Kamal Haasan... Kamal Haasan... Kamal Haasan... sry... I cant type it 10 times...!!! The very feeling of typing a word 10 times makes me lazy.
But, just imagine, a man has done 10 roles in a single movie, with different make-up, body language and speech accent....!!!!
What more can i say, Kamal is just,
HARD WORK PERSONIFIED !!!
Dasavatharam--- Its Kamal haasan's show all through !!!! The movie is a show of grandeur. Kamal makes it beyond the ordinary. His sheer audacity, magnificence and histrionics are simply spellbinding. And creativity is given new dimensions.
The Storyline
The Story Line For Dasa is very Simple, its just a TWO LINER. People might say there's hardly any story in the movie. But i feel the screenplay is the story by itself (Kamal's 11th Avathar) has been done really intelligently.
In a movie having 10 roles, the only thing to think about or expect in a story is, " How exactly are all the 10 roles binded together to a single thing, well mostly co-incidentally binded". As a matter of fact even in real life, the meeting of TEN different varied people can be only co- incidental-- not a planned one. Well, this is what happens in the movie, which is supported by
CHAOS THEORY !!!
The film opens with a bird's eye view of Chennai were Kamal is giving a Speech, and takes the audience to the past -- the 12th century.
In Chidambaram, Vaishnavaites and Shaivaites are in perpetual conflict with the former taking the position that Lord Vishnu is supreme and the Shaivaites being steadfast in their faith in Shiva. King Kulothunga Chozhan (Napoleon), a Shaivaite, forces Nambi (Kamal), a staunch Vaishnavite, to worship Shiva. As Nambi rebels, the king sentences him to death. On the orders of the King, his soldiers throw Nambi into the oceans tied to a stone image of Lord Vishnu. Nambi's wife Kothai (Asin) also dies from shock.
From this 12th century episode, the story moves to the 21st century. Action begins in the United States where Govindaraj is part of a team of scientists working on a virus. If exposed to the elements it can spread rapidly and kill millions of people. Coming to know of it, baddies (again a team led by Kamal, this time as Christian Fletcher, a former CIA agent) try to acquire it to use it in a bio-war. By mistake, the virus comes in a parcel to India. Govindaraj and Fletcher come to India looking for the parcel which has reached Chidambaram. Suspecting that Govindaraj has taken away the deadly virus, US President Bush (he too is Kamal), asks the Indian Government to apprehend him.
In his journey to find the parcel containing the virus and destroy it, Govindaraj meets Andal (Asin) who is a staunch Vaishnavaite, Krishnaveni Paati, a 90-year-old woman; a tall and innocent Muslim youth, Kaifullah Khan; a Punjabi pop singer, Avatar Singh; a Dalit leader, Vincent Poovaragan; a Japanese martial arts teacher Shingen Narahashi; and an intelligence official (RAW) of the Government of India, Balaram Naidu (all Kamals). The virus eventually falls into the hands of Fletcher. Who swallows it and dies when the intelligence official corners him with a gun. Then tsunami strikes Chennai inundating a stretch of the seashore in Chennai. Poovaragan (Kamal) drowns in the sea while being engaged in rescue operations.
THE 10 Roles
Kamal shows his versatility in all the roles. Every frame is an experience in itself. Each of the characters played by Kamal has a different skin tone and a different make-up. The lingo also varies from character to character, making each role distinctly different.
Kamal as said earlier, has spun a "TWO LINER Story" thats has complex concepts (Chaos Theory/Butterfly effects etc.,) for the common man to comprehend in their own way. People who look it in a more intellectual view point will definitely appreciate his effort !!!
Kamal has really excelled in his eleventh role of the screenplay writer. It had so many "micro woven" intricate details and instances which i cant imagine that any normal script writer can think of. Its such a fantastic subject that mixes intelligence with commercial ingredients. It requires an extraordinary intelligent mind to write the sequences some of which are food for thought to the intellectuals as well as ordinary people.
Action packed chases, entry of every new character of Kamal in regular intervals, and a racy scene every now and then made me feel the movie really entertaining. Beyond all .......the KAMAL FACTOR just made me awestruck, missing many dialogues gaping at KAMAL's acting !!
Guys who complain about the story, make-up and graphics are expecting tooooo much from an Indian(tamil) movie!! High expectations are natural because the actor is the GREAT Kamal Haasan. But if someone is expecting graphics to the standard of 'Lord of the Rings' in a tamil movie, then thats foolish. This movie has got visual effects which no other indian movie has produced! Its a pure visual treat! This movie has taken tamil/indian movies to the next level. And finally, the movie is made for TAMIL audience!
I read someone writing this movie might not run in B/C center. But, I personally felt it will be a huge success in B/C centers.Its guys like us who have watched all these hollywood movies complain about the graphics / story / screenplay.From a normal tamil film viewer point of view this is gonna be a sure visual treat.
The greatest thing about DASA is,
Case 1:
If u see it just as a just another movie, without pondering much about logic and storyline, looking for entertainment and gloss, you will love the movie as a COMMERCIAL RACY ENTERTAINER....!!!
Case 2:
ALSO if u see it in a more INTELLECTUAL ANGLE, U love it EVEN MORE appreciating
KAMAL's Brilliance ...!!!
Well, each movie has its commercial flaws, but there are a hundred things which you would appreciate in the movie and film making, that those minuscule flaws are clearly overshadowed.
Case 3:
If u r Midway, Thinking about logic, but not knowing much about CHAOS THEORY AND
BUTTERFLY EFFECT, then u might find the movie damp.
Being mid way is always a problem wherever. No one can be blamed for that !!!
You have to be one of the first two cases not the third one to really like the movie...!!!
