Vishwaroopam 2
Director: Kamal Haasan
Cast: Kamal Haasan, Andrea Jeremiah, Pooja Kumar, Shekhar Kapur, Waheeda Rahman
Rating: 2.5/5
Kamal Haasan is clearly committed to his new, parallel career in politics. As we sat down to Vishwaroopam 2, though, we were excited to see Haasan the actor, returning in the role of an undercover agent who fights terror and prejudice with equal force. Sadly, we got a lot of Haasan, the politician, and too little of Wisam Ahmad Kashmiri, his character.
The good news is, Vishwaroopam 2 is an interesting subversion of the spy thriller — no heavy-duty stunts, fancy gadgets, or decorative female sidekick. The bad news? Unlike Vishwaroopam, an edge-of-the-seat thriller, the sequel feels like political propaganda.
There are dialogues that underline that as a politician, Kamal will not stand for corruption or terrorism. He addresses a corrupt official at one point, “If only statesmen had done their job well and maintained a cordial relationship with other countries, we would not have to deal with terrorism today.”
That is not the only ‘political’ statement. As he reprises his role as Wisam Ahmed Kashmiri in the sequel, he also has to deal with prejudice at workplace because of his religion. So, Kamal delivers his political ideology in a dialogue that goes ‘musalmaan hona paap nahi hai’.
The women in the film are accepted for who they are, no questions asked. Andrea as Ashmita is a trained agent and the audience is just expected to accept her. To her credit, the one stunt sequence in which she does feature is superlative. It is a well balanced track that is treated as an agent in the film and not a ‘female’ agent that needs to be either sidelined in the favour of male lead or given gratuitous scenes.
Pooja Kumar plays Wisam’s wife Nirupama, a nuclear oncologist, who cheated on him in the first part but is now gradually falling in love with her husband. While the progression of their relationship is entertaining, Pooja does get melodramatic in the end, which is a jarring note.
Waheeda Rahman as Kamal’s mother in the film is a joy to watch, especially when he is reminiscing about the past. Wisam remembers what his mother was like before she got Alzheimer’s and they are perhaps some of the best scenes from the film. For instance, when he closes his eyes to see himself as a child learning dance from his mother seems to be a nod to Hey Ram song Nee Partha Paarvai.
Rahul Bose’s terrorist Omar also returns to Vishwaroopam 2. The two have an interaction which stands out for its intensity. The play of emotions on the face of Rahul as he realizes that his family was rescued shows how extremism and violence have taken over his whole being.
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