Vishwaroopam: A review

It was a journey of two and a half hours of adept screenplay and breathtaking performances. The director has marveled at his efforts of bringing us a spy thriller with such technical ingenuity and social consciousness.

Characterization:

Deep emotional venture into characters is seen only in Kamal Haasan and Pooja Kumar. As a nuclear scientist Nirupama's social interest or rather responsibility is seen. Kamal, in which ever form he is in expresses himself with complete emotion which makes his characterization more transparent. Rahul Bose poses as an excellent choice as terrorist, probably for the first time, with his body language and voice. Andrea, I believe is more of a tool to build up the story line.

Story:

With no particular statement against a religion, the director has tried to show the world really what's happening. The adamancy and refusal for change is a prominent character among jihadis. They are completely bound by religious and cultural views of their chauvinistic society. “Probably a terrorist too has a heart", is something he tries to convey in a few scenes. The story had an excellent blend of being a spy thriller and a movie which ventured into the life of people (Jihadis). In the chauvinistic society predominantly dominant in places like Afghan, its quiet apparent, as the film portraits, a blatant fact that a child is motivated or rather grown in an environment which instills in him the ideology that he will one day be a warrior. It’s not a choice given to him. He is lured or forced into his fate.   

We could see exceptional piece of screenplay writing throughout the movie. Cinematography was excellent especially during fight sequences. Thought provoking camera angles made chase sequences a treat to watch. The way the complete "act of terrorism" has been thought of is mind boggling. Whether it’s the pigeons of New York or the chemical called Cesium, it was a whole new concept. The story writer has gone into the mind of a terrorist to get most innovative ideas. Locations and costumes have been very well thought off. Whether it’s the sets of Afghan in Chennai or the headquarters of FBI in New York you can't think of anything better. Few guesses can be made regarding the progress of story by the interval if we watch the movie with complete involvement.

Exceptionally clear explanation for every aspect in storyline. A comical touch by Viswanath turns into a fight sequence which to me is one of the best choreographed and shot till date in Tamil Cinema. You can feel the hard work which has been put in when you see movie on screen. Even the drop of water dripping has its own significance. It was movie with a bilateral purpose of show casing talent with a strong social relevance.

What made me ponder my thoughts upon was how one actor bonds into three distinct roles he plays, plays those roles with complete flawlessness and makes us wonder if it’s the same man, Kamal Haasan who played those roles.

The movie makes us think of two things at the end. How could he encapsulate all he wanted to convey in three hours and last but not least, when advance bookings start for Vishwaroopam II.