Virasat

Virasaat is by far the most superior Bollywood film of 1997.Virasaat being the official reamke of "THEVAR MAGAN" comaprison with the original is inevitable.After minutely watching both Thevar Magan & Virassat I can safely conclude both Anil Kapoor & Tabbu outscores Legendary Kamal Hassan & Revathy respectively.Anil Kapoor is more restrained than kamal Hassan in his depiction of shakti Thakur.Tabbu delivers one of her finest performance which is simply outstanding.Amrish puri is superb in the role of old village patriarch.Pooja Batra is decent.Even in 2015 the performance of Mr.Kapoor looks relevant and praiseworthy.When virasaat released there was hardly any actor to match versatility of Anil Kapoor who simply carries the entire film on his shoulder ably bolstered by a brilliant Tabbu.

The movie Virasat is a remake of the tamil movie Thevar Magan, which starred the legendary Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Hassan. While Thevar Magan was an excellent movie with brilliantly etched characters and situations, and superb performances from all the actors (a rarity in most movies), Virasat gave me a feeling of being incomplete. True, it is impossible to match Kamal Hassan and Sivaji Ganesan for their acting capabilities, but Anil Kapoor comes no where close to Kamal Hassan. He completely lacks the grace that Kamal brings to the screen. All the other actors have put in average performances. A few changes (minor) have been made to the original to create it in Hindi, but the effect of the typical rural setting in Tamil Nadu to the movie as a whole goes missing. The adaptation could have been handled better. Without any comparisons, Virasat can be termed as a good movie that could have been made a little better, but juxtaposed with Thevar Magar, it comes a cropper. Watching Thevar Magan (even with subtitles) will leave you feeling more satisfied than Virasat.

Priyadarshan makes amazing movies. An interesting drama told nicely. Anil Kapoor, Tabu and Pooja Batra are excellent. Music too nice. Shows life village in India and conflicts.

What worked: -a beautiful setting, a peek into rural India

• powerful screenplay and storytelling
• great performances by the lead; Late Puri and Anil Kapoor. Tabu stole the show.

What did not work:

• songs are well choreographed but can be reduced or taken out
• I would have been pleased with alternate endings, with some legacy possibilities

Final verdict: Recommended

Excellent direction by Priyadarshan. Good all around acting especially Amrish Puri, Tabu and Anil Kapoor Movie brings out the realities of rural India and consequences of caste code violations.