"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.
