Vishwaroopam 2, Kamal Haasan’s inglorious swan song, is likely to lose a minimum of Rs 25-30 crore for its distributors, Reliance Entertainment. Sources say that the Kamal Haasan-produced anti-terror espionage thriller has proven to be a mission impossible for its distributors.
Reliance apparently bought the film off Kamal Haasan as a premium product after the actor personally requested them to help him out with the financially troubled project. “Reliance took on the project in faith. They were not allowed to see a single frame. Nor were they invited to make suggestions. It was presumed that Vishwaroopam 2 would live up to the reputation of the first part released in 2013. However, the sequel turned out to be a cut-and-paste version with some footage repeated from the first part,” says a source in the know.
Most critics and viewers have also dismissed the film as chaotic, incoherent and indecipherable. Even the staunchest of Kamal Haasan fans have found it hard to sit through the muddled mix of mayhem and nationalism rendered even more unpalatable by the actor-director’s overwhelming narcissism.
Quite literally, the film has Kamal Haasan in every frame, reducing even the legendary Waheeda Rehman to a mere prop.
A personnel from a leading multiplex chain says, “This week’s box-office leader is the Hollywood shark-shocker, The Meg. We have it in as many languages as Vishwaroopam 2. But audiences clearly prefer the Jaws rip-off to the shoddy Indian version of Mission Impossible.”
The collections of Vishwaroopam 2 pretty much sum it up. Says a trade analyst, “Vishwaroopam in 2013 was no great shakes at the box-office, but all the controversy helped generate some curiosity at least. This time, there is nothing to bring audiences into the theatres. The collections are extremely pitiable.”
HT03
