Vishwaroop Review

What is it all about

Kamal Hassan one of India's finest actor's alive made us wait for three years as an actor (Manmadhan Ambu 2010), nine years as a director Virumandi (2004) and eight years as a producer (Mumbai Xpress (2005) plus all this controversy in India for a movie like `Vishwaroop' which in `reality' turned out to be a high budget action packed spy popcorn which is completely drunk in the whiskey ordered by Hollywood technicians. loaded with gripping action better then what we have seen recently in bollywood ` Vishwaroop' after successfully creating an early surge of excitement runs out of steam.

This 90 crore technical wizard by Kamal Hassan is a pious attempt for an Indian franchise in the lines of Mission Impossible or Bourne Identity which is a indeed a dazzling visual flair having jaw dropping action pieces but still it doesn,t have the hang of what made those Missions and identities so good..

The Story.. of course

The main culprit in this technical glory.. where Kamal as a writer doesn,t get innovative and absorbing the way he able to as an actor.. he sets Vishwaroop against the backdrop of America in 2012 where Vishwanath (Kamal) alias Wiz, a Kathak exponent and Nirupama (Pooja Kumar), get married. Each have an agenda and seem to have achieved their wishes within three years of matrimony. Nirupama gets her Ph.D and Wiz runs his dance class in New Jersey, unhindered by each other.

All is fine till Dr. Nirupama aspires for more and wants to opt out of the arranged marriage. She cannot cite any specific reason to leave Wiz as there is nothing to complain about. Every male according to Nirupama must have a flaw. So she decides to find out something about him to feel better about her decision to part. Nirupama then hires a detective to rake up something on him, wires get cross- connected and before we know it hell breaks loose.

What to look out for

This time Kamal Hassan gets into the character for the audience, doesn,t experiment much and wishes not to please the ego of the actor in him.. shows his genius one again though it's for short time as the Kathak dance exponent with help from the legendary Kathak guru Birju Maharaj.. making the character his prop Kamal essays the role with perfection his walk, look, expressions are amazing.. again proving that he will be always be remembered as one of India's finest actors.. Technically Vow!!.. Vishwaroop is awed by superb action set pieces by Lee Whittaker the action director and stunt coordinator. Special effects by Kevin Chisnall and Matthew Stratton are up to mark. The sound needs a special mention here where Chris M. Jacobson and Anand Krishnamoorthi do marvelous job by giving us a great hearing in this

film shot in the Auro 3D sound format.

Cinematography by Sanu John Varughese is spectacular. Production values are of the highest grade. The ladies Pooja Kumar and Andrea Jeremiah attractively fit in the given roles. Rahul Bose is fine. Zarina Wahab and Shekhar Kapur provide good support. The only one song in the film is nicely done by Shankar Ehsaan, Loy and looks good on screen. Background score adds to the momentum.

Last but not the least there is nothing objectionable in the film for anyone.

What Not

Though dazzling in visuals with an actor like Kamal and mind blowing action.. Vishwaroop suddenly turns lazy.. the makers seem to be so obsessed with Afghanistan that they choose not to come out from it almost threatening the audience that they will hang the film in front of them in those mountains of Aghanistan and flee.. Vishwaroop as a subject and story extends the dry spell of cinema and we all expected something unique, different from Kamal Hasaan who had all the resources at his disposal but fails to utilize it.

Conclusion: Kamal Hassan's Vishwaroop is no doubt love at first sight for Kamal Hassan fans anyway and action fans too (only if they have the patience) the promised date with audience in general however doesn,t go beyond the welcome drink and dance.. the final good night kiss and the hangover is somewhat missing.. still it deserves three stars shared between Kamal Hassan, his foreign technicians and the confidence of Vishwaroop team as the end credits tells us that the follow up of Vishwaroop, Vishwaroop !! is ready showing us shots of the sequel..

Rating ***