Dasavatharam

"Kallai mattum kandaal kadavul theriyaadhu, Kadavul mattum kandaal kalladi theriyaadhu." With these words starts the movie Dasaavathaaram, which means "If you see stone, you cannot see God. If you see God, you cannot see the stone behind it." Kamal Haasan may have excelled in ten different roles in the movie, but his 11th role as a script writer, according to me dominates the film. His rationalist thinkings dominate the theme of the film. Does God exist? If He exists, then why such inequalities and turmoil in the world? God created Man, but Man created temples and idols, caste, creed, races, religion and differentiated within himself and this has resulted in the current agony facing mankind. So explains the scriptwriter in this film.

The movie starts excellently with the breathtaking story of Rangaraja Nambi, a devotee of Lord Vishnu who gives up his life for Lord Vishnu in the Shiviite - Vaishnaviite battle. Here Kamal asks questions as to why Rangaraja Nambi died? Was it due to the Lord or the man made differences between Shiviites and Vaishnaviites. The movie goes along these lines and explores all the differences - the caste differences portrayed by Dalit Kamal Vincent Poovaraghavan, the Muslim Hindu differences portrayed by Muslim Kamal Kalifulla Khan. The differences in the world leading to the emergence of the terrorists which gives rise to the 9/11 bombings and the quest by the US to develop biological weapons after that, which threatens mankind.

Here Kamal portrays himself as scientist as Govindaraj Ramaswamy. He playes as the US President Bush also, which looks a bit comical. Some evil men take advantage of these differences as portrayed by the character Christian Fletcher also acted brilliantly by Kamal and are out to destroy mankind. Scientist Govind takes it upon himself to destroy the biological weapon and is prevented by all the evil forces. A Sikh singer Avatar Singh, affected by cancer and is shown to get caught between Govind and Fletcher in which Fletcher shoots Avatar Singh accidentally and the same bullet helps Avatar Singh from cancer. The Sikh family of Avatar Singh thanks their God for the divine help. Here too the writer Kamal resurfaces to show how man made events playing a role in the life of man are attributed to God. The Muslims including Kamal Kalifulla Khan who are illegally detained in a mosque by an hilarious RAW officer Balarama Naidu are saved by the Tsunami in the climax of the film. So did Allah save them, Kamal questions. The upper castes drowned by the Tsunami are saved by the Dalits but the Dalit leader Vincent Poovaraghavan gets drowned himself. So did God not do justice to him? Kamal again asks.

The Tsunami finally saves the world from the biological weapons. Asin, the heroine of the film thanks the Lord for saving the world from this dalamity. At this point, the scientist Govindaraj Ramaswamy questions her "Did God really act as savior, when several thousands have also died by the very Tsunami." Though Kamal shows the Tsunami to be the savior in this film, he also symbolically questions the reason behind the Tsunami. The man made differences leading to quest for scientific inventions going against the forces of Nature gives rise to such global warming and Tsunamis. So man in a way is destroying mankind in the name of God, whether be it in the 12th century or the 21st century. This is the underlying message of the film conveyed beautifully through a fast paced plot where Govind Ramaswamy the scientist is chased down by the villain Fletcher right from US to India. Kamal Haasan also plays the role of Krishnaveni Patti, the grandmother and Shingen Narahashi, a martial expert.

The film moves at such a brisk pace that one forgets the many loopholes and enjoys the grandeur and spectacle of the movie. The cinematagrophy is world class and the background music brilliant. The Director of the movie Ravikumar has done a good job, but the success of the movie can be attributed to the script and screenplay of Kamal Haasan. It is difficult to encompass such a complex thought, the chaos theory into a movie to be enjoyed particularly by an Indian audience. Kamal Haasan's performance as Rangarajan Nambi,Christian Fletcher and Vincent Poovaraghan certainly deserves National and International Awards. His portrayal as Balarama Naidu and Kalifullah Khan are hilarious. I liked his portrayal as Dalit leader Vincent Poovaraghavan. Of course, the hero Govind the scientist, Kamal Haasan was first rate. Heroine Asin also displayed superb acting skills. Mallika Sherawat played her part. Music by Himesh Reshammiya was nothing had audio cassettes selling like hot cakes. As a Director, Kamal Haasan already proved with 'Hey Ram'. Dasavathaaram is another quality product from him as a script and screenplay writer, though it could have been a milestone. One can expect more from Kamal Haasan as a script writer and also as a Director in the future.

(First of all, I'm not a Fanboy) How could a movie in which One Man In Ten Roles be bad/not good?

I agree that, the story line is not that strong as we expected. It has got only a basic thread (but) onto which the ten characters have been BEAUTIFULLY interlaced.

The Movie is a VISUAL TREAT (100%). It is worth the money you pay for.

If you want to experience the full thrill of the movie, don't read any summaries/synopsis nor read about the Ten Characters of Mr. Kamal in the film. If you've read about those different characters before watching the movie, You've already missed a great part of the thrill.

Some characters of him, (I'm not mentioning since it has to be experienced) are SO PERFECT that you'll take time to convince your mind that it's Mr. Kamal itself.

Now into the movie. There are shots, where 3 or more characters of Mr. Kamal interact with each other. (not to mention a shot which took 20 days where Mr. Kamal kicks Mr.Kamal!!)

