Film Review: ‘Dasavatharam’ – Kamal’s 10 Ultimate Avatars!
Film: Dasavatharam
Languages: Tamil & Telugu
Banner: Oscar Films Pvt Ltd.
Cast: Dr Kamal Hassan, Asin, Mallika Sharawat, Jaya Pradha, Napoleon, Jayaram, P Vasu, Nagesh, K R Vijaya and others.
Music Directors: Himesh Reshammiya, Devisri Prasad
Cinematography: Ravi Verman
Direction: K S Ravi Kumar
Production: Venu Ravichandran
The living legend Padma Sree Dr Kamal Hassan proved himself with this magnum opus, ‘Dasavatharam’ that he is truely a universal hero. Yes! He is not just an actor, but a man who experiments with different themes and who dares to attempt it on screen without bothering about his image. Such is his passion for cinema. A true artist indeed, a library himself!
The story starts with an ancient scene of 12th century only to quickly turn into a modern science fiction. A group of bio-medical scientists discover a deadly virus that has the intensity to wipe out the entire world. While billions pour in as a grant fund, the scientist Govind suddenly realizes the destructive impact of such discovery and decides to withdraw from the project. But the greedy boss’s plans are different. This ends up with Govind running away with the vial containing virus with Fletcher at his tail all the way from US to Chidambaram, where we encounter the other avatars of Kamal. Andal, an innocent Brahmin girl is yet another hurdle to Govind.
Like in any other movies a few characters are important and if someone wants to do 10 such characters who will have the patience and guts, except Kamal. It was not new to us to see Kamal in different sizes and genders. ‘Avvai Shanmuki’, ‘Apoorva Sagodharargal’ and ‘Aalavandhan’ have already made us forget his natural shape and size. Be it an old lady or a dwarf or a mascular man we are yet to see others making first attempt if not for Kamal.
Coming back to this film, by this time all Indians around the world know the ten characters, so let me save the space. Every character he portrayed was simply awesome and that places him way above the rest.
One cannot be without appreciating Kamal for spending 5 to 6 hrs a day only for make-up. The hard-work, meticulous planning, commitment to the core can be witnessed in abundance on the silver screen. One will fail if they want to see a frame without atleast two characters of Kamal, a simply example for hard-work. If someone wants to find fault with any one of the ten characters, it will be a big disappointment, an example for perfection.
Let me reserve some space for others too. Prominents are the heroine Asin and picture perfect K S Ravi Kumar. Asin’s way of handling both the roles is a sign of her maturity and professionalism others too. One has to work overtime to match the perfection of the legends like Kamal and Asin had carried out her homework thoroughly. KS Ravi Kumar’s remarkable direction has once again proved that he is a capable man to handle any kind of script.
Mallika Sherawat, as usual added the spice to kichidi. The pole dance is the high light not to speak of her short role which also showed that she can act. Jaya Pradha and K R Vijaya had nothing much to do except to accompany Kamal in the scenes they appear. Napoleon, Jayaram and P Vasu did their jobs in the supporting roles.
Though the background score by Devisri Prasad was good Himesh Reshamiyya’s music disappointed a little. ‘Mukundha Mukundha’ is the only song which is said to be a noted one.
The incredible sets at Muttukadu for various scenes like the Cholamandalam Kingdom in 12th century, huge waves depicting the Tsunami, a look-alike research center in USA and the scene where all the characters of Kamal, meet at Nehru stadium were the samples for clinical precision of the art directors Thotta Tarani, Prabhakaran and Sameer Chanda.
The excited audiences were thrilled to see the remarkable stunts of Kamal. Ravi Verman’s astonishing cinematography is simply breath taking, not to mention the graphics.
How can one be without appreciating Venu Ravichandran who dared to take a film like ‘Dasavatharam’ with a whooping amount of Rs 165 crores, which is said to be the costliest Indian film made ever. That shows how much confidence he had in Kamal. Though there is no story as such, the screen-play by Kamal was simply great that kept the audiences busy just by concentrating on the characters played by him.
Can this concept and hard-work fetch a place for Kamal in Guiness Book? Can we see yet another Oscar nomination?
Related Stories
Surya said,
June 17, 2008 @ 1:34 pm@gvk
Very well explained my brother. I’ve no words to say.
JaY said,
June 17, 2008 @ 7:00 pmVery nicely explained..
Harish said,
June 18, 2008 @ 11:13 pmDefinitely this film must fetch Kamal an ‘Oscar’. The review is perfect and gvk’s explanation of the 10 characters is even more perfect. I appreciate that.
