Vismayam Malayalam Movie
Chandra Sekhar Yeleti's 'Vismayam' should strike the right chord with the Telugu audience, while it's precisely this alien cultural setting that is likely to distance it from its other language viewers. It remains without saying however that 'Vismayam' is a film with oodles of good will and intentions behind it that partly get transacted on to the screen.
Sairam (Mohanlal) is a Malayali settled in Hyderabad who tries hard to make both ends meet with his job at a local super market. When his manager decided to resign, Sairam sees the opportunity of a promotion, but also realizes that he is likely to lose out to a colleague with an MBA degree and decent English speaking skills. Left with no alternative, Sairam devises a plan to keep his adversary away from the interview, with devastating consequences.
Gayatri (Gauthami) is a housewife with very moderate dreams, whose life goes for a toss when her former professor re-enters her life with an outstanding job offer that she simply cannot refuse. In another corner of the town, Abhi (Viswanth) has just discovered love, and gives up everything that he holds dear to, to win over Aira (Anisha Ambrose), the woman of his dreams. And last but certainly not the least, there is Mahitha (Raina Rao), a sprightly young girl with a heart of gold, who develops a warm relationship with a street kid whom she meets on her way to school.
The multi storied narrative structure that it adopts isn't one that is unattempted in Malayalam cinema, and there have been similar cinematic experiments of late, some of which have turned out to be extremely noteworthy and successful. The focus therefore invariably falls on the thematic content of these four diverse tales, rather than its structural design.
It's more of a mixed bag when it comes to the themes depicted in the four stories, with the one on Sairam and his dreadful dilemma leading the pack. There is an intensity to this tale that isn't perceptible in the other three, though finishing a very close second is the tale on Mahitha's travails to rescue a hapless soul. There is something amiss in the other two tales, and while Gayatri and her interactions with her teacher appear tremendously superficial, its Abhi and his inflated romantic saga that unwittingly lays down the anchor on an otherwise smooth sailing vessel.
The best part of 'Vismayam' is without doubt its climax, when the film maker cleverly knits all these four tales into a single whole, putting the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle all finely into place. It's a wonderful final picture to look at, but one that outwardly proclaims all the deliberate efforts that have gone into its laborious making. There are the many unanswered questions on the several instances that defy logic as well.
'Vismayam' belongs to Mohanlal, who despite sharing screen space and time with a host of other actors, displays shades galore of that adorable actor whom we are so much in awe of. If there are two actors who come even remotely close, it's Raina Rao - the young girl who delivers a magical feat - and the very young actor who plays Veeru, the adorable street kid. There is also Urvasi, who brings the house down with her remarkable sense of humour and comic timing on at least a couple of occasions.
'Vismayam' is a cautiously crafted yarn that wobbly moves towards a purposely structured finale. It isn't an exceptionally hard film to sit through, but the magic is unfortunately confined to its title alone!