VEERAM (MALAYALAM) MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

'Veeram' is touted to be director Jayaraj's masterstroke, set in the backdrop of thirteenth century Kerala. Made with a mammoth budget of around 35 crore rupees, Veeram is a tri-lingual that explores the similarities between one of William Shakespeare's most popular plays Macbeth and the story of Chandu, an infamous Kerala folkloric warrior. The movie found a place in the list of films to contend for the best picture at the Oscars and the composition 'We will rise' too succeeded in getting an Oscar nomination.

Veeram is the fifth addition to Jayaraj's series of films based on Navarasa, the nine moods. The film has a strong technical team including Hollywood technicians like Allan Poppleton (action choreographer known for the his work in 300, Hunger Games, Avatar and Lord of Rings), Trefor Proud (Oscar and Emmy award winning makeup artist), Jeff Rona (music director of Phantom, Traffic and Prince of Egypt) and Jeff Olm (colorist and compositor of movies like Monsters vs Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, Titanic and Spiderman).

Veeram can either be considered a well made Malayalam epic historical drama or an average international film. The dialogues have been written excellently and the dialect and the delivery style have touched high levels of perfection. If Jayaraj had brought out his best in screenplay and direction, the movie would have resulted in becoming a masterpiece. Sadly, now it is left with an incompleteness that pulls the movie down from the greatness the effort deserves.

Cinematography by S Kumar brings to life the colors, the costumes, the body paints and tattoos which when combined with the soundtrack that has orchestral combinations of traditional folk music, takes one into 13th century North Malabar.

Chekavar is a legendary character who engages in combat to settle disputes between lords. Kalaripayattu, the traditional martial art of Kerala is an indispensable part of any story that tells the life of a chekavar and this is where Veeram fails to make a mark. Kalari is all about being swift in one's movement, but the stunt scenes performed by the lead artists lack grace. Almost all the action sequences look less like real combats and more like dressed rehearsals. Other than the close-up shots, it lacks the quality an international film demands.

The computer graphics are of top quality throughout the movie, excluding in some scenes where the central character hallucinates.

Kunal Kapoor delivers a decent, but not a flawless performance as Chandu Chekavar. He succeeds in enacting the different emotions like love, greed, guilt that the character goes through, with bruises. Shivajith Nambiar, Himarsha Venkatsamy and Divinaa Thackur play the roles of Aromal Chekavar, Unniyarcha and Kuttymani to perfection. The lip sync fails are evident during close up shots of almost all the non-Malayali star cast.

Veeram, is a very beautiful depiction of Kerala's culture and also about the almost forgotten martial art Kalaripayattu.