The title of this blog is incorrect. It should have been named KS Ravikumar's Dasavatharam. Take a bow Mr. KS Ravikumar. Take a bow Kamal Hasan. Many congrats to the art directors the stunt director and to the talented cinematographer.
Dasavatharam rocks. It rocked big time for me. I have never seen a movie like this in any Indian language. Don't read me wrong. I am neither an ardent Kamal Fan nor someone who thinks Kamal is in the league of global actors of the caliber of the Al Paccino and co. I also didn't like the movie for its purported USP, i.e the ten made up Avtars played by the actor who played Avtar Singh. Yet Dasavatharam worked for me. If you need to learn more, read on.
The movie starts with a surreal aerial shot of Chennai. Chennai looks like Chennai in that shot (sounds trivial ? ). The bird eye camera captures the sky line (Earth-line is more appropriate) I mean the rooftops of the millions of two story buildings that inundate the city. The scene offers first glimpse of the non ordinary nature of the camera work in the movie. The shot zooms into a brass idol in a filled stadium and a Kamal's voice takes you to an episode of the 12th century.
If some understands the consequence of the events of 12th century to the rest of the movie, please tell me. I thought if one went to the movie 30 minutes late and missed all that, nothing would change. Anyways the shots of that part of the movie is has great camera work. The scene where kamal hasan is put through crucification inspired torture looks so real for an Indian movie.
This is the first Avtar of the ten. Kamal looks normal though one wonders how a 12th century pious brahmin who lives out of vegetarian food collected by Biksha (begging), as brahmins of those days lived, develop those well chiseled muscles. In one scene Kamal pushes a big statue of Perumal (Vishnu) which is shown to be too heavy for 6 people just seconds before. Aspiring for international standards Mr. Kamal Hasan?
The narrative returns to the stadium and quickly moves on to a biotechnology lab somewhere in US where a bio equivalent of nuclear weapon is being developed. The weapon is sold by the corrupt boss of the project to some international terrorist. This is where the protagonist Kamal, the 2nd Avtar who is the the top scientist of the project gets involved and steals the weapon in question to destroy it.
We are now into the first 40 minutes of the movie. Here a chase begins where the ex CIA agent now hitman, another Kamal in a foreigner getup is after the scientist Kamal. The make up of the hitman is okayish. It is very difficult to see Kamal in him so it is good but the man doesn't look like a human being, so make up is bad. But going by the standards of make up in this movie, this character is passable. During the course of the movie this character looks progressively less repulsive.
What I liked most about the movie is the lack of story in the plot. There is no clichéd hero vs villain both scheming against each other or superfluous romance or anything. There is just a chase. Plain and simple. The chase goes on for the next two hours and one is taken through a joy ride with so much comedy, nail biting stunts and 7 more Kamal Hasan's. This is where this movie stands out. This movie seems to be in the genre of Rush Hour or may be James Bond ones. Where the chase, the twists and turns form the plot. The movie could have been named Joy Ride as well which would have been more appropriate. The first half of of the movie is stunning without a single moment of slackness. A scene that involves an elephant, close to the interval, should be one of the best scenes that I can recollect in movies in general (not just Indian movies). Chidamabaram town is made to look so very lively with effervescent splendor and the song Mukunda Mukunda is beautifully picturised.
The post interval parts of the movie is slightly sluggish. It has typical Crazy Mohan's crazy dialogs. I am assuming the dialog writer is Crazy Mohan. Some scenes seem to last longer than required and some scenes seem avoidable. The movie would have been better if some 20 minutes of un-necessary footage second half were chopped. Any ways, I am still happy with the movie in general. attempts like this need encouragement and a bit leniency if one has to hope for Tamil movies to move out of Punch dialog and exaggerated nonsensical stunts of Vijay/Ajit/Captain movies.
My biggest criticism of the movie is its pathetic make up for some characters of Kamal. Almost all characters are played well and are lovable. But many look so un natural as if those characters were performed after sticking a department store mask on Kamal Hasan. For example the 90 year old lady Kamal Hasan is so endearing. It would have been brilliant had it been played by a lady. The make up for that role is pathetic. The worst among the ten. It is difficult to even keep the eye on the character. One wonders why Kamal had to endure it. Hours and hours of effort for such a trite looking result. Avoidable.
Same can be said of the 7+ feet tall Kamal. Again the character is endearing but un human looking. The Japnese Kung-fu artist is slightly better. So is the Poovaragavan character, although the entire character has no strong link to the story. The Raw agent kamal (Strong, extremely likeable Telugu accent and brilliant steriotyped mannerisms) looks okay. I already spoke about the ex CIA Hitaman. The two Kamal Hasans that look real good are the 12th century vaishnavaite and the scientist (protagonist). Avtar Singh is the best Kamal with a make up but the character was un necessary considering the plot.
One wonders why take the pains when technology has not matured enough for convincing (if not breathtaking) results. The dinosaurs of Jurrassic Park looked more convincing as earthlings than a few Avtars of Kamal. If Kamal had to show his penchant for doing different things neither the concept nor the results were worthy of praise (in my honest opinion).
Coming back to the good things of the movie (there are many), Mallika Sherawat is perfectly cast. I've not seen a better suiting character that Mallika Sherawat has played. Brilliant choice of the actor and a good performance here. Asin is too good. If the movie is lovable, which it is, then Asin is an important reason that the movie is that way. She looks honest, pesky, cheerful, and lovable. This is what acting is.
The Tsunami scenes are brilliant. Good CG. Best that I have seen in Indian movies. The link of Tsunami to the plot is good too. I thought it wouldnt be, but it was. The fight between the Japanese Kamal and the hitman Kamal is terrific, again the best that I have seen in Indian movies. Finally there is a subtle underlying acknowledgment of God , in a most logical manner. Good. Himesh Reshammiya is average. Mukunda number stands out. BG score is barely noticeable.
In the final analysis, I would say it is a collossal effort. And I give a thumbs up to its makers and actors (most of whom are Kamal Hassans :) ) and the art directors and the camera people and the stunt coordinators and the script writer (Kamal again- for having nail biting string of lively scenes in spite of the absence of any story as such). It is a risk taken and there are takers, like me, for the product. Congrats, Team Dasavatharam.
