sarvam new tamil movie

While Vishnu Vardhan's first three movies(Kurumbu, Arindhum Ariyaamalum and Pattiyal) showed an admirable trend with respect to increase in quality, his next film Billa gave us the first sign that he had begun sacrificing substance at the altar of style, as the film's gorgeous look accompanied a story that was dumbed down and silly.

He continues in the same mode for Sarvam, whose rich production values try to prop up a rather frail story. Since the plot is really lightweight and the little that there is is emotional, the film as a whole, feels rather hollow.

Karthik(Arya), an architect, is smitten by Sandhya(Trisha) after their very first meeting. Sandhya rebuffs him initiallybut his sincerity and persistence soon win her over. Meanwhile, Ishwar(J.D.Chakravarthy) is mourning the loss of hiswife and son, who were killed when hit by a car driven by Naushad(Indrajeeth). Refusing to see it as an accident, he begins to harass Naushad and his son Iman(Master Rohan).

Sarvam is essentially about fate. As the lives of its five protagonists criss-cross - sometimes with no effect(as when Arya almost hits Rohan with his car or Trisha runs into Rohan in the hospital) and other times with huge consequences - it shows us how the lives of random people can become intertwined with or without their knowledge. It reminds us of movies like Crash, 21 Grams and our own Aaydha Ezhuthu as we watch the characters, with the knowledge that their lives are going to intersect while they themselves go about their lives blissfully unaware of the fact that each of their actions is having a ripple effect that affects others in unexpected ways.

But as the plot unravels and the links between the characters are established, it is all rather underwhelming and the plot seems too simple considering its lofty ambitions. Vishnu Vardhan tries to make the movie seem like more than what it is with some non-linearity in the chronology, which he achieves by serving up the story one piece at a time and telling the stories of the characters in parallel as their lives proceed. But even these do not make the story arresting enough. In this way, it is the exact opposite of Dasaavathaaram.

While both movies illustrate the role destiny plays in the lives of a certain set of people, Kamal's ambitious film crammed in too many characters and a complex plot while Sarvam has too few characters inhabiting a barebones story.