Jun 16, 2008 09:53 AM
9151 Views
(Updated Jun 19, 2008 01:40 AM)
Before I went and watched this movie, I read most of the reviews online and decided to bring in my own deductions of the movie.
Whenever I used to watch movies with intelligent scripts, I used to wonder if I will ever see a movie in India (and in Tamil since it's my mother tongue) that will make me think. Most of the times, I know what will happen in the climax when I see the first scene. Worst case, sometimes, I will know the climax based on who the actor of that movie is :-)
Dasavathaaram is the first Tamil movie that has made me think about the concept explained in the movie and say "Wow"! It's not easy to explain a scientific theory to an audience whose average intelligence is used to 6 songs, 4 fights and a retried storyline of one man saving the day.
So for those to want to appreciate this movie, please read about chaos theory or Butterfly Effect(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect) before you go and watch the movie. Chaos theory or "Butterfly effect" has been shown in movies like "It's a Wonderful Life", "The Jurassic Park" etc... Kamal does the same with Dasavathaaram. Butterfly effect is the technical notion of chaos theory which talks about how small variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. In Dasavathaaram, Kamal links what happened in 12th century to the what happens in the climax of the movie.
The movie starts with Kamal explaining chaos theory and taking the viewers to one such initial condition set in the 12th century. In the first scene, a priest is separated from his family and thrown into the sea for chanting "Om Namo Narayana". The story then take us to December 20th, 2004 (present) and in a bio research lab, a deadly virus is invented by scientist which could destroy millions (investment made by U.S for war against terror). Kamal, the scientist is trying to prevent the virus(stored in a vial) from falling into the wrong hands. What follows is a roller-coaster ride from USA to Chennai where the vial has set its course.
Along the way to finding the vial, we see the different avatars of Kamal interlinked with one another. Asin's character supports the scientist Kamal along the course of the happenings to save the idol that has the vial. The climax is set in the shores of a beach where the movie closes the loop that started in the 12th century (the end is so subtle, you need to watch closely to understand the link in the first scene)
The movie hinges on the ongoing debate between science and God and in the end leaves an open ended (I think it was pretty definite view point from Kamal) question on whether God exists. It's not an atheistic viewpoint, but rather an agnostic one. I will leave it to the viewers to reach their own conclusion.
Kamal, in 10 different characters, has proved once again that he can do anything with style and perfection by making each of them distinctive. My favorites were Balram Naidu, Fletcher, the Japanese and George W. Bush.
People can argue that not all 10 characters were needed in the script, but when did Tamil movie goers start giving importance to scripts :-)? I believe that Kamal implicitly tied his 10 characters to the 10 avatars Hindu mythology speaks about and in a random fashon. I am not an expert on mythology and hence I will just say that Kamal's spontaneity in brining uniqueness to each one of them is so admirable that I don't mind 10 of them being there in the movie. I can also argue that the USP for Dasavathaaram is Kamal doing 10 roles and so I think, we should take it as part of the entertainment package and leave it at that.
Asin was good and played her role sufficiently (she was really good in the first scene). The rest of the cast complements the script.
The technical portion of the movie is above par (in terms of Indian movie) even though there are a few glitches. Having said that, this is the closest we can come to for an Indian movie and it is a commendable effort. Re-recording and background score of the movie is mediocre (that's maybe, the theatre I watched the movie didn't have DTS) and songs barely reaching "average" ratings.
One flaw I would say, is the length of the movie. At least 30 mins of the movie could have been trimmed. By the time, we near the climax, most of the viewers would have forgotten about what Kamal explains in the first scene.
Overall, a good entertainer for everyone (if people understand the crux of the story) and an excellent effort by Kamal Hassan. Kudos to the Legend for giving us an intelligent script and a very good movie.
Spoiler Alert below : I have provided a link which reveals the plot and the story of the movie
Note: I got an email thread which provides FAQs on many questions asked on Dasavathaaram. You can find the post at https://mouthshut.com/diary/jbmrop/FAQs-on-Dasavatharam
