Mersal

I watched "Mersal" yesterday. I was very hyped after watching teaser but after seeing the movie I was disappointed. I thought movie will be different but it was a routine revenge film. I loved Vijay's and Atlee's previous collaboration "Theri" it had very strong emotional scenes and it was a good movie. But Mersal was a 2.49 hour mess.

What I liked :-

1. Filming locations. 2. Actress Samantha and VJ off course. 3. Aalaporan Thamizhan song.

What I disliked :-

1. Its length. 2. Routine story !! shown in a different way.

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.

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.

'Atlee' has become a dependable brand with just 2 films 'Raja Rani' and 'Theri',both which were efficiently packed masala entertainers that managed to gain humongous success at the Kollywood box- office.Naturally,the expectations were sky-high from the combo of Vijay and Atlee who were expected to repeat the success of Theri,which I felt was to some extent a slightly better movie altogether on comparison with this much more predictable mass masala entertainer.

An elaborate affair running around 170 minutes,Mersal has all the ingredients that one conjoins with a festival entertainer,heavily relying upon the charisma of Vijay who ensures that the loopholes in the screenplay is overshadowed by his massive screen presence up to a good extent.K.Vijayendra Prasad who's known for his epic mass entertainers like 'Baahubali','Bajrangi Bhaijaan' and 'Samarasimha Reddy' has stick on to the basic formulas of a typical masala flick,the result being an average to above average cinematic experience in a nutshell.

Atlee's pattern of narrative reminded me of his mentor Shankar's 2006 blockbuster 'Shivaji',revamped with plot elements similar to A.R Murugadoss's Vijayakanth starrer 'Ramana'[2002] and a conclusion upon the lines of yet another Murugadoss flick Katthi [2014].The introductory portions of the movie was impressive followed by a slightly weaker 45-50 minutes which luckily ended with a thrilling interval block.The second half holds the flashback portion of 'Thalapathy' which is highly emotional and has moments to connect with the native audience in particular.

The fact that the easily predictable narrative could have been trimmed by at least 15-20 minutes cannot be blanked out and hadn't there been a solid performance by Thalapathy Vijay as the saving grace,the movie could have been rather a mediocre experience altogether.The plethora of hard-hitting punch dialogues added with a good social message towards the end was effective in increasing the emotional connect of the movie.

As mentioned before Vijay was at his awesome best throughout the movie and succeeded in portraying the roles entrusted on him with required perfection.The pick among the female cast was Nithya Menon who shined with an energetic performance.Samantha and Kajal Agarwal didn't have much role to play except for being part in two songs that didn't make any impact in the narrative whatsoever.'Vaigai Puyal' Vadivelu gave an impressive supporting performance .S J Surya's villain role was too stereotypical and lacked necessary detailing.

Songs by maestro A.R.R ranged from mediocre to good with the pick among the songs being 'Aalaporaan Tamizhan' and 'Nee Thaane' that were picturized well by Atlee.The background score of the movie wasn't exceptional but nonetheless decent.Frames by debutante G K Vishnu were catchy and edits by Ruben was fine in general.

Overall,Mersal is a satisfactory festive flick that ensures a paisa vasool one time watch for those who have a taste for masala entertainers.

Just masss . Vijay proves everytime why he is the top star of TN.