Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/viswasam-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan-ajith-siva-nayanthara/
The new Siva-Ajith Kumar collaboration, Viswasam (Loyalty), begins with the expected hero-introduction scene. The Collector of Theni district is trying to make peace between two parties. The name Thookudurai is mentioned and we cut to the outside, to glimpses of the man. A hand on the steering wheel of a car. A beard with more white than black. The back of the head as he stands up and salutes the gathering. The foot, as he strides into the site of the dispute. We then hear his voice. Now, we get the knuckles of a hand, that rests in reassurance on a man’s shoulder. And finally, the face. I keep thinking they’re going to run out of body parts to zoom into while building up to the face reveal — though the knuckles are a nice touch. (A future film might give us fingernails, or ooh, an earlobe.) I resigned myself to more of the same-old, same-old. I thought this would be yet another stretch of endless hero-glorification. I was pleasantly surprised.
Yes, Viswasam is about the hero, and he does get glorified — but not in the ways you expect. Amidst all the action mayhem, this is a Sultan-like drama about a husband who makes a mistake and atones in his own brawny way. After the scene with the Collector, we move to a festival, where Thookudurai’s grandmother tells him that she’s not fooled by his smiles. She knows that deep down, he’s sad. “Sirippum sandhoshamum vera,” she says, in one of the many nice bits of dialogue, the highlight being a terrific exchange between Thookudurai and his wife, Niranjana (Nayanthara, perfectly cast), in a hospital. But first, we have to wait out the meet-cute. She’s a doctor from Mumbai, and she falls for his ability to beat ten people up at the same time. Plus, she admits he’s dishy, a line that’s clearly mandatory in every one of this hero’s outings.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Srinivas R
January 11, 2019
BR – you have won yourself a few Ajith fans for sure 🙂 That aside, a very satisfying review, it’s nice when a critic makes an effort to explain why exactly he likes the movie rather than generic “this is a good entertainer” kind of stuff.
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brangan
January 11, 2019
And now, people are using this review on Twitter to claim I’m saying the Ajith film >> the Rajini one 🙄
Aargh!!!
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Voldemort
January 11, 2019
A future film might give us fingernails, or ooh, an earlobe
They’ve already given us that, BR, how could you forget? A lot of times, before showing her face, a heroine’s earlobe (albeit, with a jhumka dangling), bindi, bangles, hair, etc are first shown. 😛
And now, people are using this review on Twitter to claim I’m saying the Ajith film >> the Rajini one 🙄
LOL😂😂 Do they bother to read at least the first few lines of the reviews? They probably decide only seeing the titles of the review, and jump to conclusions to bash you.
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Srinivas R
January 11, 2019
BR- That’s the nature of the beast, duck till social media get’s it’s new toy ….. in a couple of hours.
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Kay
January 11, 2019
I can’t wait for the 3 stars vs 2.5 stars and other such responses for this and Pettai’s reviews. Popcorn
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shaviswa
January 11, 2019
Eppadi sir ungalala Ajith film paarkka mudiyarthu? I stopped watching his films long ago. I think after Mangaatha. Nowadays I cannot even watch an old Ajith movie on the telly. I am that scarred.
I guess this also is part of professional risk.
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Deepa
January 11, 2019
It’s less expectation , so satisfactory (Viswa sam) , great expectation , less satisfied as Subbaraj’s fan… Come on Br. Somewhere convincing part of the ratings isn’t satisfactory. Anyway would watch both.
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Sri Prabhuram
January 11, 2019
Hardcore fans will keep doing this to show who is better. They won’t care about why you say that this film is better than that film.
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shaviswa
January 11, 2019
IMO you should not give star ratings. It is not possible to give a complete picture. And people interpret these in different ways.
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Srinivas R
January 11, 2019
@ Sri Prabhuram – I don’t think he is even saying this is better than that. I blame the star rating for the confusion.
