STVLISI-I AND SUBSTANTIAL, AND NO SENTIMENTS I-IURT

Vishwaroop

STARRING : Kamal Haasan, Pooja Kumar, Rahul Bose, Andrea Jeremiah, Shekhar

Kapur and Jaideep Ahlawat

DIRECTED BY: Kamal Haasan irst things first. Kamal Haasan's enormously controversial film doesn't hurt Muslim sentiments In fact, it doesn't hurt the sentiments of any section of the people except those partypoopers who think having a ball at the movies went out of style with Sholay and Chachi420.

Leave aside its sobering take on global warfare, Vishwaroop, the Hindi version of the Tamil, Telugu Vishwaroopam, is one helluva entertainer. If you' ve forgotten what edge-of-the-seat entertainment meant, then it is time to rediscover that pleasure. Stylish and substantial, the narrative weaves and winds its way into coherent and compulsive threads that bring together the theme of international espionage with the more sensitive issue of the Islamic and the personal identity of a man, whose heroic stature grows out of a sense of commitment to the country and to world peace.

Personal interests, we are told, are easy to put aside if you can define heroism from a context far greater than your own good The deeper thrusts of Kamal Haasan and Atul Tiwari's devious screenplay leap out of this compact epic drama, which takes off into the Taliban terror outfit in Afghanistan and hence to the New York suburbia where domestic normalcy is replaced by a violence -a k ind of ceaselessly renewable violence that has gripped working- class lives ever since the 26/11 attack on the US made it dear that international terrorism is here to stay. Deal with it.

Just about the only desirable thing that emerges from the horrific folds of global militancy are some great adventure sagas. And Vishwaroop is as gripping as it gets. The narrative moves steadily and sharply to an inevitable nemesis.

Maverick director Kamal Haasan (and this is his best directorial attempt since the grossly underrated Hey Ram in 2000) is in no hurry to tell h is tale. Not that he wastes time The mood for adventure is bui lt quickly, and the payoff is enormously satisfying.

With some remarkably austere and sharp editing by Mahesh Narayan and camera work by Sanu John Verghese that captures scenes of violence with as much rugged candour as the sharply-drawn scenes from the hero's personal life, Kamal Haasan's tale of ter ror during the times of love, witticism, philosophizing and, yes, dancing, comes alive in a huge adrenaline rush ofadventure, action, drama and other related artistic tools which never come in the way of the actor-director 's primary concern

Kamal Haasan means business. He is her e to narrate an edge-of-the-seat story of international terrorism The rigorous research that has gone into the p lot never weighs down the narration. Whether infiltrating the Al Qaeda (scarily real in the detailing and eeri ly cinematic in its visual sweep) or focusing on the hijinks of our hero, the creative crossovers i n the narrative are achieved with the fluency of chapters in a deftly-written novel.

And yet Kamal Haasan avoids getting overly breathl ess in his narration. Shall we just say Vishwaroop moves at the pace that it is meant to? Neither measured nor hurried, the director negotiates the socio-political and cultural spaces in the p l ot with an elegant erud ition. Gone i s the heavily cerebral over-studied atmosphere of his earlier directoria l epic Dasavatharam. A l so gone is the overindul gent footage-occupancy of th is actor s recent screen outi ngs.

Yes, Kamal Haasan dominates the show wit h three different avatars whose destinies intertwine in ways that one can't reveal without giving away the plot. But that's the way the plot unfo lds. That is the way it is meant to be. The narrative in this case just can't get enough of Kama l Haasan. Who but this acto r can pull off heart-in -the-mouth never-seen stunts (acti on director Lee Whittaker and his associates have done a remarkable job) in the same range of vision as an elegantly performed Kathak number?

Pooja Kumar as Kamal Haasan's be loved is charming She has a pleasant screen presence and yes, she isn't in awe of her awesome co-star. However, if anyone leaves a lasting impression after Mr Haasan, it is Rahul Bose, who as an Al Qaeda chap swathes his persona in menace and terror without getting into the gritting-teeth mould.

Bose had last played a villain in Govind Nihalani's Thakshak in 1999 It is no coincidence that he returns to the colour black in a film that in many ways owes allegiance to the dark sinister angry anti-establishment tales of Nihalani. But Kamal Haasan adds a dash of warmth and humour to the intrinsically ominous saga. He is in terror-l and with his tongue firm ly in cheek.

The sharply- drawn characters, the terrify ing insight into the psyche of terrorism and the sumptuous mounting and packaging add up to a movie that is quite easily one ofthe finest adventure sagas in recent times. The act ion sequences are, at last, on a par w ith Hollywood Insult to any community? Hah! It wou l d be an i nsult to the filmmaking community to m i ss Vishwaroop. Miss this big screen adventure your own r isk.

SUBHASH K JHA