Though, you might get slightly bored during the half hour just before the intermission, the events after the intermission are enough and more to pull you back into the movie. Especially, the Tsunami Sequence is the best. Perfectly shot sequence. Also there are some Hollywood-class Car Chases including Choppers (which are a rare thing in Indian Cinemas).

Overall, I recommend this movie. Be proud that this happened in Indian Cinema.

Thank You. (I've not mentioned any incident/event so as not to spoil the thrill. It has to be experienced).

I do not term myself as an ardent Kamal fan but I do not hesitate to recognize the trend-breakers in todays Tamil cinema. Dasavatharam has many positives that overshadow the small set backs. Tremendous effort from Kamal in terms of 10 different character which he not only differentiated with some amazing makeup but with individual slangs and body language. Graphics and art direction that have taken the Tamil film industry to another level. One should admit that some of the avathars do not align with the flow of the story and rather slackens the flow. At these junctures,Crazy Mohan has come to the rescue. He is amazing. Still as mentioned in the beginning, these minor glitches do not grossly undermine the humongous efforts of the Producer, Director, Cast, and the cinematographer. While the background score was mostly supportive to the main plot, songs were less appealing considering the grandeur of the project. We seldom get to see such valiant projects as Dasavatharam. Rather than dissecting this movie under a microscope, let us join hands, go to the theater and appreciate this unique effort to steer the Tamil/Indian cinema to a new direction/level.

This movie is probably a better chase sequence movie I have seen in a long time. This can be a lesson to all the Bollywood and other directors who are trying in vain to produce a quality chase movie. The movie simply put is this- the villain is trying to hold on to something that the hero is trying hard to protect and make sure the right authorities have it. To make an exciting movie out of such a simple premise requires some effort and a good storyline. This movie has both of it, added to that is a fine acting by Kamal and an ease with which he makes an transition from one character to the other. Even those who do not agree with me would accept that the movie despite the flaws is watchable at least once. Moreover only Kamal would try such a brave movie (some might put it as foolishness), he did it at his peak when he tried a silent movie and he has done it now. Characters such as the CBI officer and the villain are amazing, Kamal has perfectly gelled himself in to the walk and the accent of those characters. For that matter he has gelled in to all the avatars though few of them are unnecessary, right from the dressing style to the dialog delivery. It is not possible by everyone to deliver such a performance. The first half is totally action packed and you will not realize how the hour and half fly away. If we do not consider this as another Rajni vs Kamal movie or for that matter compare it with other movies, just watch it as yet another movie it turns out to be a roller coaster ride that is enjoyable and turns out to be a very good family outing. It would be wrong to miss this movie for all its wrong reasons, because this is not a bad movie at all.

Now lets get to some movie bashing. As said previously, this movie is more enjoyable if we watch it as yet another movie, but it was never projected that way. It was supposed to be something else, something amazing which the movie is not. The vital part of the movie were the make up artists, who are a great let down and are never up to the mark. If we look at the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu, one thing that stands out is that no two avatars are similar, they look different, not subtly but completely different. It makes no sense if two characters look similar. Here more than two look similar, the same long face and the same tan. Secondly, the motive of any filmmaker should be to make a good movie and not aim at a ridiculous record. If three or four characters make a good movie, its better to keep it that way. Here few characters are senseless, they make the movie boring, and get this- add nothing to movie. There are few characters which deserve more time, which would have been possible if those senseless characters had been removed. The next flaw is that the music is awful, a director like K.S.Ravikumar knows pretty well that if you are trying to make an Indian movie the music must be right on the dot. Why get someone like Himesh to do the music, who is losing his hold in Hindi industry itself? Is Tamil industry suffering from a music director drought, or are they on vacation or maybe they refused to be part of the extravaganza? Whatever the reason, the music is simply awful. The next big problem is the computer graphics, a case of overcooking the meal. The graphics are way too fuzzy and a pain to watch. Maybe they are futuristic, but that is not going to push the audience up or increase the ticket sales. In a age where movies are trying to out beat Matrix, this movie decides to be immature in this aspect.

Finally, I would recommend this movie to almost everyone as this is not a bad movie. The commitment and effort definitely deserves credit. If Kamal is more modest, ready to listen to his fans and make a movie for them instead of having 'My way or the highway' attitude, we can expect better movies. Instead of that all we can say is that this movie has all the ingredients for a 10/10 perfect score, but simply does not deliver it.

an instance for chaos theory....the statuette hits ocean beds....beneath the bed develop faults....faults run for kilometers say upto indonesia ....and pressure builds up....for almost 800 years.....at last it unleashes....triggers tsunami....to save lives???? the above 3 lines is my opinion of the plot of dasaavatharam....yours may be different....if this is not art then what is???? the creative genius of kamal haasan has been unleashed to an audience who have witnessed thousand odd duets,thousand odd cheap fights and few good movies as well.music was good and the make up was not upto the standard that kamals earlier films had set.perhaps he felt the pressure of the time this project took.ravi varman deserves mention.asin was irritating at times and of the ten three to four roles was not enjoyed.and like this the film may contain many flaws if not less but kamal stands as tall as kalifulla khan does before these flaws.dasaavatharam may or may not be a commercial success but it is time for the world to stand up and congratulate this artist.