Review By: MAHESH DOCHERLA Review Date: 07 Jul 2008
Before I start, let me inform that I have seen the movie in Tamil without subtitles which is not my native language. I have gone to the movie hearing a lot of good reviews from others. The movie has Kamal Hasan playing ten different roles. It starts off with him narrating the story of a medieval vaishnavite priest featuring in the struggle between Shaivites and Vaishnavites. He is executed. This covers the first half hour of the movie along with the introduction of the scientist. This part of the movie actually captures your attention and the graphics are good. Then the grind starts. The movie introduces several other characters played by Kamal Hasan. Here the role of the scientist, President Bush and the assassin Christian Fletcher is real good. All the other characters are a real drag. Surprisingly all the characters except the scientist and the old hag have the same make up which does not look natural because they have such huge jaws. Anyone medical student looking at these characters will remember the medical condition ACROMEGALY. The make up seems to suit only the muslim giant and the Japanese warrior. From here on, it is basically a comedy of errors. A series of coincidences. But the rule regarding comedy of errors that Kamal Hasan seemed to have forgotten is that you cannot drag a series of coincidences on and on for nearly 3 and half hours and expect the audience to maintain interest. The most funny character is in fact Balaram Naidu the investigating officer. Asin is cute in the beginning but again all that she does is scream every dialogue. The movie was supposed to convey a rationalist/agnostic philosophical outlook in the backdrop of all these characters ending at the Tsunami event. But by the time the audience reach the second half of the movie, they started walking out of the hall. Even me and my friend could tolerate only 2 hours of the movie. Maybe others might find it interesting.
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| Entertaining: | | | Comedy: | | | Story: | | | Acting: | | | Music: | | | Screen Play: | | | Value for Money: | |
Good: Multiple roles, good graphics, philosophical message, a different script
Bad: Too long, too many characters, drags a lot
Recommend: No
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