Vishwaroopam
Vishwaroopam - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2199711/
Instead of starting from the controversies that happened before the release of the film like this and this, am going directly into the movie.
The characters of the title of the film (vishwaroopam) appears from right to left in Arabic like font just the way the language is written and read. The best I could infer about this approach was that the story revolves around people who mostly speak that language. The meaning of the word Vishwaroopam and my opinion on its appropriateness for this movie is shared towards the end of this article.
Throughout the movie, I never felt distracted. I was completely engaged with what I was hearing and seeing. Unlike other movies, at the end of the movie, I was not able to say conclusively whether I liked it or not. I can't deny the feeling of wanting to see the movie one more time though - even now I do not know why.
I slept with the movie and the next morning when I thought about it, this is what I thought. The movie is about good and bad. The question is not about which community/nation/religion is good or bad - as every such group is divided among those. If they are divided, then the natural next question is what is the majority in each.. Again, the question about which is the majority doesn't arise, because the part that forms the whole (group) itself is sometimes good and other times bad. In the opinion of the director, everybody has some good deeds and other bad deeds. Each person is a mixture of both good and bad. Same about every community, religion and nation. This is all based on the scenes that form part of this film. In one scene, we are shown how America is fighting the war for oil while the Afghan people are defending for Allah. In another scene, the FBI collaborates with other international intelligence agencies to save the lives of multiple generations of people living in Newyork City. In one scene, a muslim child is shown to be proud warrior to fight for whatever cause and in another scene, another child in the same family is shown to be interested in becoming a Doctor. Thing to note is that It is subtly conveyed that the child who wants to become doctor says that he is not a child and asks not to treat him like one while the other one, who was grown up, enjoys being a child. This is not just for a nation or a religion. There are scenes that show the male lead in the film participate in killing and training the fighters while the same person is willing to throw his own life to prevent a bomb explosion. Like this, the whole movie is just about good and bad, in the eyes of the director.
So what exactly does the director think as good? Lets see. Killing people in the name of religion is bad. However, killing people who have killed or believe in killing people in the name of religion is good. Cheating a mother and lying to her is bad. However, cheating the people who are born to those mothers is good or at least okay. I mean, the consciousness don't prick if one does those with good intentions even if the means are the same. Teaching a child about terrorism and purpose of the war is bad. However, teaching a child about temple, worship and god is good. In either case all one is teaching is just their beliefs. I have not understood good and bad clearly till date. have explored this topic of good and bad, good deeds and bad deeds, good intentions and bad intentions to its death and never found anything that convinced me until I heard Sadhguru talk nd give a different perspective about good and bad.
I guess a more sensible and humane way of making decisions would be to see if an option is for or against life. Life in its utmost generality - not just restricted to human life or a particular species or a particular planet. Any option that favors life, is a better option.
As far as why someone decided to make this film, I have no real clue. The film talks about many problems and suggests, not event attempts to give a solution. Only one thing that I was able to relate to in the whole film is the truth that: for every person that dies, there is a mother that is shedding her tears would have been happier if this was explored and emphasized a lot more in the movie.
Now coming to the title itself: Vishwaroopam - it literally means Universal Form. In Hinduism, lord Vishnu is known to have realized this form and has helped many see this form. The universal form is supposed to encompass the entire Universe - that is, the entire Universe is well within oneself. As to how this relates to the movie, I can only guess. The male lead plays different roles throughout the film... One of a Kathak dance teacher, then shown as a terrorist, then as a person who is foiling the plans of a terrorist and finally as a RAW agent. The title is suggestive of the idea that the male lead contains within himself a wide variety of characters. This sounds very limited though.
As a closing thought, talking about this movie, I can't deny the fact that I was blown away by the presentation, cinematography, music, re-recording, dialogues, comedy and realism in the portrayal. However, the life of the movie - story, was simply not there. In essence, the movie, for me, was a brilliant and engaging presentation of utter trash.
