Sarvam Review!

Sarvam, directed by Vishnuvardhan stars Arya and Trisha, is a story built with a simple idea. The music is played by Yuvan Shankar Raja and the film is produced by Ayngaran International. It’s about three people whose lives take a drastic turn in a flash. Yes, life can change in a flash, but what is more important is how we deal with the change. There are some who drown themselves into sorrow and self pity while there are others who look at what remains and try to find happiness. Sarvam shows the clash of wills of two people who deal in different ways to the losses they faced in their life.

Karthik is a young successful architect. Tall, handsome and charming, he seems to have everything going for him in life. Then he meets Sandhya, a girl who sets violins playing in his heart. He decides that she is the girl for him. But, deciding is the easy part, wooing her is not as easy as he imagined. She is not just a beautiful girl who will fall easily to the charms of a young man. She is a doctor in one of the city’s top hospitals and Karthik becomes a regular visitor, making all kinds of efforts to woo his love. You can sense the relationship growing. Eventually, it is a romance that never was destined to be.

Director Vishnuvardhan had said that the movie is actually two movies in one. Yes, he is true to his word. Sarvam really does feel like two movies in one. But, does the double impact work? Basically, Sarvam is a thriller and unfortunately it does not grip us in a manner that a thriller should. It would be better to analyze the movie as two separate halves. The first is light, breezy and romantic; quite uncharacteristic of a Vishnuvardhan film of recent times. The lead pair, Arya and Trisha for the first time on screen, has got some excellent chemistry. Though there is not much comedy, there are moments of humor.

The second half is a chase for most parts. But, the chase does not engage you. The scenes which show the bonding between Karthik and the young boy do not work as intended. The Rottweiler which was talked about a lot appears wasted. It would be right to say that it was overused and hence the impact that it would have had gets heavily diluted. Action sequences do not get the adrenaline going, the excitement is low.

At a point, Arya is scarred with a knife dipped in poison. One might think that it would go on to have a big impact in the movie but fizzles out into nothingness. It all seems contrived to driving the final few frames into a haunted looking run down church in the middle of the jungle. And, importantly, the climax seems hurried and fails to leave an impression. Sarvam is a move that rides on its visuals throughout. An enjoyable first half is negated by a slack second. Half way into the second half, the first seems like a distant memory. Vishnuvardhan has proved that as a director he has got lots of flair and style. It is the writing that lets him down