A spy thriller is always a favourite theme in Hollywood. And Kamal Haasan is not new to it. Cut to the 1980s, his ‘Vikram’ was a classic example of one, which was way ahead of its times.
In 2013 came ‘Vishwaroopam’ and Kamal as Wizam Ahmed Kashmiri, the RAW agent, went all guns blazing to save New York from dirty bomb.
In the sequel, Wizam is on a mission again and his encounters with dreaded jihadi Omar (Rahul Bose) continue.
This time, he does a double save – prevents serial blasts in London and Delhi.
The premise is familiar. But the execution is different. ‘Vishwaroopam 2’ goes long the familiar lines of James Bondisque movies.
It is larger than life, compared to the prequel. The stunts are an overkill and a few dialogues stretch for effort as the movie travels back and forth.
But the screen presence of Kamal Haasan holds everything together. The sub-plots, action and the props are more like a Hollywood film. Though it offers twice as much action, speed and romance than ‘Vishwaroopam’, somewhere it lacks the punch.
The massive attack planned on New York City by Al-Qaeda terrorist Omar was disrupted by RAW agent Wizam.
The jihadis, Omar and Saleem, escape from New York City. Wizam is given the responsibility to eliminate Omar and the jihadis. Omar and Saleem hurry to execute their international plot to defame India and UK in one day.
Wizam plods through traps, conspiracies, murder mayhem, gut, gore and finally achieves victory. He thwarts an ingenious plot by Omar to wreak havoc on the Independence Day of India. He does this with the help of trusted aide Ashmitha (Andrea) but in a bloody way.
Kamal is back to his good old days. He not just romances but also does gravity-defying stunts. His dialogues deserve a mention. Also the vintage Kamal is back with emotional encounters.
Mother-son scenes dwelling on his childhood deserve special mention. Veteran actress Waheeda Rahman scores here. Both Andrea and Pooja Kumar get enough screen space. The menacing villains in the prequel (Rahul Bose and Jaideep Ahlwat) have very little to do.
On the technical side, ‘Vishwaroopam 2’ is very strong thanks to some good visuals, especially the stunt sequences captured well by Shamdat Sainudeen and Sanu John Varghese.
Though Mohammad Ghibran has little to do as far the songs are concerned, his background score wins a pat for him.
If ‘Vishwaroopam’ saw protests for defaming a particular community, the sequel steers clear of any controversy as the filmmaker in Kamal Haasan has taken the middle path. The conversation between Shekhar Kapur as senior RAW operative Colonel Jagannathan and Ananth Mahadevan in a cameo as a compromised Indian spy is an example for that.
‘Vishwaroopam 2’ ends up as a commercial masala film, with plenty of action, some comedy, romance and drama. Hold on. There is a movie inside the movie for Kamal fans.
As the screen goes up, there begins Kamal Haasan’s short docu on his newly-floated party Makkal Needhi Maiam and his journey so far. Perhaps a hint about the ‘Vishwaroopam’ that he might want to take in real life.