I really wanted to like Vishwathulasi. Made by a debutante Sumathi Ram, it has two of the best actors in the country, music by the duo of M.S.Viswanathan and Ilaiyaraja and is a mature love story. While the movie offers a good change of pace from teen romance and masala, the two most popular themes today, it is the same factor - pace - that proves to be the movie's undoing. Wiith a story that might be right for a half-hour short film, the film moves too slow to engage even the viewer looking for a change of pace.

Thulasi(Nandita Das) comes to Sundarapuri as a teacher at a dance school. Next door to the school lives Vishwam(Mammootty), the zamindar. In their childhood, Vishwam(Mohit) and Thulasi(Ambili) had been in love, a fact that was resented by her cousin Siva. Now as they see each other, their feelings are the same though their lives have changed.

Vishwathulasi has some very respected names associated with it. Mammootty, with a couple National awards under his belt, is widely regarded as one of the best actors in the country and is quite popular in Tamil. Nandita Das, who has so far been attached only to non-commercial but quality projects, is considered a serious actress and has appeared in Azhagi and Kannathil Muthamittaal, two of the best movies of 2002. Scoring the music is the duo of M.S.Viswanathan-Ilaiyaraja, who are both legends individually and have delivered memorable soundtracks on the previous occasions they have come together. But Sumathi Ram's screenplay does not do justice to such a talented group. While Mammootty has been wasted, more attention seems to have been paid to Nandita Das' looks. And the large number of song fragments, inspite of being melodious and pleasing, intrude further on the pace.

The movie switches between past and present, presenting episodes between Mohit and Ambili as flashbacks by either Mammootty or Nandita. None of these episodes are particularly cute or interesting. Thankfully, Sumathi Ram concentrates more on the present which is more emotional because of the unspoken feelings between Mammootty and Nandita. This emotional hook works for a while but soon gets a little boring. There are only so many times one can see Mammootty hiding his feelings with a stern face or Nandhita looking shyly at him and smiling to herself! The scenes with Manoj K.Jayan as a madman offer hope of the story moving but the scenes end up being all buildup.

With the major portion of the movie exhibiting such a relaxed pace, the ending is guilty of the exactly opposite crime - it rushes things. The lack of a buildup to the climax ensures that the suddenness is a little surprising when it happens. But at the same time, we are not even given enough time for the happenings to sink in.

Mammootty is simply required too look stern and act stiff throughout. Nandhita Das looks beautiful and conveys a lot through her eyes and smile. Mohit and Ambili are adequate to get through their portions.