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Aadhy
January 11, 2019
Viswasam was just Ajith trying to tell people he can be a good dad, like another actor trying to convince people he can be a good CM by doing oruviral puratchi . I guess I would take the former over the latter, even if it means having to sit through some excruciating melodrama, painful attempts at humor, dance moves lifted from a Ramraj vettikattu advertisement, a one-note Nayantara and the ever-annoying Tambi Ramiah. Ajith’s ”pangaaligala” , “Injyaarra” and other attempts at Madurai slang was like Amy Jackson’s “Enna ba Lingesa” Madras basha attempt in I, so much cringe. But I was quite relieved that he spared us from any half-baked political propaganda. I also liked that they didn’t have a full blown climax showdown with the corporate criminals, but rather a surprisingly sweet finale, very in-line with the tone of the movie. It’s very soapy, but felt appropriate for this kind of movie. I’m also quite surprised Cheetah Siva can write textured heroine parts. Niranjana’s reason to part ways with husband feels like an overreaction, because this is indeed the same person she fell in love with. But it also feels appropriate when we think of what she had to sacrifice to raise this kid. The frustration that she couldn’t do what she wanted to, would have built up to this moment. When Thookudurai visits her later, she doesn’t treat him like shit. Their exchanges are muted and happen with the discomfort that things could’ve been better. If only the movie had better lead actors, and done away with half the useless supporting actors, it could’ve been a well made masala movie with a moving family-drama at the core. .
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Ramesh
January 11, 2019
@Shaviswa…..even after all these years the guy looks so wooden/plastic
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vijay vasan
January 11, 2019
I totally agreed with BR’s review of both the recent movies. With Karthik Subbaraj’s body of work and the tropes that he usually uses (like a 3 part movie, genre shift, poetic justice, writing a complete story for every major characters, etc.) Petta fell short in more than one ways. Karthik did do a great job at rajinifying the audience with nostalgia, believe me, but he fell short on his prowess. Also undersold Vijay Sethupathi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Too many incomplete plots and a throw away twist of twists in the climax too.
Now with Siruthai Siva’s body of work so far and the tropes that he uses (like unnecessary/overt deification of the hero, cringey comedy, saponific sentimental scenes, etc.) Viswasam was a delightful surprise. Ajith’s comedy timing worked big time for me (which never has, except Vaali maybe) and Jagapathi Babu was used adequately as he should be (much better than in Linga or Bairavaa). Also Imman’s music was just right. It was a movie small in scope but large at heart for me.
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The Ghost Who Walks
January 11, 2019
“Viswasam”… With this pretty decent action-drama, Siva finally repays Ajith’s faith in him
Don’t you mean to say, Siva has shown his Viswasam..
I’ll see myself out..
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Kanaiyazhini
January 11, 2019
Okay. Then maybe skip the ratings altogether!
In nearly every case, the reader is going to read/check out the movies with the HIGHER ratings FIRST, regardless of whether the damn stars are meant to be ONLY for what THAT PARTICULAR film/movie sets out to do. That’s why you have a database and stars for every film, and a “quick-gun rangan” version for the dimwits who’d rather subject you to camera scrutiny than experience what you do best, which is write!
To really segregate the better films, isn’t it? And not just to give your ideas a tangible form in A SET OF STARS!
For an audience to know where to spend their time and money, and it is a rat race “every week” and madness on a Pongal holiday. SO.
When two big-star films release on the same date with equal frenzy for both and reviews are out for the same, one after another, it’s rather fucking dumb that you ask us to ignore those stars WHICH CONCLUDE EVERY FUCKING REVIEW.
Coz stars = Number = Next review oda number = C O M P A R I S O N.
Also, bear with me.
Long time readers like us are not going anywhere, we’re going to read the whole review regardless and decide for ourselves, but your audience base is constantly expanding!
The problem isn’t JUST “2.5 vs 3STARS” boss! It’s that your review for say, Solo and Petta feel like “3 star reviews” in the way that you lead us to your “WHY” a film-making decision works and why it doesn’t. And you do it beautifully.
And THEN not only do you shortchange your own words by cutting out that half or one star, and SUBSEQUENTLY tell us that the stars don’t matter, you’re also doing “the more interesting, complex, experimental films that make you grapple with your feelings and understanding of the medium” that you clearly love exploring – TOTAL INJUSTICE by rating something way more accessible and straight-forward like Viswasam with a 3.
In the current viewing climate:
it doesn’t affect a Petta with Rajini, YES.
But a “Savarakathi” or “Thaara Thappatta” will never find it’s footing, if it released along with Viswasam with a higher star. That’s really the problem here.
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KaaviyaThalagani
January 11, 2019
Any rating system has parameters that are subjective and absolute.
