Jun 17 2008
Dasavatharam Movie Review Kamal Hassan in 10 Roles
Dasavatharam, the mega budgeted movie implies a strong message to the human kind, that there is no one powerful than the almighty. Hats off to the Director K.S. Ravikiran and powerful scripting of Kamal Hassan who have dared to do a movie like this. The movie is themed on the infinite and abounding love of the almighty God for mankind, who has time and again saved the earth and this time from the latest bio-tech invention that would destroy mankind. Kamal Hassan plays all the 10 roles in the movie with effervescence and exceptional brilliance depicting each character to its best.
The stage is set in the 12th Century wherein Rangarajan Nambi - A whole hearted and staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu, does not accept Lord Shiva to be the Lord. On the other hand powerful King Kulothunga (Napoleon) an ardent follower of Lord Shiva does not believe in Lord Vishnu and compels Nambi to be a follower of Lord Shiva. Nambi is imprisoned and asked to chant “Om Nama Shivaya” but refuses to obey, he chants “Om Namo Narayana”. Enraged the king sentences Nambi to death, throwing him in to the deep sea after being tied to the statue of Lord Vishnu, his wife Kothai (Asin) also kills herself.
After the tragic end of the first avatar the second part of story is shot in US as, Dr. Govind Ramaswamy a renowned Biotech American scientist invents a dangerous bio-warfare weapon and the consequences of it forces him to destroy it. His boss tries to sell the weapon to scrupulous people who can cause destruction to humanity, that where the story catches motion and revolves around rest of the 8 characters enacted by Kamal Hassan.
- Keith Fletcher - A Former CIA Officer, The Terminator
- George W. Bush - The American President
- Chinese Martial Arts Teacher - The Fighter
- Balram Naidu - Telugu Police Officer in the Chennai Police
- Avatar Singh - A Punjabi Pop Singer
- Krishnaveni Paati - An Old Woman
- Vincent Poovaraghan - The Dalit Activist
- Kalifullah Khan - A 10 feet tall humble Afghan.
Govind who manages to escape with the bio weapon heading to India, is followed by Fletcher and his Tamil interpreter wife (Mallika Sherawat), the story covers most of the continents and revolves around the rest of the characters like Balram Naidu, Avatar Singh, Krishnaveni Paati, Vincent Poovaraghan, Kalifullah Khan and Andal an Iyengar Brahmin girl who are incidentally caught in the mire of dangerous chase. All of the Ten Avtars do really build into the storyline , it’s the character of Balram Naidu and the character of Krishnaveni Paati which catches attention, but the rest are not to be outdone.
Asin has played a dual role in the film for the first time and looks cute in her role and has tried the typical Iyengar accent, but her repetition of dialogues gets a bit monotonous. Kamal Hassans make-up at times seems to be overdone at but his sincere efforts to portray himself in ten different role is worth an applause. Cinematography by Ravi Varman is commendable, music by Himesh Reshammiya is nothing great to talk about, director K.S. Ravikumar has put great efforts with the a wonderful script provided and tried his best not to get lax at any moment. The Tsunami climax has been shot extremely well where the movie ends with a flash back and the immersed statue of Lord Vishnu appears on the shore.
Overall the it’s a film with emotions, drama, comedy and some great action with a deep rooted message to the human kind, which seemingly is lost in todays films. Dasavatharam is another of Kamal Hassan creative best, recommended a watch……..
