Dasavatharam - why you should watch it.
Why should you watch Dasavatharam? First off, just to watch Kamal get into the skin of each of the 10 characters he portrays, the mannerisms and body language that he gets perfectly for each character and the awesome dialogue delivery of each. The Telugu officer, Balram Naidu, is easily the best of the lot - brilliant comic timing, mannerisms and dialogue delivery. The old lady, the Dalit Christian (watch Kamal's fiery eyes act by themselves in this role), the Sikh, the Muslim and even the Japanese are all spot-on with their body language, accent and voice intonations. The ruthless assassin is well played out too, his entry sequence is racy. Second, the layers within the film - I seriously don't understand some of the reviewers who found flaws with the script and screenplay and who could not connect the first episode with the rest of the movie. Yes, the story, in a nutshell, is quite simple - vial lost, hero and assassin race to get hold of it, hero manages to stop assassin, vial destroyed, movie over. However, there are several other threads running within the movie - religion, politics, science, the environment and the list goes on. The underlying theme is chaos theory which links seemingly disparate events. At another level, the movie also questions if there is a force behind every occurrence in the world or not - did the sinking of the idol in the 12th century result in God venting his fury centuries later in the form of a tsunami, which, both, returns the centuries old sunken idol back to the shore, and neutralises the virus from the broken vial? If so, then why did God not prevent the virus from being developed in the first place? As the scientist Kamal says in the end, he never said that God did not exist, but only that it would be good if God really existed. There are several bits and pieces throughout the movie that pose this question - the sacred mark on a truck which saves scientist Kamal when he jumps from the bridge, the people who are herded into the mosque for interrogation and who are unwittingly saved from the wrath of the tsunami, the bullet that hits the sardarji's neck etc. At another level, the movie poses questions about our abuse of the environment - the sand mafia's constant erosion of sand and land from the coastal areas (which by the way, is still a major problem all over Tamil Nadu) despite the obvious risk of sea water incursion, the spiraling increase in government funding of weapons development etc. Or if you are just looking for plain entertainment, the movie still works well as a straightforward action movie with a hero and a villain. Third, the dialogues are splendid - whether it is the 12th century chaste Tamil, the Iyengar Tamil, the Telugu inflected Tamil or the northie accented Tamil, the dialogues are simply great. Incidentally, the dialogues have been penned by Kamal and not by Crazy Mohan as some reviewers seem to think. Fourth, the technical quality of the movie - the cinematography by Ravi Varman is awesome, the sets are brilliant (the 12th century portion is a visual treat) and some parts of the CGI are good (though we obviously have a long way to go before we can compare our CGI to even an average Hollywood special effects flick). Fifth, finally an Indian movie that gets rid off the typical romance routine, avoids the formula song and dance routines, and which blends the songs into the narrative seamlessly. The Mukunda Mukunda shadowgraphy bit is creatively done.
So what are the drawbacks in the movie? Clearly, a couple of the characters are not really necessary - the Muslim one could definitely have been removed from the movie. The Sikh character is another unnecessary addition (seriously, the bullet getting rid of the cancer? What were they thinking??) While the George Bush one may not have been necessary, it still is a treat to watch Kamal parody Bush (I loved the "can't we nuke it" line). Second, the Asin character (Andal) is a pain. Watching and hearing her repeatedly clamouring for the idol gets really irritating after a point. It would have been a lot better if they could have just toned down her character and made her more realistic. Third, the makeup for some of the characters is a letdown. The Muslim character, especially, is badly done. The ones for the Japanese and the old lady, though, were pretty good. It was hard to believe that the Japanese was not really a Japanese guy.
Despite these flaws, the movie is certainly a must-watch whether you are a Kamal fan or not. So make it to the nearest theatre and do not get misguided by reviews that tell you otherwise.
Why should you watch Dasavatharam? First off, just to watch Kamal get into the skin of each of the 10 characters he portrays, the mannerisms and body language that he gets perfectly for each character and the awesome dialogue delivery of each. The Telugu officer, Balram Naidu, is easily the best of the lot - brilliant comic timing, mannerisms and dialogue delivery. The old lady, the Dalit Christian (watch Kamal's fiery eyes act by themselves in this role), the Sikh, the Muslim and even the Japanese are all spot-on with their body language, accent and voice intonations. The ruthless assassin is well played out too, his entry sequence is racy. Second, the layers within the film - I seriously don't understand some of the reviewers who found flaws with the script and screenplay and who could not connect the first episode with the rest of the movie. Yes, the story, in a nutshell, is quite simple - vial lost, hero and assassin race to get hold of it, hero manages to stop assassin, vial destroyed, movie over. However, there are several other threads running within the movie - religion, politics, science, the environment and the list goes on. The underlying theme is chaos theory which links seemingly disparate events. At another level, the movie also questions if there is a force behind every occurrence in the world or not - did the sinking of the idol in the 12th century result in God venting his fury centuries later in the form of a tsunami, which, both, returns the centuries old sunken idol back to the shore, and neutralises the virus from the broken vial? If so, then why did God not prevent the virus from being developed in the first place? As the scientist Kamal says in the end, he never said that God did not exist, but only that it would be good if God really existed. There are several bits and pieces throughout the movie that pose this question - the sacred mark on a truck which saves scientist Kamal when he jumps from the bridge, the people who are herded into the mosque for interrogation and who are unwittingly saved from the wrath of the tsunami, the bullet that hits the sardarji's neck etc. At another level, the movie poses questions about our abuse of the environment - the sand mafia's constant erosion of sand and land from the coastal areas (which by the way, is still a major problem all over Tamil Nadu) despite the obvious risk of sea water incursion, the spiraling increase in government funding of weapons development etc. Or if you are just looking for plain entertainment, the movie still works well as a straightforward action movie with a hero and a villain. Third, the dialogues are splendid - whether it is the 12th century chaste Tamil, the Iyengar Tamil, the Telugu inflected Tamil or the northie accented Tamil, the dialogues are simply great. Incidentally, the dialogues have been penned by Kamal and not by Crazy Mohan as some reviewers seem to think. Fourth, the technical quality of the movie - the cinematography by Ravi Varman is awesome, the sets are brilliant (the 12th century portion is a visual treat) and some parts of the CGI are good (though we obviously have a long way to go before we can compare our CGI to even an average Hollywood special effects flick). Fifth, finally an Indian movie that gets rid off the typical romance routine, avoids the formula song and dance routines, and which blends the songs into the narrative seamlessly. The Mukunda Mukunda shadowgraphy bit is creatively done.
So what are the drawbacks in the movie? Clearly, a couple of the characters are not really necessary - the Muslim one could definitely have been removed from the movie. The Sikh character is another unnecessary addition (seriously, the bullet getting rid of the cancer? What were they thinking??) While the George Bush one may not have been necessary, it still is a treat to watch Kamal parody Bush (I loved the "can't we nuke it" line). Second, the Asin character (Andal) is a pain. Watching and hearing her repeatedly clamouring for the idol gets really irritating after a point. It would have been a lot better if they could have just toned down her character and made her more realistic. Third, the makeup for some of the characters is a letdown. The Muslim character, especially, is badly done. The ones for the Japanese and the old lady, though, were pretty good. It was hard to believe that the Japanese was not really a Japanese guy.
Despite these flaws, the movie is certainly a must-watch whether you are a Kamal fan or not. So make it to the nearest theatre and do not get misguided by reviews that tell you otherwise.