Friday, February 1, 2013

Vishwaroopam , a fringe review.

Vi-sh-wa-roo-pa-m 
 noun
1. a physical likeliness or representation of one or more  person, thing or a concept equating it with the universe. And beyond.

verb 
2. act or process relating to launching of a star from Kodambakkam to the Mecca of moviedom , Hollywood. (pun intended)
3. amalgamation  of different collateral issues that snowballs into a grand question for which  Arnab finally  seeks answer on behalf of the nation.

related words 

Ulaga Nayakan : prophetic epithet coined by Kamal's fans to which he is trying to live up.
Vishwaroop      : circumcised title for consumption of the north. Not to be confused with the physically truncated movie version  that is about to hit Tamil Nadu soon.



I havent  watched the movie yet. Never got a chance till date. But after getting reviews from couple of people to whom I can safely and cost effectively outsource my thought process, I  concluded that this is a 'Sakalavallavan' masquerading as a 'Chachi 420' and having ambitious claims to become an intercontinental 'Kuruthipunal'.

With such a prejudice infested mind, once I get to watch the movie , am sure to have nightmares of the worst comic nature. I can already see the protagonist of 'Anbe Sivam' dressed up as Rambo and armed with a hammer and sickle singing  the unofficial American anthem "Are you with Us or Them in the WARRR against terror" , probably to the tune of  'O ranga... sri ranga... koppara thenga....'  I wouldnt attempt to watch and review, at least not in this state of mind. Instead, it is very interesting to watch from the sidelines the circus that is being played around the movie.


Kamal Hassan intended to produce a  Hollywoodish Tamil movie.Looks like he has already succeeded. But the issues that started clouding the movie least resemble a Kodambakkam masala. On the contrary, it is more like watching one by  Tarkovsky.

First to hit you is the absurdity. Of investing such a huge amount of money and talent  into visual and audio effects and then forcing it directly onto the living rooms of poor Indians, a majority of whom can only view it through their Doordarshan inspired TV sets, leave alone HDMI and home theatres  That was just the beginning.

Once you survive the initial, slow paced, deceptively absurd, not so interesting hurdles, suddenly you find yourself deeply engrossed in the multi layered, mutually entwined, complex puzzles of deep  intricacies, typical of East European art house movies.

On a socio-political level , it attempts to find answers to questions that the largest democratic nation in the world struggles to cope up with. Like the next PM of  India will be wearing a Dhoti or not.

On a spiritual level, you find people from all political parties talking about freedom of expression. And a focussed group of followers  begging them to reveal where they get their weed from.

In the most productive and least influential plane of social media, the highly knowledgeable characters rage, joke and blog. And move on to their next target.

Of all the interpretations being churned out of this comic tragedy, the macro financial aspect vis a vis the religious background is what excites me. At the highly unlikely event of those 20+ leaders inviting me to join them to represent my own 'fringe' group,  my single point agenda would be to oppose the movie on the basis that the movie has been produced with capital from a money lender.  What? No No, I am serious!! The concept of money lending at exorbitant interest rates is against the basic tenets of belief that is shared by those out on the streets of Tamil Nadu and Afghanistan.  Now that the unedited movie is running fullhouse in theatres across neighbouring Kerala where every fourth person is a Muslim and every three-fourth  member of cabinet is a Muslim refutes the charges levelled by these leaders against the movie, the only valid reason they can cite against the movie is the one raised by me.

They are very much welcome to join and support me.

Coming Soon: Vishwaroopam, a fringe review part 2









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