Visvasam - movie review

First of all, it takes real guts to release your movie alongside a Rajini starrer, that too on a festival window. But surprisingly, the news is other way round. Seemingly, this Ajith starrer has garnered more theaters than Petta (pronounced pettai). Probably due to the heavy violent content family audiences are may be more leaning towards Visvasam, which is a mish-mash of emotions and sentiments alongside the mandatory hero worship.
If Petta was a potpourri of scenes from yesteryear Rajini hits, with a running time well near 3 hours, Visvasam was its polar opposite. Especially, the first half was a rehash of all those movies, which were absolute duds for Ajith and god knows why the entire first half was wasted on them. Surprising that the movie watchers sat till the second half and made it a hit, because the second half more than make up for the former. Till interval, the story never takes off, crawling at snail’s pace over the non-existent chemistry between Ajith and Nayantara. Post the interval block, the story shifts to city, where the action picks pace, literally and figuratively. Ajith is blessed with great screen presence and his macho image vibes even on regular tv screen. His emotional connect with his daughter looks real and those scenes and situations have come out neat, with the girl playing his daughter a potential big prospect for movie industry. The dad-daughter bonding, even though it is heavily inspired from his other movies as well, clicks well and the positive message with which the movie ends, leaves a happy feeling at completion. Probably, these factors made it stand up against the well-oiled machinery of Rajinism. With so many comedians abound, one would’ve expected at least a few chuckles, but no. Nayan looks more wooden and probably decided that either way it’s a win for her as people are already sold out on her. Except for one song, rest are fast forward worthy.

Gils verdict – Surprisingly, with nothing to do on a Sunday evening, as I sat through the full movie, I kind of liked it. Would definitely watch it on tv again during upcoming festival releases as well. Surely worth an one- time watch.