When you rate the film as a whole, ofc your audience is going to think the 3star film is better in your opinion
All explanations of expectation-meeting etc sound lame.
Come on, boss. Don’t ignore the obvious.
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brangan
January 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/Dostoyevesque/status/1083795895710142465
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brangan
January 12, 2019
@Dostoyevesque’s tweet above is exactly my POV.
Over the weekend, will try and put up my ‘logic’ in how I give ratings.
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Aravindan R (@rnadnivara)
January 12, 2019
Long time readers like me may ignore the ratings and go by the content. For others, it would be helpful to do one or more of these:
Explain the overall ‘logic’ behind your rating.
In the beginning of each review, mention what you think THIS film sets out to do.
At the end of review, give “exceeded what it sets out to do”, “fulfilled what it sets out to do”, “failed to fulfill what it sets out to do”.
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V
January 12, 2019
Blue Sattai has also made a similar conclusion vis-a-vis Petta & Viswasam. And man, he is getting pounded in the comments section by the fans of BOTH the stars. Rajni fans are wild as (obviously) he did not share their euphoria & infact, used pretty strong words about the second half. Aana indha Ajith fans design dhaan puriyave illa! Blue sattai has actually been very mild in his criticism about Viswasam & in fact concluded saying that the audience comes out with a good feel at the end of the film & eventually that is what would count. This is like Oscar & Golden Globe for Viswasam!
Both these films are going to get a smashing first week (or 10 days) thanks to the Pongal holidays. These reviews and stars wont count at all. (Though I agree with the commenter who mentioned how a Savarakkathi would be unfairly held up against a 3* Viswasam in future)
However Ajith’s Viswasam holds an edge as Rajni has been in 3 movies in the last 6-7 months, which is a first for him in a long long time. And Ajith’s back in business after a long gap + he is doing the film to support his Producers (that too none less than THE Satyajothi films!) + He has given a chance to Cheetah Siva though there was a huge outrage among his fans after Vivegam (nalla manasu sir).
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Odiyan - Sreekumar Menon ain't got no shame
January 12, 2019
Aravindan R said, “Explain the overall ‘logic’ behind your rating.
In the beginning of each review, mention what you think THIS film sets out to do.
At the end of review, give “exceeded what it sets out to do”, “fulfilled what it sets out to do”, “failed to fulfill what it sets out to do”.”
^^ Brangan Sir’s situation reminds me of a time back in school when I solved a math problem correctly but was denied the full marks cause I had skipped an easy step that I had done in my mind and hence thereon I used to write even the most obvious steps in my answer sheets fearing the teacher might reduce my marks otherwise…
The above comment is asking Brangan sir to not be true to his core…like asking pa Ranjith to remake aaram thamburan, like asking ar muragadoss to not copy, like asking sj Surya to not be misogynistic, like asking vetrimaaran to add extra fight scenes and songs in a movie, like asking Shankar to not almost bankrupt his producer with every movie he does…
I really don’t understand why people who don’t understand Brangan Sir’s deeply personal ‘bleeding onto paper’ style reviews/writings even bother to read them…
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Odiyan - Sreekumar Menon ain't got no shame
January 12, 2019
V said, “Though I agree with the commenter who mentioned how a Savarakkathi would be unfairly held up against a 3* Viswasam in future”
^^ If someone does that it just means that person doesn’t know Brangan Sir’s writing well enough…and the comparison of ratings of diff movies doesn’t work for even cracker biscuit critics like Anupama Chopra and Rajeev Masand, let alone a premium cookie critic like Brangan Sir
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Amit Joki
January 12, 2019
Ratings are a scalar quantity and will be taken on its face value by viewers.
Let BR do what he does best. He is a reviewer in a conventional sense. His star rating is opinioated as is his review but we do come here to read his opinion but the common folks don’t.
I, for one, will watch Petta every day and every time over Viswasam. So for me Petta will always be a better film.
Reviews are by nature opinioated but ratings are scalar and have to be plain objective. BR’s ratings are subjectively objective and that’s the problem.
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Amit Joki
January 12, 2019
For example: Petta might have had a 100 potential and say it scored 60. And let’s say Viswasam had a 60 potential and scored 40, now according to how BR rates (or how I think he rates), he rates Petta as 60 / 100 and Viswasam as 40 / 60.
