Reviewing Dasavathaaram

The first Dialog that Kamal Haasan utters as Nambi in the film is “Adiyen Ramanuja Dhaasan” and I am proud to say “Adiyen Kamal Haasa Dhaasan”

Dasavathaaram has released.And has magnified my already mad fanaticism on its screenplay and dialog writer,actor Thalaivar Kamal Haasan. It was a memorable movie watching experience that puzzled me beyond levels when most of the scenes had at least 2 or 3 kamal avatars in it! How well should they have planned to get all those scenes intact!

The film is all about the scientist Govind’s(1) chase of a bio-chemical something contained in a vial that gets transported from a science center in the USA to Chidambaram in India. The bio chemical weapon is being funded by the US President(2) for defence and a former CIA agent Fletcher(3)is in the rat race to get that for all its worth! Govind in search of the Vial gets moved to India along with the cargo and is interrogated by Balaram Naidu in Chennai (4).Fletcher comes all the way to Chennai and takes Govind from the airport thanks to the ignorance of the police who go to catch a glimpse of the favorite pop singer Avtar(5). Govind escapes from Fletcher to reach Chidambaram where Krishnaveni(6) accidentally transports the vial into an idol of Perumal. In search of the Perumal idol go Govind and Andal(Asin),followed all the way by Fletcher.En route,Govind is saved from a sand smuggling gang by Poovaragan(7),an environmentalist and from Fletcher and the police by Kalifullah Khan(8) and his innocence that irritates the Govind searchers! Finally,Fletcher gets his hand on the bio-chemical something and that s when Nakajima(9) tries to seek revenge on Fletcher for the killing of his sister,and that is when Balram captures Fletcher,and that’s when Fletcher tries to kill himself and the society by letting the chemical out,and that is when the all required NaCl comes to suppress the spread of the chemical , and that is when it comes in the form of a Tsunami! And what caused the Tsunami. A tremble in the tectonic plate. And one of the reasons for that gets washed away to the shore,the idol that separated Rangarajan Nambi (10) from his wife Kodhai(Asin)..and that is exactly where Govind and Andal start their life together!

And then there are guys who say the screenplay was bad, it lacked story, it lacked logic!

It lacks logic I agree..But who cares!The logic behind the film (Chaos theory and Butterfly effect) doesn t have logic..So how can the film have! You are bound to be awe struck seeing the way things happen in this quick racy ride!

There is this butterfly that comes all the way in the form of a graphic.What it signifies is the chain of events that can be triggered by a small action somewhere,sometime. There are a lot of incidents in the film that explain this..and to explain all that one has to forget logic. Otherwise there IS a story and there is a whirlwind of a screenplay to justify the 10 roles and the make up magic that Kamal Haasan has taken pains to don..

Music by Himesh Reshammiya was superb in audio and the visuals have added more grandeur to it. The background score by Devi Sri Prasad, I have to watch the film at least once more to gauge it as I didn t even bother to listen to it thanks to the on screen magic.

Camerawork by Ravi varman was too good to be igored.

Next in line is the Make up. That is one big big positive for this film. Even though the make up on Kalifulah Khan didn t look natural, how was Kamal 7 feet tall..Puzzle number 1. Even though the make up on Krishnaveni didn t look natural, how was Kamal 4 feet tall..Puzzle number 2. How did George Bush look like the president himself!Puzzle number 3. Balram Naidu s limited make up was pleasant to watch. Poovaragan was not Kamal.If it was him that is Puzzle number 3. Full marks to the Make up Artist and his team and to Kamal for that.

Now with due respects to all the others I come to KS Ravikumar. How well has he packaged and all that gets evident when one hears the cheers that he get when he comes to sing Ulaganayagane! He has been the perfect partner to Kamal Haasan in this spectacle called Dasavathaaram.

Now I come to the Ulaganayagan.Having talked initially about the screenplay of this film, now it is time to come to the dialogs knitted by Kamal Haasan. The dialogs were razor sharp, substantial and carried a lot of élan and sarcasm. To cite an example :”Kadavul Illanu naa sollave illaye, irundha nalla irukum nu dhaan solren” – A kamal special! His usage of Unga Kadavul, unga perumal might not go well with the theists but I say Unga kamal dhaane..free aa udunga;-) The witty dialogs remind us of Michale Madhana Kama Rajan,Avvai Shanmugi and Panchathanthiram.

Now I have nothing to say about the histrionic skills of Kamal the actor but I can t conclude without mentioning the command he had over the accents.

He could speak two American accents in Bush and Fletcher and he could speak the tirunelveli Tamizh without over doing it, he could use the standard Brahmin words like “Brummahathi”, he could speak Japanese as I ve seen being spoken in Chinese /Japanese films..As Avtar singh I felt he should have spoken more Hindi though!

So for all the critics out there, don’t watch Dasavathaaram for the sake of criticizing or reviewing it. Get into Dasavathaaram, try to solve the mysterious puzzles in its making, try to appreciate the chain of events. I have not related Dasavathaaram to a movie anywhere in this write up. It is a whole new different experiment- An experience that one shouldn’t fail to enjoy.

In all the Kamal- Ravikumar combo has performed a hatrick and the hatrick ball was the best!

It was PANCHathnthiram,DASAvathaaram,will it be som fifteen,the next multiple of 5 that will yield them their double hatrick..We will wait and watch.