Terror on silver screen

I’ve just been to the much awaited Tamil movie with family- Unnaipol Oruvan.
While this Kamal Hasan’s version of the Hindi original A Wednesday, stays faithful to it barring a few scenes, there are some differences as well…

Unnaipol Oruvan is taut and engaging and boasts of sterling performances by Kamal and Mohanlal, though I would think Naseeruddin Shah was more intense and plausible as the ‘common man’, than the underplaying Celebrity actor that Kamal is.
Yes, it is hard to believe Kamal Hasan who has been lighting up the silver screen for 5 decades now, as ‘just one of us’ , though he wears a non descript shirt and pants without makeup.( That’s quite a break from his routine, I mean the ‘make-up’ part!!).

As for the ‘stupid common man’ as he claims himself to be is concerned, you or me wouldn’t be a ‘Communications expert’ who can scramble Police networks, make our cell-phone locations untraceable and can match wits with a computer hacker…
Hell, I could shiver with fright, just imagining talking to the Police commissioner of my City!

Nor would I or you know how to make bombs merely by ‘googling’ nor park a bomb laden jeep right by the runway of an airstrip!
We would find this all quite uncommon to do, especially with a bag laden with tomatoes and drumsticks in the other hand.

So, he is then a very bright , net savvy common man, but that is still fine.. So was Naseeruddin Shah in the original, so that’s not a big change in the remake.

But I could never figure out why he had to plant bulky black bags slyly in trains and malls all over the City and we are simply told at the end that ‘they were all empty and none had bombs’ …Kind of self-defeating exercise , especially when no one finds them in the end either. And the Director keeps you confused by repeatedly showing the Train bogie with the cop’s wife and child as if there was some big peril right above their heads…Talk of Red herrings!

But it is really the stout Mohanlal here who really betters the bald-headed Anupam Kher of the Hindi one.. This man has wonderful screen presence and is a pleasure to watch in the expressions department…
Ganesh Venaktraman who plays toughie cop Arif is damned good find too.

Shruti Hasan in maiden outing as a music director goes ‘bang bang’ rock music throughout, apart from it there is a song that goes ‘allah jaane allah’ etc sung by Kamal.

Go watch it , for Kamal has given us , the common men, a two hour glory and heroism in the face of death dance of Terrorism ..

My rating : 3.5/ 5.