Vishwaroopam

Director: Kamal Haasan

The Indian Express rating: ***

Let’s see now. What did I get offended by in ‘Vishwaroop’ ? By the fact that Kamal Haasan plays an effeminate dance teacher in an American town? No, Kamal has proven he is good at both classical dancing and being limp-wristed, on screen. Or by the fact that his wife is played by a girl who looks young enough to be his daughter? No, Kamal has given himself an out on this one: the script calls him a ‘much older man’ who is a prize catch only because he has a green card.

Once I was done casting about for things to get offended by, I sat down to watch the film, which turned out to be fairly gripping in true comic-book style, covering such current hot topics like global terrorism, jehadis, Mujahideens, and a few good guys. Not that I didn’t sigh impatiently here and there because of some parts being too stretched, or because feeling that it could have finished before it did. But on the whole, once I got past my insistence on realism and wishing it was shorter, I enjoyed the film. There are no complications in the way it goes about its business : it thoughtfully rewinds a super- quick portion in slo-mo so we can easily reach where Kamal Hassan wants us to get to.

It’s one of the few Indian films that actually spends time in building

... contd.