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 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

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

'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.

Vijay's recent films a mixed bag, with a lot of good ones and a lot of extremely bad ones, but Mersal might stand out from this crowd as being almost entirely different from what he usually plays.

From his beautiful portrayal of the three roles that he suits up to his astounding screen presence, Vijay is a sure bet in any film. From a simple Farmer to a Magician, Vijay essays all his characters in style. AR Rahmaan's music was good, considering that he is one of the finest music directors in India, it's a kind of a let down for him. All the Heroines( Kajal, Samantha and Nithya ) essayed their roles perfectly, with almost no attachment that we feel to each character (pun intended). All the other roles were superbly done, especially by Sathyaraj and Kovai Sarala.

The Cinematography By GK Vishnu was not up to par, considering that Atlee usually pairs up with George C. Williams in the matter of cinematography. George knows how Atlee wants his film to be, where Vishnu fails miserable. Although he was able to scrap up a decent Masala-type atmosphere in every shot.

Vijayendra Prasad's story might have been the main attraction, considering that he wrote Baahubali, VP's script was lacking the need to explore different concepts, one thing he might have missed out. In a nutshell, the story is quite OK, just not into it.

From a seemingly OK 1st Half, the film stretches into a great Mass masala film. SJ Surya has done a exemplar job as the villain, providing Nail biting dialogues as well as a terrific job of acting out the ' Villain ' Scenes.

In short, Mersal is nothing more of a Mass Masala Flick ; the type that every Tamilian might have seen before.

Watch it for the Mass And Not For The Content.

My rating - 7.1 / 10