"Awesome!!", "What a movie!!", "Vow" - This is what the audience of Dasavatharam say after they come out. So did I and hence this blog. For people who do not know - Dasavatharam , is a Tamil movie, conceived and written by KamalHasan, in addition to donning 10 roles in the movie.
The movie is not as touching as say TZP, not as inspiring as say Chak De, not radical as Anbe Sivam/Hey Ram ... This can utmost be categorized as a HiFi - Techie masala entertainer, which shines due to the sheer brilliance of Kamal Hasan and to an extent director KS Ravikumar. The screenplay was so fast till the interval that we din't even realize that 100 minutes passed. Post interval, also was awesome but for the fag end, which could have been better. It will be grossly unfair, if one complains for those last few minutes on an otherwise good movie. So here is my ranking and thoughts on the 9 roles (Not including the main hero - Govind Ramasamy - Not that it was not good but that these are after all cake walks for Kamal Hasan !!).
1. Christian Fletcher - The American Ex CIA, also the ruthless villain in this movie. This is the best to me. He enters the movie just after the first 10 minutes and stays (rocks rather) till the end. The highlights being the scene he kills Mallika Sherawat, when he hits a biker on the road and of course the climax when he dies.
2. Balram Naidu - The RAW officer from AP. He just carries the first half on his shoulders and helps in the humour department with his Telugu - Tamil dialect. His expressions and mannerisms are just great.
3. Grandma Krishnaveni - A typical Agraharam old widow patti. The humour (s)he brings in during the movie and the mourning scene in the climax are the highlights.
4. Vincent Poovaraghan - The South TamilNadu-Kerala guy. He secures this place for his dialect of Tamil and the mannerisms again. It took me sometime to realize that he was KamalHasan.
5. Rangaraja Nambi - The 12th century Veera Vaishnavaite who lives and dies in the first 10 minutes. I couldn't really place the significance of this historical event in the entire movie's context, Kamal rocks even in this. This will remind people of HeyRam a bit. Also, the Kulothunga Chozhan episode and Nambi becoming a Vaishnavaite martyr are a bit hard to believe. However, the initial disclaimer said that the movie is a mixture of history and fiction. So no complaints and no controversies :)
6. Japanese - I don't remember the name though. This guy adds the revenge/sister sentiment aspect to the movie. He scores for his prowess in martial arts and the way he lived as a typical Japanese guy well within himself.
7. George Bush - The make up was wonderful. Really looked like Bush in some places. Surprisingly, he was used as a humour element in the movie. This needn't have been Kamal but neways a good one.
8. Khaleefullah - The 7 ft tall Tamil muslim role. I rate him at 8 because he doesn't play any major part in the script. Also, this again could have been any one else. Not to undermine the innocent humour he brought in during the middle stages of the movie.
9. Avatar Singh - Again no real role. But nice to see Jayapradha and Kamal Hasan together (in yet another blood cancer related storyline :) ).
In spite of the Hifi concepts like bio weapons, chaos theory/butterfly effect, historical events etc. there is no dearth for good (not crass at all)humour (thanks to roles 2,3,4,7,8 and of course Govind) in the script (Kamal Hasan's script reminded of Crazy Mohan's in many places - Hats off !!).
I now realize this blog is pretty long and also became a movie review- sorry about that. Just for completion sake - "So I go with 4 out of 5 and 2 thumbs up for Dasavatharam" ;)
Cheers!!
The movie is not as touching as say TZP, not as inspiring as say Chak De, not radical as Anbe Sivam/Hey Ram ... This can utmost be categorized as a HiFi - Techie masala entertainer, which shines due to the sheer brilliance of Kamal Hasan and to an extent director KS Ravikumar. The screenplay was so fast till the interval that we din't even realize that 100 minutes passed. Post interval, also was awesome but for the fag end, which could have been better. It will be grossly unfair, if one complains for those last few minutes on an otherwise good movie. So here is my ranking and thoughts on the 9 roles (Not including the main hero - Govind Ramasamy - Not that it was not good but that these are after all cake walks for Kamal Hasan !!).
1. Christian Fletcher - The American Ex CIA, also the ruthless villain in this movie. This is the best to me. He enters the movie just after the first 10 minutes and stays (rocks rather) till the end. The highlights being the scene he kills Mallika Sherawat, when he hits a biker on the road and of course the climax when he dies.
2. Balram Naidu - The RAW officer from AP. He just carries the first half on his shoulders and helps in the humour department with his Telugu - Tamil dialect. His expressions and mannerisms are just great.
3. Grandma Krishnaveni - A typical Agraharam old widow patti. The humour (s)he brings in during the movie and the mourning scene in the climax are the highlights.
4. Vincent Poovaraghan - The South TamilNadu-Kerala guy. He secures this place for his dialect of Tamil and the mannerisms again. It took me sometime to realize that he was KamalHasan.
5. Rangaraja Nambi - The 12th century Veera Vaishnavaite who lives and dies in the first 10 minutes. I couldn't really place the significance of this historical event in the entire movie's context, Kamal rocks even in this. This will remind people of HeyRam a bit. Also, the Kulothunga Chozhan episode and Nambi becoming a Vaishnavaite martyr are a bit hard to believe. However, the initial disclaimer said that the movie is a mixture of history and fiction. So no complaints and no controversies :)
6. Japanese - I don't remember the name though. This guy adds the revenge/sister sentiment aspect to the movie. He scores for his prowess in martial arts and the way he lived as a typical Japanese guy well within himself.
7. George Bush - The make up was wonderful. Really looked like Bush in some places. Surprisingly, he was used as a humour element in the movie. This needn't have been Kamal but neways a good one.
8. Khaleefullah - The 7 ft tall Tamil muslim role. I rate him at 8 because he doesn't play any major part in the script. Also, this again could have been any one else. Not to undermine the innocent humour he brought in during the middle stages of the movie.
9. Avatar Singh - Again no real role. But nice to see Jayapradha and Kamal Hasan together (in yet another blood cancer related storyline :) ).
In spite of the Hifi concepts like bio weapons, chaos theory/butterfly effect, historical events etc. there is no dearth for good (not crass at all)humour (thanks to roles 2,3,4,7,8 and of course Govind) in the script (Kamal Hasan's script reminded of Crazy Mohan's in many places - Hats off !!).
I now realize this blog is pretty long and also became a movie review- sorry about that. Just for completion sake - "So I go with 4 out of 5 and 2 thumbs up for Dasavatharam" ;)
Cheers!!
