Vishwaroopam (2013)

Sadly Over-hyped

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There was absolutely nothing against Islam / Muslims. The hero itself is a Muslim. In fact, it denotes that it is not religion itself, it is human beings that is being good or bad. Unfortunately sometimes religion is being used for sadistic purposes. If we really believe in God / religion, then we need to love others / respect others and cannot cause harm to life. Hope every one understand this. Kudos Kamal Haasan. Great attempt at Quality Cinema coming from India

World class film maker, Kamal Haasan has once again struck gold after Hey Ram and Virumaandi with his magnum opus, Vishwaroopam. The film has great technical values that can be compared to the Hollywood films with its high production budget. Good story with metaphorical elements concealed that requires intelligence from the audiences. Kamal and Pooja Kumar stand out in aspects of performances compared to the rest. Shekhar Kapoor and Andrea were good for their roles. The Afghanistan sequences were captured with awed perfection. Credits to the ace art director, Lalgudi N. Ilayaraja. Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy was good in the first half, but tended to be repetitive in the second half. The film definitely deserved a better background score. Fantastic screenplay that interrelates the past and present through the 'time slice' method that is even rarely utilized in Hollywood. It is evident that Kamal has researched well in portraying Jihadis in a realistic way. Dialogues on the other hand were brilliant and required critical thinking to understand. Surmounting all the barricades in releasing Vishwaroopam, Kamal Hassan truly deserves accolades for producing quality cinema that relates to the global nation. Vishwaroopam-a technical masterpiece that requires intelligence and maturity from the audiences.Rating: 9.2/10

The wait is finally over. "Vishwaroopam" has hit the screens! The film, which went under production for nearly 3 years, which went through tremendous criticism by the Muslims, which was banned for nearly 3 weeks due to many controversies, was released on the 31st of January worldwide(except Malaysia), but was "Vishwaroopam" worth the wait?An Afghani Al-Qaeda Jihadi Omar (Rahul Bose), his accomplice Salim (Jaideep Ahlawat) and their international terror network, plots to attack New York with a "Caesium-bomb". Vishwanath a.k.a Wiz (Kamal Hassan), is a Kathak dancer in the U.S. living with his wife, Nirupama (Pooja Kumar). Omar and Vishwanath have a past, one that takes the story back by almost a decade, to the Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. What follows is a maze of events that go back and forth in time, unraveling a plot where in the terrorists are accumulating cesium from oncology devices to trigger a blast in New York.Vishwanath is revealed to be a RAW agent who married Nirupama to investigate about Omar in connection with the bomb blast in the heart of New York. His mission is to bust the 'sleeper-cell' of the Jihadis in the U.S., which is planning to divert the attention through "capsules" capable of emitting mild nuclear radiation tied to pigeons in New York city while enabling a henchman to detonate the cesium bomb in the city.How Vishwanath, together with the help of the F.B.I., stops Omar from detonating the cesium bomb forms the rest of the story, revealing to tell the audience that "Vishwaroopam II" will be released soon.Kamal Hassan has given his heart & soul in this film whereby he takes on the tremendous role of being a director & a actor at the same time. He gives his best shot as a Kathak dancer, and a Al-Qaeda terrorist. Through his acting, you can see that Kamal went through a lot of research before taking on a project like "Vishwaroopam". Andrea gives her best shot in the movie together with Pooja. Rahul Bose is a winner for "Vishwaroopam" with his evil & ruthless behavior. He suits the character 100%.Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music was a bombastic win for "Vishwaroopam". The background music gives the film a Hollywood style. S-E-L are one of the very few versatile composers around the country and that explains Kamal's choice for their music.Of all technical aspects, Sanu Varghese's cinematography stands tall, as he has done a brilliant job. He has wonderfully captured some of the rarest locales of Afghanistan. However, Mahesh Narayanan's editing would have been better had he reduced the length of the film.Kamal is a winner for this film. He has given his heart & soul in the film throughout. S-E-L music brings the film to edge. Editing was average but cinematography was outstanding.Verdict: The film is enjoyable in every frame & every scene. "Vishwaroopam" has all the aspects of a Hollywood film standard. Outstanding job by Kamal Hassan & team!Rating: 4/5

Vishwaroop (Hindi Version) was spectacular , spellbinding and engrossing.Vishwanathan is a Kathak dance teacher leading a normal happy married life. However , his life turns topsy-turvy when he and wife are captured by Muslim terrorist leader Omar.Directed , acted and produced by himself , Kamal Hassan goes one step further to create a admirable character of Vishwaroop. Forget about the controversies surrounding the film as it had no objectionable scenes which portrays Muslim community in bad light, the movie was made with sheer effort and hard work and it really pays off. Right from the beginning, the films boast some great performances , good-old action scenes with stunning visuals and powerful storyline. The movie dips little bit in the end but picks up and delivers properly. Vishwaroop is an interesting thriller which has some great action sequences and cinematography of international standard. Hats off to Kamal Hassan for treating us with his ambitious project. Very good 4/5