart, Vishwaroopam is technically brilliant and keeps you hooked for most parts. Whether it is the art direction (the Afghanistan portions are unbelievable) or cinematography or the visual effects, Kamal the technician shines in getting the best out of his multinational ensemble.
Kamal the director is also in fine form with extracting the best from the limited but adequate scope that most of his actors have. The problem I had is only with the writer facet. The plot has quite a few glaring loop holes (like the scene where Viz and co are chased by both the police and Omar in the streets of NY and the chase abruptly ends and out of nowhere they are in Nirupama's office stalking computers and lockers) that remain unanswered and I don't believe they will even get a mention in the sequel.
Kamal should also watch his god/theist bashing in his writing. You may be an atheist (rationalist as you would like to be called) Mr. Kamal, but you can keep it at home and not include it forcefully in your films and dialogues just for the sake of it.
There are some wonderful touches as well (like the prayer scene before the climax or the swing scene in afghan), but they are few and far between.
Rahul Bose was another big let down for me. Quite irritating! Jaideep Ahlawat was a lot better.
The Kathak portion somewhere seemed forced in the script and Kamal's act as the Kathak dancer to me was nothing more than the நடை & பாவனை of Avvai Shanmugi, with the உடை being different. Nothing special! Even his look in the Afghan portions failed to leave an impact.
Andreah Jeremiah has nothing much to do and looked like a 'choice of convenience' and was the sore thumb in the Kathak dance sequence. And why would you need a Shekhar Kapur for that role anyway?!
Barring these glitches, that one may tend to ignore, it is still a mighty good film and a must watch for the package per se.
The stunt sequences are just brilliant. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's songs and Inderjeet's background score lift the movie, though I thought the 'Unnai KaaNaadha' song could have been a little better to exploit Kamal the dancer. It was just good, I would have loved an awesome dance sequence. Something missing! The title track sounds better when its resurfaces towards the end and 'Thuppaakki engal Tholili' is apt.
Nevertheless, this film will go down in the history of Thamizh films as a landmark film, both for its technical excellence and more so for the controversies!
