Vishwaroopam - The most controversial movie in recent years that took beatings from all ends saw the first light in the dollar land, premiered in Los Angeles, manifested Kamal's Hollywood aspirations. Tainted to be the most expensive film in his career is just another thing for the kind of artist he is and the kind of business with which the movie industry operates in general. The inimitable ability of Kamal in trying out new things has been appreciated by one and all financially this time across the globe despite been bestowed with critical accolades for many such attempts. My experience with Vishwaroopam was lightened up by the presence of Kamal himself with his short speech before the movie was screened.
I never had any apprehensions to match Kamal as a writer/director to Kamal as an actor. Guna, Mahanadi, Anbe Sivam, Devar Magan, Virumandi, Hey Ram are few examples and is more than enough for discussion. There are many ways to convey a story and content in mainstream cinema. While some of the current generation film makers still thrive on narrating the introduction or a scene or a character in the "voice-over", Kamal chooses to convey his ideas and thoughts in his cinema via the visuals, metaphors and analogies which is probably the highest form of story telling in world cinema arena. By not understanding what he tried to convey is definitely attributed to the literacy of the audiences and not the film maker himself. There are many such complicated and intellectual angles in Vishwaroopam which I missed but later learnt via "good" film critics. I was astonished to the fact that there is so much in the movie where one could not even comprehend while watching but that certainly cannot take away the efforts that had been vested. The movie starts with the title card which is more or less still with pigeons in the background, a style adopted from Iranian/European movies especially Majid Majidi's movies. The movie really does start with the title card in the sense, a man/jihad feeds those pigeons in the background representing the jihad inculcation/doctrines to them and then the pigeons flies across the Wall street and lands at a charging bull which represents the aggressive financial optimism and prosperity of the American economy. This represents the idea of the jihads to destroy American economy. The same scene also used in the story later about the role of pigeons in destroying the New York city via cesium. Single shot, multiple meanings.
There are two different perception about the movie, one being a pro-American and other being anti-Islam. One could very well argue both are same but the dosages certainly differ. The movie is neither of the above and in fact it is exactly opposite. To put it simply in other words, Vishwaroopam IS pro-Islam and NOT pro-American. Lets see how Kamal as a writer/director is able to achieve both. The movie had to face so many issues before its release mainly by Islamic protesters assuming and believing it is anti-Islam but Kamal has clearly distinguished between a true Muslim and a Jihad who is a so-called Muslim and that's where the understanding is or rather lack of understanding.
- Omar condemns the boys for entertaining the people by dancing/wearing female attire(burka) considering it as a sin; But the same Omar conspire his son to wear burka to kill the American tank.
- In response to Omar's angst on why he and his religion had to suffer when his village was attacked by US force, Kamal clearly take out the religion and answers it Jihadi perspective and they are Jihadis and a Jihadi's are meant to shed blood and not tears. Tears are for the religion and Muslims.
- When Kamal was tortured before the transformation scene, he names himself as Tafiq and then Nasir just to pay respects to those two characters. Tafiq was introduced to him as a farmer in Afghan and not a Jihad and Nasir is the youngest son of Omar who doesnt want to become a warrior underlining his liking towards true Muslims and not Jihads When he was asked the famous question - are you a good man or bad man, Kamal responds that he has irrevocable sin written on his forehead indicating the murders of Tafiq and Nasir which he was also part of in the process of destroying Jihads representing Indian RAW agent.
- In the public hanging scene, everyone wear white caps indicating the prevailance of justice to the sinners while Kamal alone wears black representing sadness and according to Kuran it also represents evil. The director expresses his point very strongly that the hanging scene is an evil act done in the name of justice.
- The nigerian Abbasi, shaves off all his hair in the body as a part of Islamic custom performed after death to enter clean into heavens, and Omar pray before the proposed bomb detonation again as a part of the Jihadi custom to pray before killing. when a FBI officer (Israeli) asks Tom, what is Wisam doing? He says "he is praying for you". Israeli asks "God Vadim"? Tom replies "Exactly, except it is in Arabic version" So Wisam, the Muslim prays for that Israeli too. These three guys pray to the same god, but their prayers differ. The director again differentiates the difference between a Jihad and a Muslim.
- A matured little boy who wants to become a doctor doesn't want to play in the swing whereas a grown up jihad trained boy wants to. One of the finest shots in the movie explaining the impossible nature of being mature due to the poison of Jihad seed. There could be other meanings to it but again its left to the intelligence of the viewers.
