Mersal Review: A Mass Diwali gift package from Atlee-Vijay combo for fans
Finally, Thalapathy Vijay starrer Mersal, directed by Atlee, graced the big screens. It was written by Atlee and KV Vijayendra Prasad together and was bankrolled by Thenandal films. Vijay played triple roles in this mass masala entertainer. Kajal Agarwal, Samantha, and Nithya Menon played the female lead characters in this flick and SJ Suriya played the villain in it. It was the second association of Atlee with Vijay after they delivered a blockbuster named Theri last year.
The plot of this flick revolves around 3 characters played by Vijay. Vetri, Maran, and Thalapathy are those 3 characters. Vetri and Maran are brothers and Thalapathy is their father. Vetri is a magician and Maran is a popular doctor who is known for his kindness towards poor people. The film tells a revenge story in the background of the malpractices that have been going on in our medical system, especially in private hospital chains.
First of all, we can check the positive sides of this movie. It has everything in it to please the fans of Vijay and the ones who love mass masala entertainers. It has romance, comedy, high voltage action, thrill and some twists and turns as well. The plot has an emotional content too along with mass elements. Atlee and Vijayendra Prasad had written a decent screenplay and presented it in an impressive manner too. The action blocks were terrific and the way in which the mass sequences were conceived deserve appreciation. Songs from AR Rahman was terrific and same thing applies to the background scoring. GK Vishnu’s visuals were too good and Ruben had done a fabulous job at the editing table, by providing a smooth pace to the movie which is2 hour 50 minutes long.
Vijay’s performance in the movie was terrific. He had played3 different characters with elan. His body language and screen presence were terrific and his energy in action sequences and dance sequences were amazing as well. SJ Suriya also did a fabulous job as Daniel, the antagonist.
Now, there are negatives as well. The first 20 to 25 minutes of the movie was not that gripping and only after that it picks up the pace. In the second half as well, there is a rally of clichés including the scenes in the flashback sequences. I the second half, the plot goes forward on a predictable line too. We can say what is going to happen next and that had pulled down the film a bit. Even though the dialogues were good, at some parts we may feel that even a young and promising director like Atlee can’t stay away from creating dialogues which glorify the hero, only to please the fans.
As usual, heroines have nothing to do in the film apart from dancing in songs. Only Nithya Menon had something to do. An actor like Sathyaraj also got wasted in it by giving him an unimportant character, which could have been handled by anybody.
In total, Mersal is an above average paisa vasool mass entertainer which will not disappoint you, if are a lover of such movies. It has everything in it to make you relax and it is more or less like a Vijay show which will entertain you till the end. Nothing more and nothing less.