Now, Viswasam’s 40/60 > 60/100 as it is, but what people really want to see is that Petta’s 60 is greater than Viswasam’s 40. Because that gives the overall picture.
People are interested in what they get instead of what they could’ve gotten and in that aspect I think Petta outperforms Viswasam and the ratings should have been reflective of that.
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Ramesh
January 12, 2019
Today an Ajith-Rajini film is seen as a “clash of titans”… a clear indication that Rajini has fallen from that pedestal..and its time to call it quits.. It seems Rajini is becoming like a Kapil..as kids we watched them in awe and towards the end we were embarrassed that they were still hanging around
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brangan
January 12, 2019
People seem to think my review of Viswasam is based on my low expectations. That is NOT the case. It is true I walked in with not-great expectations, but the film does deliver on several aspects. This thought process is reflected in my review.
at first, I thought the reason I was responding so positively to the film was my low expectation…. But once Thookudurai and Niranjana get married, and then separated, the film becomes strong on its own terms.
And I explain all these things that really worked for me.
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Srinivas R
January 12, 2019
The fact that Ajith gets good opening till date for all his movies is a sign how big a star he is and also how bad popular taste is in TN.
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shaviswa
January 12, 2019
@Srinivas R
The bad taste in TN has been cultivated over several decades. It is now part of the culture.
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Honest Raj
January 12, 2019
Aadhy: Ajith’s ”pangaaligala” , “Injyaarra” and other attempts at Madurai slang was like Amy Jackson’s “Enna ba Lingesa” Madras basha attempt in I, so much cringe.
LOL. For some reason, I get reminded of Sathyaraj’s spoof on Citizen (from Mahanadigan): “Kuyilu, idhu oru karuppu sarithram”.
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Vignesh
January 12, 2019
Sir can you post AskBR with UTTAMA VILLAIN movie?
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screenplayFTW
January 13, 2019
To the fanbase trying to vent/score a point: Get out, please.
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brangan
January 27, 2019
Putting this up here, because the Petta thread already has 100+ comments…
Analysing the feudal, casteist masculinity portrayed in Viswasam, Petta
http://www.sify.com/movies/analysing-the-feudal-casteist-masculinity-portrayed-in-viswasam-petta-news-tamil-tbypbxgbahjdb.html
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Isai
January 27, 2019
Sharing my thoughts about the Sify article:
I will move to para 6 since the first 5 paras are. only the judgements expressed by the writer and do not state any facts –
“In Viswasam and Petta, a masculine, protective, successful and vengeful fatherhood is portrayed as the ideal”
I will speak about Viswasam alone. I don’t understand what problem the writer has with a father who is successful and/or protective. I don’t think Ajith was vengeful since he doesn’t attempt to vanquish the villain but instead tries to make him understand about good parenting. The ‘masculinity’ is not portrayed as an ideal since Ajith is separated from his wife and daughter for a decade solely due to his (hyper) masculine behavior.
“In Viswasam, Ajith, the uneducated feudal lord who rules and reigns over the village and its whereabouts, is further privileged with the woman who is a fair, cosmetically fashioned, luxuriously dressed doctor”
Having a woman who is fair is a privilege? At this point, I checked to see if the writer is a man.. “Cosmetically fashioned, luxuriously dressed”.. being uneducated and feudal doesn’t mean that one cannot dress luxuriously, especially if one has the financial wherewithal. “Doctor” seems a bit unrealistic.. an MBBS doesn’t make much nowadays, as compared to a rice mill owner.. but a doctor from Mumbai wanting to live in Ajith’s village seems a bit stretched… it is a cinematic liberty taken so that the second half can seamlessly shift to Mumbai..
“both the movies subtly project the Dalits and their weapon (the parai) of resistance and tools of celebrations as subordinate to the vigorous command of the elite, feudal caste hero.” “The focus of the camera is on the hero and Ajith loudly and vigorously asks the parai artists to play the parai even more effectively.”
Parai is considered as one of the symbols of Tamil (and not just dalit) culture
and was historically used for many purposes. But later it got restricted to funerals and hence became exclusive to Dalits. Many people (like Budhar Kalai Kuzhu) are trying to change this by getting the parai played at happier occassions and by all sections of people: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parai
In this context, Viswasam is only helping this by reinforcing the image that it is good to play parai during happy occasions too. Regarding the hero speaking loudly to the Artist, that happens normally when you are standing at a distance from the artist and it happens to all sorts of ‘Play on demand’ musicians whether it is a Nadhaswaram player or a band procession or a DJ.
