Dasavathaaram

If there was one movie that was eagerly awaited for ever since the day the film was announced, it was the Padmashri Dr. Kamal Haasan – K S Ravikumar – Aascar Ravichandran – Himesh Reshammiah combo’s Dasavathaaram. There was grandeur all over the movie be it the launch function or the shooting or the post production work or the audio release function. Special kudos to Aascar Ravichandran for braving the high lending interest rates and investing in a movie of this magnitude that easily surpasses the standards of South Indian Cinema.

As far as the movie is concerned, it is Kamal all the way. As with all the movies where Kamal plays the story-writer, the script-writer and the dialogue-writer, this movie boasts of an artistic and experimental screenplay. Those of you who watch a lot of Hollywood movies might have seen the style of screenplay already but I’m sure it’s new to Tamil Cinema. And given the fact that Kamal has written such a screenplay, he deserves a special word of appreciation.

There are only 3 USPs for this film.

1. Padmashri Dr. Kamal Haasan.

2. For the first time in Indian Cinema, an actor is portraying 10 roles in a movie.

3. Asin and Mallika Sherawat.

Out of the three, I would say the first two are the real USPs but the Asin-Mallika factor cannot be ignored. Kamal has a good fan following in the ‘educated’ sector of audience and hence all the city theaters will be running packed for the first 3-4 weeks at-least.

The story begins with Kamal addressing a huge audience at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, George W Bush and Dr. Manmohan Singh are shown to be the delegates on stage while Kamal speaks. Kamal narrates and steers the story down to the 12th century. This is where the Napoleon-Asin-Kamal medieval scenes appear. They have been crafted to perfection and the cinematographer, Ravivarman, deserves special praise. There is a scene where everyone expects Kamal to say “Om Namashivayah!”. He starts off with a long ‘Om’ and says “Namo Narayanayah!”. Everyone including Napoleon look spellbound at Kamal’s courage and devotion to Lord Vishnu.

Then the story shifts to present day USA. There is the ’scientist’ Kamal who researches on some new bio weapon. Actually, beyond this, there is no point in telling you peeps about anything other than the names of the 10 avatars. The story would lose it’s sheen if I tell you everything.

So, here are the 10 names.

1. Rangaraja Nambi

2. Dr. Govindarajan, a molecular biology scientist

3. Krishnaveni paatti, a mentally unsound aged lady

4. Khalifullah Khan, a 7 foot tall muslim youngster

5. Balarama Naidu, a Research and Analysis cop

6. Some Japanese Guy!, a martial arts expert

7. Vincent Poohvaragan, a dalit activist

8. Christian Fletcher, an assasin

9. George W Bush, d’uh!

10. Avatar Singh, a singer

The Balarama Naidu character reminds one of Nallamma Naidu, a CBI Officer who investigated Jayalalithaa’s cases. Avatar Singh reminds one of Daler Mehendi. Also, Christian Fletcher reminds one of the typical action man (as in Jean Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Travolta etc.).

The Krishnaveni Paatti looks well built and strong, which is a misfit for an old mentally unsound lady!

Other than the avatars, the chase scenes are of the typical Tamil Cinema style. There are a few good twists and turns in the middle, but then even if that little spice wasn’t there, this movie would have nothing new except the 10 avatars! The much-talked-about tsunami scene has been put to good use in the story.

Asin has done a lot of hardwork with the Iyengar traditional slang and it has paid off as well. She is flawless in her portrayal of Andal, the traditional Iyengar girl who gets caught in a big adventure. Mallika Sherawat does her usual stuff. Glamour, more glamour and still more glamour. Kudos to K S Ravikumar and Kamal for using her perfectly in the movie.

Himesh’s music does little to impress the viewer and/or listener. The same goes for Devi Shri Prasad’s BGM. Ravivarman has scored a lot of points with his brilliant camera work! The editing is crisp and fits the pace and grandeur of the movie at the same time.

K S Ravikumar has to be given a lot of credit for managing the entire show for over 22 months. It’s never going to be easy managing Kamal for such a long period because Kamal runs wild with creativity and experimentation and it takes a stiff director to hold him tight. Suresh Krissna couldn’t do that and hence Aalavandhaan was a major flop.

As a whole, the package isn’t very disappointing. There are a lot of logic leaks as with all Tamil Movies and those should’ve been avoided in this kind of an effort to match Hollywood. The 12th century scenes have no link with the rest of the story. They’re there because Kamal gets 10 avatars. There is also no reason for Kamal to carry a Govindarajar Idol for a major part of the movie.

Dasavathaaram is nothing less than a visual treat for Kamal fans. His portrayal of the 10 characters is absolutely flawless. Typical traces of Kamal can’t be seen in any of the characters. All the characters have been given good emphasis w.r.t the tone of voice, the accent, the body language and the makeup.

Bottom Line: A world class Tamil film from Kamal, yet again.

UPDATE: I happened to see the movie one more time and got hold of a few quirks.

1. The Govindarajar brass idol is the only thing that keeps Asin in the story.

2. There are a couple of incidents in the film which are there just to make sure that the 12th century scenes aren’t a total waste w.r.t the story.

3. The makeup isn’t very consistent. The characters look slightly different in different shots.

4. The graphics towards the end are very very amateur looking.

5. Devi Sri Prasad’s BGM tunes always sound familiar.

6. How can Ramasamy Naicker name his son Govinda Rajan?! It simply doesn’t happen!