Mersal Review: A thoroughly entertaining festive film!

Mersal Review: A thoroughly entertaining festive film!

After a lot of final minute hurries and commotion, Vijay’s Mersal has finally hit screens today. Thalapathy is teaming up with Atlee after the blockbuster Theri and this time the director has brought a star studded cast and crew. Coming in amidst humongous hype, has Mersal managed to live up to that? Read to know more..

Mersal has a larger than life storyline that is cinematic in every sense. But when a fabulous mass hero like Vijay is in the helm of things, we hardly have any time to think of all that. Vijay is the USP of this movie as he rocks the screen with his performance as a doctor, a stylish magician and an 80s village head.

The actor has pulled off the magician’s role effortlessly and the flashy moves he does is such a treat to watch. In the flashback portions, as the village head, Vijay appears in a different look and mouths the Madurai accent. His introduction scene and the following ‘Aalaporan Tamizhan’ song is one of the major highlights of the film. The movie has a lot of action sequences and the one during the pre-interval block was easily the best.

Mersal does not boast of a novel plot. The basic storyline is something very simple but what has worked tremendously well the movie is its screenplay and Atlee’s skills in commercial filmmaking. The two-film-old director has smartly packaged the movie as a clean commercial entertainer. The screenplay penned by Atlee along with KV Vijayendra Prasad and Ramana Girivasan deserves appreciation. The interesting staging of mass scenes and the slight mystrey in the inital half makes it very engaging for the audience.

Technically, Mersal is easily Atlee’s best film. GK Vishnu’s spectacular cinematography makes one forget that it is first independent work. AR Rahman’s songs became sensational even before the release. His thumping background score in the mass moments elevates certain scenes perfectly.

Atlee’s mentor, director Shankar would feel proud on watching the picturization of Mersal’s songs. All four songs are wonderfully shot and with Vijay’s unmatchable dancing skills, it is a treat for the eyes. However, the staging of these songs were quite strange. Except for the ‘Aalaporan Tamizhan’ song, all the remaining three looked forced in.

On the negative side, one cannot help but notice the duration, which is nearly 170 minutes. The movie could have been a lot more crispier if a few portions from the flashback were edited tightly. Apart from a superb Nithya Menen, the other two heroines – Kajal Aggarwal and Samantha – do not have any scope for performance. Vadivelu in his comeback has done his part well and another notable performer is Kaali Venkat. Despite having some terrific actors like Sathyaraj and SJ Suryah on board, Atlee has not been able to utilize them to their best. From the word go to the very last frame, Mersal is completely a Vijay show.

Overall, Mersal is what a common audience would expect to watch during this festive season with families. There is humour, dance, action, emotions and also a relevant social message. The movie has a blockbuster written all over it. So, its celebration time for Vijay fans!!