Release Date: 25-Jan-2013
Starring: Kamal Haasan, Pooja Kumar, Upendra, Andrea Jeremiah, Rahul Bose, aideep Ahlawat
Director: Kamal Haasan
Produced: Raaj Kamal Films International, Chandra Haasan, Kamal Haasan
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Ratings: 3.5/5.0
Kamal Hassan’s biggest-ever film Viswaroopam, which has been delayed
for one or the other reason, has seen the light of day in foreign
countries but not in Tamil Nadu and other Southern states as the High
Court has stayed the release after several Muslim groups raised
objection.
After a gap of three years, Kamal Hassan is back with Viswaroopam,
which is written, directed and produced by himself. The film was
supposed to be directed by Selvaraghavan but as the director walked out
of the film due to other commitments, Kamal took the responsibility of
directing the film. The film is simultaneously made in Tamil, Telugu and
Hindi.
Story:
The movie starts in America.
Viswanath (Kamal Hassan), who will be seen as Kathak trainer, is
surrounded by girls and one among them is Andrea Jeremiah. This makes Dr
Nirupama (Pooja Kumar) to doubt on her hubby’s character and hires a
detective, who gets killed by Al-Qaeda group. The Al-Qaeda is planning
to plant a Nuclear Bomb in New York and Kamal Hassan is well-aware of
it. How? He has a past where he has a connection with the terrorist
group, which is headed by Omar (Rahul Bose).
Will the terrorist organisation succeed in their mission? What role
does Kamal play? Is he a terrorist or an undercover agent? To know all
these, you should watch the film. The story of the film begins on a slow
note but it is gripping. The first half is entirely shot in the US, and
keeps you engaged and generate a lot of curiosity. When it comes to
second half, the narration is dragging at parts but gets interesting
with Kamal Hassan’s past getting revealed
Performances :
The man, who has done countless experimental roles and called as the modern-day Stanislavsky of Tamil cinema, is brilliant. Be it in his avatar of Kathak dancer with feminine qualities,
or in the role of a terrorist, he proves again why he is the best when
it comes to acting. He looks terrific in the Jihadi warrior getup.Once
again Kamal Hassan has delivered a realistic and a classy performance
and it will be delight for the audience to watch an actor like him on the big screen.
Pooja Kumar is a new find and she looks promising. She is sexy and adds glam quotient to the film.
Andrea Jeremiah has not got a big role and her role is not well described. Shekhar Kapur did a decent job and Bollywood actor Rahul Bose is good
as a baddie. His dubbing could have been much better. Jaideep Ahlawat,
Nassar and Zarina Wahab have done their job.
Technical Aspects:
The director has come up with an interesting storyline and while the
presentation was rich, the narrative was engaging. The dialogues were
neat and sensible. 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. Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s two songs are good and background
score is excellent. Especially, it is a treat to watch the Jet Fighter
scenes on Auro 3D sound format. However, Mahesh Narayanan’s editing would have been better had he reduced the length of the film.
Analysis:
Firstly Kamal Hassan must be appreciated for his sincere effort, as
always. The way he narrated the movie is completely brilliant and the technical
aspect like cinematography and action sequences are well executed.
Tittle song is good and it looked much effective at the time of first
fight. Entire theater was filled with claps and whistles for this
sequence, as everyone liked to see Kamal Hassan as an action hero rather
a classical dancer.
Kamal Hassan tried to show some sensible elements especially in the Afghanistan episode.
Scenes between Omar’s (Rahul) interaction with his family and his guilt
after knowing that he has lost his family are touching. Vishwaroopam
doesn’t have a huge star cast but every one has done their job well. It
was good to see the famous director Shekar Kapur on big screen.
Viswaroopam might not go well with the masses but this film has been made with highly technical values and will remain as one of the better film of Legendary Actor Kamal Hassan.
Positives
Kamal Hassan brilliant in this film
Pooja Kumar performance
Especially the cinematography and the action sequences
Excellent Screenplay in Second Half
Negatives
Dead Slow Sometimes
Songs
Lack of entertainment
Final Word:
Good thriller with nice
execution, Brilliant cinematography and superbly shot action sequences
are major assets for the film.for action film lovers and the rest can
watch for Kamal Hassan
Worldwide collections of "Baahubali" crossed the ₹200 crore mark on Tuesday after raking in ₹23 crore. Total earnings from five days stand at ₹213 crore, beating Rajinikanth's "Enthiran" and Shankar-Vikram's "I" as the fastest South Indian film to reach the milestone.
The director was admitted to the hospital a few days ago and was taking treatment for fever and urinary tract infection. "His infection had heightened and his weakness did not help. The fever was under control but there was very little that we could do given his age," a hospital spokesperson told He was declared dead at around 7 p.m. 
The trailer gives us a glimpse of what to expect from the film. It promises to be a neat family entertainer with interesting performances from main cast and some refreshing background score. 
Pandit Birju Maharaj said he would like to thank his parents for the National Award he won for Best Choreography for Kamal Haasan's multilingual spy-thriller Vishwaroopam.
Watching the film at home and in a theatre are two different
experiences. Film piracy takes away more money from the distributors
than this. At least with DTH, viewers will pay the money for watching
the film — Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan returns to Hindi films after a very long gap. His
much-awaited Vishwaroop is slated to release on January 11 next year.
However currently the film has been in the news for its DTH release on
the same day as its theatrical release and how multiplexes are against
it while single screenings are in its favour. 
Kamal Haasan spoke about the making of the film and also his firm
decision to release the film on DTH, which has never been done before.
He said he shall go ahead with the release of the film on satellite
pay-per-view in India on the same day as the official release and added
that people can watch the film in their homes a day before its
theatrical release. Since distributors are not in favour of this as they
feel it will hamper their business, the film-maker is in Mumbai to sort
out the issue. However, he feels it will not take away the film
watching experience. “Watching the film at home and in a theatre are two
different experiences.
Film piracy takes away more money from the movie
distributors than this. At least here people will pay money for
watching the film,” he reasoned adding that the theatres are not likely
to suffer. “Going to watch a film in the theatre is like a habit.
Irrespective of whether we see the film at home or not, we would still
go to theatres, so there’s nothing to lose. I think DTH is a great way
of monetising the film to a better level and the theatre-goers will
always keep the big screen release in demand,” explained the actor. 
