Mersal

I went in for the USA Premiere Show (FDFS) For The Much-Awaited Action Entertainer MERSAL. Oh god, the crowd was unbelievable! Everyone was set for a Diwali Treat:)

Firstly, the screen presence of THALAPATHY VIJAY, was absolutely amazing, for sure Vijay steals the show right from the title-card to the ending of the movie.

His Triple Role : Farmer, Doctor, Magician were all new get ups for Vijay and has he done well with these characters? 100% YES! Right From The "Mersal Arasan" To The Flashback Sequences Of The Leader Farmer, Thalapathy excels!

As Usual, he excels in his romance, dance, comedy and attitudes throughout the film which keep the audience entertained in each way.

The Story by Baahubali Writer "Vijayendra Prasad" was quite different even though it had some elements of an action Marsala film but Atlee's direction of the film keep it unique.

AR Rahman's BGM is merattal masss! He proves his Oscar winning award in Mersal, songs such as Aalaporaan Thamizhan and Neethanae bring out the audience a real taste of Mersal!

SJ Surya as a villain plays his role neatly (look out for his dialogues/scenes in the second half) a perfect suit for the movie - Stylish.

Also, actors such as Vadivelu and Sathyaraj stand out not just for their comedy but for their highly rated emotional scenes which Atlee narrates well. Vadivelu fanatics will leave the cinema with smiles on their faces:)

Heroines play their role superbly in each of Vijays Characters and so do other actors such as Sathyan, Kovai Sarala, Vikram Vedha's "Cheta" etc.

GK Vishnu has fantastic cinematography for a debut, thanks to Atlee for giving him an opportunity to see how perfectly he can do his job! Visuals in Aalaporaan Thamizhan and Many of the magician scenes excel, thalapathy is captured spot on!

Ruben the editor has done his job well, with neat cuts and editing to keep the movie at a smooth pace.

What can I say, a pure Thalapathy Vijay entertainer with high emotional/ mass scenes which will impress the audience of all type. A film for thamizhans to enjoy, so worth the wait? TOTALLY YES, go grab your tickets and have a great Diwali ahead!

9/10

I went to this film after a colleague recommended it. I'll be frank I wasn't fond of the really random dance sequences (as an American they're a bit too random for me, though Mr. Vijay can dance really well) but the film got those out of the way early. I was told a couple things about this film before going in- it is a huge "mass masala" so it fuses many different genres together. And that the actor, Vijay, is an enormous superstar in the Tamil state who the people really adore. As soon as the film started, the audience whistled and cheered at just his name appearing on the screen! And then when he first appears in the film, the audience was overjoyed and so many cheers, I've never been among a crowd like that. It's crazy I hadn't seen a film by Vijay yet but I got chills seeing how much the audience loved him. And throughout the film, it was too easy to see why: spectacular performances as 3 different people, and he nailed them all. Especially the village role, was a terrific and moving performance, he has a huge screen presence and powerful flair about him. I've noticed that the Indian superstars are really a class apart in this, I can see these select few are at that level due to these certain intangibles that have won over the audience, its an trait I don't see in even the biggest of Hollywood actors. Anyway about the actual film's story, the beginning had more comedic elements, I didn't understand some of the jokes, but that's okay because there is tons more to this film. I felt the first female character was completely unnecessary and the second one was acceptable but also not needed. The third actress, however, was GREAT! Nithya Mennon is her name, she and Vijay in the second half brought tears to my eyes repeatedly, I didn't expect to be so moved! I had similar reactions to some really heart-wrenching scenes in the first half as well, the film had lots of emotional power at its core. The film was unique to me in that Vijay's characters stood up so strongly against corruption, malpractices and deception by the medical industry, especially against the poor people- the people who need it the most but end up also losing the most in these scenarios. A new subject for me, handled so well. I'm not aware of what the medical policies for patients in India are like, do people always pay before the treatment or is that just certain types of hospitals? Some questions I would just ask my colleagues on Monday. Another thing was when Vijay's characters said certain dialogues, the crowd cheered and clapped a lot, especially during his speech scenes where he criticizes many injustices in front of large crowds in the film. Not only did the crowd in the film cheer strongly, so did my audience! It was as if I was in the film. And the action!! It was tremendous, lots of intense fight scenes with nice use of wire-work. Every hit by Mr. Vijay felt powerful with lots of emotions to it: these aren't your normal "beat up the bad guys because they're against you" fight scenes but rather they felt like a man who has had to go through so much emotional pain that every punch and kick roared of justice. And wow was the crowd happy and loud during these fights! Wonderful experience really, I laughed, cried and was also really fired up during the film. I'm interested to watch more of Vijay's films now and I will definitely anticipate when his next film releases.

Watched Mersal on First Day !! Ignoring some logical loopholes and the film's length, the film is surely one of the best mass masala entertainer from Vijay and Kollywood in recent times.

Pros: Performances b all characters,Characterization for each and everyone,Cinematography,Action Sequences,Emotional dialogues, Climax,Screenplay(maintained a slow but nice pace),Social Messages,Music and Editing.

Cons: Length and Loopholes

3 hours is a bit too much for any film.There are some logical loopholes but the best part about them is, you will only realize their existence after the film ends.

Cinematography is colorful(giving the tone for the film)and each frame is crystal-clear.It is done by GK.Vishnu.He makes his debut via Mersal.Action Sequences are very good, which includes magic tricks.They are interesting to watch.ARR songs are the best and the BGM is divine at times, esp. emotional scenes . Performances are very good, especially Vijay, Nithya Menen and Kaali Venkat's performances are very good. Kaali Venkat once again proves that he can also do character roles.Social messages in this film are very relevant to the current state of India.They also raise awareness about medical corruption in India.

Final note: Though the film's story is old,it's presentation makes it a treat to watch.TREAT A REAL TREAT TO WATCH !!!!!!

in one sentence i could say Mersal is a visually beautiful and stylish entertainer with relevantsocial message ! Vijay shines his triple roles ; Emotional scenes,Mass scenes he just nailed it <3 film by film he is improving his acting skills n Entertaining Mass Stylish appeal <3 :) <3 in the case of heroines, for me Nithya Menen steals the show ,nice performance and dialogue delivery ,other Kajal and Samantha just did OK,small roles.

villein role is safe with S J Suryah ,nothing big to perform,still good direction by Atlee kumar is almost good ,mixture of commercial and social message together ;done well,he just fall behind in terms of execution and convincing area- just little bit.

long running time ,lack of convincing,unnecessary scenes- two songs in the first half is doesn't needed but good ones over all mersal is full of Entertainment ,Magical scenes,excellent Cinematography ,,especially in song scenes- composition by A.R. Rahman and beautiful Picturization by Atlee gave me Goosebumps, this film is a treat for Vijay fans and good entertainer for the audience! BLOCKBUSTER loading!

Have to say that, this is possibly one of the greatest Vijay's movie, I have ever watched. Great performance by Vijay! I love the Magic he creates and his new Murrukku Meesai. Atlee never fails to entertain, whether it is Theri or Mersal. He is the next Shankar. G.K.Vishnu cinematography is top standard. Can't believe it's his 1st movie! Music and BGM were awesome. Love the experimentation which A.R.Rahman created. Nithya Menon and S.J.Suryah gave solid performance. Vadivelu comedy made us laugh and was great to see the Vijay-Vadivelu combo. Samantha, Kajal and Sathyaraj had small roles but were quite important in parts. Ruben gives perfect editing cuts. I appreciate the whole team for the excellent effort they have put in. Overall, a well crafted entertaining movie by Atlee which is boosted by Vijay's screen presence.