I don’t understand why the macho maleness is a problem only when it is displayed by a hero ‘seemingly’ belonging to the dominant caste. In Kaala, during the interval scene, Rajini creates a roadblock so that Nana can’t leave Dharavi..this serves no purpose except to show Nana (or the Audience), the hero’s macho maleness. Again, in Kaala, the hero gets the ‘privilege’ of a ‘very fair, well educated, globe trotting’ ex-lover pining for him while he also simultaneously gets to romance his ‘Thangaselai’ wife.
I am all for moving away from this projection of macho maleness in top heroes’ movies. But, I find it hypocritical when you find it worth celebrating when the hero is projected as belonging to one caste while considering it as demeaning when he belongs to the others. After all, in movies like Viswasam, the villain is also shown to be from a similar socio-economic background as the hero whereas in movies like Kaala, the villain is clearly shown as belonging to other castes. One can’t decry movies like Viswasam while praising Kaala.
In short, the article seeks to stoke the insecurities of the oppressed classes by projecting that in the current (Hindu) society, only the dominant castes will have all the ‘privileges’ and the others will continue to get oppressed. No wonder, the writer of the article is ‘Reverend’ Immanuel Nehemiah.
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Srinivas R
January 27, 2019
I share some of the concerns about hyper masculine nature of mass heroes but I haven’t grasped the casteist interpretation mentioned in the article.
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anon
February 25, 2019
Caught bits and pieces of Viswasam on Prime. I see that mainstream Tamil films have moved on from having only one hero introduction shot to having one everytime the hero walks into frame. Great progress.
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anon
February 25, 2019
I was v grateful however for the lack of taming of the shrew
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Amit Joki
March 3, 2019
I take my word back. Viswasam was a more satisfying movie now that I’ve watched it. If Petta had half the emotional beats of Viswasam, it would have come close to Baasha.
I don’t know, the first half, when viewed within the film’s context, makes sense. It is with that half we know that Thookudurai is a man capable of beating the people to pulp. But since, it has become the norm, we take it for granted and see it as unnecessary, but this just might be Siva’s way of giving reason to how Ajith bashes the goons single handedly in the second half.
And, technically, the frames were rich, all the scenes with Thookudurai’s guilt knawing at him / Niranjana’s adamant boycotting of Thookudurai were especially brilliant.
The finale, when she knows he’s her dad and when calls him ‘appa’, I moistened up a bit. Ajith was good but Anikha was better. Anikha is a solid actor, Kerala has something, no? Most of their actresses strike a wonderful balance between beauty and acting. It is God’s own country after all 🙂
Overall, I now understand why Viswasam is a 3.0 and Petta is 2.5 and the ratings are totally deserved.
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The Lowly Laureate
March 6, 2019
Hi BR, seems I am late to the Viswasam party thanks to amazon prime; but I still have some Veeram left to plug my review of the same; I agree on more accounts than one that this a much better Ajith film- i have chosen to see it from Siva’s angle (yikes)
For starters Vivegam was intended as an international spy thriller for local audience- the end result (umm the movie) and many click-bait interview videos made me come to the conclusion that Siva really likes hollywood films, but couldn’t really make it as he intended. The balance was missing, his star too could not be compromised.
Here in Viswasam he goes back to his well oiled veeram template but also infuses some hollywood like set pieces and themes (all the action blocks were amazing), at times during this film I thought this could really be a 99th version of Liam Neeson protecting his daughter film and if some euro producer watches it in Berlinale(umm) he could option for rights!
Siva has done it, he has made a tamil masala film for international audience, but wait that could be high praise? Nevermind
#SivaRox
For more such pondering: https://lowlylaureate.wordpress.com/2019/03/01/viswasam-run-swetha-run/
Nandri heigh
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Thupparivaalan
March 29, 2019
I’m very late to both the movie and this thread, and Aadhi’s comment made me go rofl.
Lately I haven’t liked movies with gritty and realistic portrayals, and have found myself more at home with campy, cheesy feel good films. Too much of nihlism and cynicism have made me averse to certain films, and I found Viswasam pretty enjoyable, despite it’s cringe worthiness.
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