The director establishes all these facts to illustrate that Jihads are opportunists and do not represent true Muslims and only use Islam as a blanket to justify their deeds. Bravo Mr. Kamal Hassan. He also establishes the fact that dominance and arrogance of US over any country/culture is not welcomed by all and showing his stance on America's foreign policy. Illustrated in the below metaphors -
- Omar's hatred towards English language, Women rights, Western Arts are clearly underlined indicating America's dominance over the unwilling/uninterested(over west) Afghans.
- When Afghanistan was attacked by US, the director's belief is resonated via the sound of an eagle which is the National bird of America and has the quality of eating dead bodies, representing Americans as eagles.
- There is a dialogue between Omar and Kamal. Omar says kids who are raised up without their dad are extremely cautious. Kamal counters him not more cautious than the kids who don't even know their dad. This can be easily taken as a regular "PUNCH" in the movie but it was later linked to a broader/deeper meaning and pain of Afghan women through an old lady after the American attack. The old lady goes, first came the British, then Russians, then Talibans, then Americans and now you(referring to Omar). Expressing the sad story of Afhgan women being raped/used by many invaders.
- Omar says during the US attack, Americans will not attack women and children. right after he said, the women and children are bombed ripping the true colors of US which they exhibit in the name of trust.
- In the news, Obama praises America and shares the happy news of Osama's killing while the running news in the bottom says Petroleum hike by 3% - World Alert.
Critics are of different kinds and most of them do not even appreciate good cinema and truly go by its box office collection pattern. Good and very good critics stand by what they like and provide their observations based on their knowledge which again doesn't guarantee all the ideas and dimensions what the creator actually went through to convey. I am only imagining the sharpness of Kamal in achieving what he could with what is only observed leaving other ideas buried. I am very sure there are more subtle points and angles in the movie that are unearthed and I have a personal experience with his Hey Ram. I appreciate everytime i see it and find it fresh with every watch. There are not many such film makers around and even if you think you found one they could be only an aspirant of becoming one. A spy thriller is not an usual genre in Indian cinema and most of the movies made out are Bond kind that doesn't promise any values or education or a standpoint. Not that it is needed but that is what differentiates between a regular and special film maker. Kamal adopted this genre to explain the possibility of unusual events and to an extent avoid the questioning of the same despite being certain questions unanswered only hoping that he will answer them in its sequel. A huge lesson in the offering on how to present a genre and still woo the audiences keeping away unwanted comedy, romance, songs and what not.
Kamal has excelled so much as a writer/director/producer that even the brilliance of his acting is taken a back seat. The director in him has given enough confidence to the producer in him to convene all the top notch technicians to make his idea/dream realize. Top notch - cinematography in capturing those brilliant Afghanistan moments, Art direction recreating Afghanistan, Songs(Totally in love with it, cant remember any movie recently which fitted the songs as in this one), Special effects/Bomb blasts team, Performances of Kamal as an actor, Pooja, Rahul Bose and almost everyone.The remarkable quality I found in Kamal as a person is the way he handled himself during those "deplorable" episodes before the movie's release made me wonder if he had achieved what few could have in Himalayas. He truly stand by what he believes and he believes only in love without any obscurity.
Verdict - 4/5. The bottom line is the director can hurt you bad if you are against non-violence, non-secular, love and compassion, deep-rooted orthodox nature which simply summarizes what Kamal as a person believes in and stands for. Many of the metaphors and analogies are lost for regular audiences but that doesn't mean to stop any creator from presenting it. This applies to any art, be it music, dance, movies, painting, literature etc. It is the choice of the audience to either simply ignore or strive to admire. Kamal Hassan is undoubtedly a premier writer/director(as well) in India. We often see "One Man Show" tag for many commercial heroes but honestly if at all that tag fits someone, it has to be Kamal Hassan. Vishwaroopam is a top notch effort and it will enthrall audiences who like multidimensional and intelligent cinema.
Disclaimer - I have taken many of the explanations to the scenes from many critical reviews and I couldn't able to compile it all either. I only chose the ones I liked and presented along with my thoughts and observations and would not like to take away any of their credits. This is presented merely for the reader for understanding in case if the reader is unaware. No plagiarism intended !!!