Hassan said,
June 20, 2008 @ 11:45 amWow tats a great explanation, really kamal needs an oscar
for his thought
SHEKHAR said,
June 21, 2008 @ 1:42 amActor Kamal Hassan’s quest for Oscar award is widely known; that he will stoop to any low in that direction is proved by his latest film titled ‘Dasavataram’. Having seen this film in a prominent cinema hall recently, I feel disgusted to say that the film deserves to be totally banned from public exhibition on several counts. First and foremost, the word ‘Dasavataram’ is considered sacred and very much part of Hindu culture relating to Lord Vishnu’s reincarnations primarily for destruction of evil; the word any sane man born and brought up in Hindu culture easily understands. It is ironical that this actor has dared to title his film with the noble name which invokes instant veneration and what one actually see or feel is narration of his version of events essayed in his perverted mind, in the name of freedom of expression, without caring two hoots about the impact it is going to make on public mind especially in India. This so-called versatile actor has miserably failed in his attempt to portray ‘secularism’ as he supposes and understands by choosing to portray other major communities in the country like Christians, Muslims and Sikh as do-gooders and that only Hindus are religious fanatics, right from the very first frame of the film. He has further shown that individuals belonging to international communities including NRIs are bent upon leashing acts of terror on fellow human beings in other parts of the globe, for the sake of gathering wealth and in the name of science & technology. In his colossal misadventure he has even involved the current President of the United States of America by mimicry as well as the known atheist Chief Minister of Tamilnadu in his current official position, as also a fleeting portrayal of past Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalitha by showing her aerial survey of Tsunami hit areas during December 2004, all obviously for the sake of seeking cheap publicity.
The picture titled ‘Dasavataram’ is truly an example of gross misuse of freedom of expression, not confining to ethical standards expected of an esteemed actor like Kamal Hassan and his reputed team, and as such it should be banned in toto from public exhibition.
Suchitra said,
June 22, 2008 @ 5:40 amHello Shekhar, By writing such a bad essay about a movie which just tries to entertain for 3 hours, you definitely have misused your freedom of expression…LOL! Give Dr. Kamal Hasan a break. Surely, you are not cut out for intelligent movies. Pal, the movie is not your cup of tea. Forget it!
Suchitra said,
June 22, 2008 @ 5:44 amShekhar, I guess you should stick to movies where the hero chases the heroine, who has a rich/villan father…(Yawn) and so on. No wonder you didn’t get the drift of Dasavataram.
Salmander said,
June 24, 2008 @ 9:39 amWell said Suchi!
And @ gvk, I’d rather use the term “slow” instead of “dumb” regards the Koorma Avatar. I mean we cant judge the tortoise except for the fact that it was almost definitely slow, while we will definitely be honouring Mr.Bush by passing on that simple adjective to his intellectual faculties.
Narayan said,
August 11, 2008 @ 6:47 pmExcellent review shekhar.
@ suchitra and salamander, I am an ardent fan of kamal hassan. But the way the hindu gods and hindus were portrayed in the movie has really hurt so many secular hearts. Can you tell me if kamal hassan would show a muslim or a christian in such a bad light? You know what secularism is? Not hurting anyone following any religion.has he done that?
Or if he is offending any one religion,is he ready to take that on to the other religions also?
Come on, if you want to talk about entertainment, rajnikanth is a pure entertainment, vijay, ajith, surya, batman, hrithik are all entertainers. Aren’t there people who appreciated Virumandi , panchathanthiram. If at all kamal wanted to thrust his ideals of no god in to the movies, did not we celebrate Anbe Sivam. You should not argue just for the heck of it. He wanted political support for his cheap publicity and his blasphemous acts. Tying a noose around the neck of the idol which millions of people consider as god, will you or anyone defend this act by the name of cinema? If so will he do it with other religions or will he even think about it? Only because of you pseudo secular people who deny to see the truth and hide in the skin of the tiger, such acts of atrocities keep happening and seem like nothing.
Suchitra said,
August 22, 2008 @ 12:06 pmNarayan, The problem is we read toooooo much into a simple piece of entertainment! Why can’t we just look at the movie as a simple three hour entertainer and applaud the guy for trying something different? I mean, he has tried his best and it is differnt from the normal breed of movies we are subjected to these days! Ok, probably you guys will appreciate a movie like kuruvi which did not affect anyone’s sentiments and was made with all the secularism in mind! And what political support are we talking about dude? Didn’t know kamal hasan has eyes on politics like chiranjeevi? and who is arguing here just for the heck of it? And please, Anbe sivam (a lovely movie) was not a hit!It was not celebrated by anyone…poor kamal hasan, people like you came up arguing on that as well saying how can he say that there is no god! I am not arguing for kamal hasan just for the sake of it….I just take the movie as a simple story and applauding the guy for trying something different…well, I know you are going to come back with a huge thesis of how wrong my argument is and blah blah…but people like you will comment on anything and everything I guess?