Instead of starting from the controversies that happened before the release of the film like this and this, am going directly into the movie.
The characters of the title of the film (vishwaroopam) appears from right to left in Arabic like font just the way the language is written and read. The best I could infer about this approach was that the story revolves around people who mostly speak that language. The meaning of the word Vishwaroopam and my opinion on its appropriateness for this movie is shared towards the end of this article.
Throughout the movie, I never felt distracted. I was completely engaged with what I was hearing and seeing. Unlike other movies, at the end of the movie, I was not able to say conclusively whether I liked it or not. I can't deny the feeling of wanting to see the movie one more time though - even now I do not know why.
I slept with the movie and the next morning when I thought about it, this is what I thought. The movie is about good and bad. The question is not about which community/nation/religion is good or bad - as every such group is divided among those. If they are divided, then the natural next question is what is the majority in each.. Again, the question about which is the majority doesn't arise, because the part that forms the whole (group) itself is sometimes good and other times bad. In the opinion of the director, everybody has some good deeds and other bad deeds. Each person is a mixture of both good and bad. Same about every community, religion and nation. This is all based on the scenes that form part of this film. In one scene, we are shown how America is fighting the war for oil while the Afghan people are defending for Allah. In another scene, the FBI collaborates with other international intelligence agencies to save the lives of multiple generations of people living in Newyork City. In one scene, a muslim child is shown to be proud warrior to fight for whatever cause and in another scene, another child in the same family is shown to be interested in becoming a Doctor. Thing to note is that It is subtly conveyed that the child who wants to become doctor says that he is not a child and asks not to treat him like one while the other one, who was grown up, enjoys being a child. This is not just for a nation or a religion. There are scenes that show the male lead in the film participate in killing and training the fighters while the same person is willing to throw his own life to prevent a bomb explosion. Like this, the whole movie is just about good and bad, in the eyes of the director.
So what exactly does the director think as good? Lets see. Killing people in the name of religion is bad. However, killing people who have killed or believe in killing people in the name of religion is good. Cheating a mother and lying to her is bad. However, cheating the people who are born to those mothers is good or at least okay. I mean, the consciousness don't prick if one does those with good intentions even if the means are the same. Teaching a child about terrorism and purpose of the war is bad. However, teaching a child about temple, worship and god is good. In either case all one is teaching is just their beliefs. I have not understood good and bad clearly till date. have explored this topic of good and bad, good deeds and bad deeds, good intentions and bad intentions to its death and never found anything that convinced me until I heard Sadhguru talk nd give a different perspective about good and bad.
I guess a more sensible and humane way of making decisions would be to see if an option is for or against life. Life in its utmost generality - not just restricted to human life or a particular species or a particular planet. Any option that favors life, is a better option.
As far as why someone decided to make this film, I have no real clue. The film talks about many problems and suggests, not event attempts to give a solution. Only one thing that I was able to relate to in the whole film is the truth that: for every person that dies, there is a mother that is shedding her tears would have been happier if this was explored and emphasized a lot more in the movie.
Now coming to the title itself: Vishwaroopam - it literally means Universal Form. In Hinduism, lord Vishnu is known to have realized this form and has helped many see this form. The universal form is supposed to encompass the entire Universe - that is, the entire Universe is well within oneself. As to how this relates to the movie, I can only guess. The male lead plays different roles throughout the film... One of a Kathak dance teacher, then shown as a terrorist, then as a person who is foiling the plans of a terrorist and finally as a RAW agent. The title is suggestive of the idea that the male lead contains within himself a wide variety of characters. This sounds very limited though.
As a closing thought, talking about this movie, I can't deny the fact that I was blown away by the presentation, cinematography, music, re-recording, dialogues, comedy and realism in the portrayal. However, the life of the movie - story, was simply not there. In essence, the movie, for me, was a brilliant and engaging presentation of utter trash.