Suchitra said,
August 22, 2008 @ 12:13 pmNarayan, Please, don’t bring in arguments of secularism for a simple movie…Save it for important things!
gowtham said,
November 15, 2009 @ 2:52 amhi anna this is sabi’s cousin…………… ur explanation is very heaven touching
RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI
Leave a Comment
Last Published
- Bronze Art by Tapas Biswas
- Genelia Church Wedding Photos
- Beware of Online Scams – ICICI Bank Initiative
- In Pics: Abdul Kalam visits Hyderabad Public School
- Online Fraud on the name of Maruti Suzuki India LTD (MSIL) & Monster India
- Karimnagar Fried Chicken (KFC)
- Cute Video: Parrot dominating the pups
- How to access Wikipedia on SOPA and PIPA Blacking Out Day
- Brahma Kumari’s Mumbai Marathon 2012 – One God, One World, One Family
- Vibrant Paintings by Hari Srinivas
gvk said,
June 17, 2008 @ 10:08 am1.The starting setup of 12th century about the Vaishnavas and the song “Raayini Maatram Kante Devudu Kanaraadu Devuni Matram Kante Deham Kanaraadu”. Kamal best suited in the role of Sreevaishnava devotee in 12th century.
2.Balaram Nadar [one of the avatar].
3.Cute Asin done her character in perfect.
4.Makeup,Visual effects are the highlights of Dasavatharam.
5.Songs failed to impress except Raayini Maatram,Mukunda Mukunda and Oh Sanam Oh Sanam is just Okay.
6.Devi Sri Prasad’s background is unnoticeable.
7.Comedy is minimal but nice.
8.Movie has a both Devotional and Scientific Touch.
9.Tsunami is shown well.
10.No strong story line,long chase between Chris Fletcher and Govind bored a little which made movie run 3 hrs and 10 mins.Worth watching once.Worth watching twice for the First 20 mins and the last 20 mins.
Finally Kamal proves only he can do these types of roles. Kamal Rocks!!
P.S.
Movie has many under depth meanings..Please Don’t blindly say movie is a flop,no meaning at all etc..
For ex:
1.Krishna Avatar – Vincent
Lord Krishna Is Actually A Dalit, He Is Dark-Skinned [Shyamalam]. He Saved Draupadi When She Was Being Violated And He Was The Actual Diplomat In Mahabharatham. Lord Krishna Dies Of An Arrow Striking His Lower Leg. Now Look At How Vincent Was Introduced.. He Appears When Asin Is About To Be Molested And He Saves Her Like Draupadi. Vincent Is The Dalit Diplomat, Fights For Land Issue [Soil Issue To Be Exact] And Dies From The Metal Rod Striking His Leg. Oh Even Five Of Vincent’s Men Are Drugged At P. Vasu’s.. Sounds Familiar???
2.Balarama Avatar – Balaram Nadar
This Is An Easy Given. As The Name Suggests And The Role Personifies You Can Easily Get It.
3.Mathsya Avatar – Rangaraja Nambi
Nambi Is Thrown Into Water In An Act Of Trying To Save Lord From Being Thrown Into Sea, Though Vainly.
4.Varaha Avatar – Krishnaveni
During The Mukunda Song, Krishnaveni Paatti Does Varaha Avatar In The Shadow Puppetry. The Frame Freezes On It For A Second. There Is The Clue. Moreover, In Varaha Avatar Lord Actually Hides Earth So As To Protect Life Forms. Here Too Krishnaveni Hides The Germs – Life Form Inside The Statue So As To Protect.
5.Vamana Avatar – Kaliph-Ullah
Remember In Vamana Avatar, Lord Vishnu Takes The Vishvaroopa, That Is The Giant Form! Hence The Giant Kaliph-Ullah Here Symbolises Vamana Avatar.
6.Parasurama Avatar – Christian Fletcher
Parasurama Is Actually On An Angry Killing Spree And Killed 21 Generations Of The Particular Kshatriya Vamsa. Hence The Real Killer… Guess What Thats What Our Fletcher Is! He Comes Around With The Gun [Modern Upgrade For Axe] And Kills Everyone Around. I Have To Check If He Kills 21 People Though.
7.Narasimha Avatar – Shingen [Japanese martial arts master]
First Of All The Name Itself Is A Play On The Words Singam [Means Lion In Tamil] And Narasimha [The Avatar Being Symbolised]. Lord Narasimha Manifests Himelf To Kill The Bad Guy And He Also Teaches Prahaladha. In The Movie, He Shows Up To Kill The Killer Fletcher! And Is Also A Teacher.. Lord Narasimha Had To Kill The Asura With Bare Hands And Hence The Martial Arts Exponent Here..
8.Rama Avatar – Avathar Singh
Lord Rama Stands For The One Man One Woman Maxim, Kind Of Symbolizing True Love.. Here Avatar Portrays That Spirit By Saying That He Loves His Woman More Than Anything And Wants To Live For Her.
9.Kalki Avatar – Govind
As You Know, The Hero In Kaliyug Can Be None Other Than The Kalki Avatar!!!
10.Koorma Avatar – George Bush
This Is The Most Loose Adaptation I Couldn’t Clearly Comprehend. But If You Look At The Real Koorma Avatar, The Lord Is The Turtle/Tortoise That Helps In Stirring The Ksheera Sagara And Bringing Out The Amruth. This Essentially Creates War Among The Devas And Asuras. Similarly Today Bush Facilitates War Between You Know Whom… May Be Kamal Also Indicates That This Avatar Is A Bit Dumb Like The Tortoise…