Nov 04, 2009 04:17 PM
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Dasavatharam -More than a year in the making, “Ulaga Nayagan” playing 10 different roles, Made in a whooping Budget of 65 crores and. and. a whole
lot of reasons which were ample enough to raise the anticipations for the movie.
No wonder the movie pulled in crowds of all sorts and the theatre was packed to the brim. Did the movie live it up? That’s a million dollar question which couldn’t have an assertive answer.
The movie starts with an event which happens during the Chola reign. The desperate attempts by a Vaishnavite priest to save Vishnu’s idol becomes futile when an overpowering king kills him by drowning him in the sea along with the idol. The next part of the movie which comes as a first person narration by the actor himself starts in the US in a biotech Lab. It’s where our Hero Govind(kamal) experiments on a Bio weapon. The first victim of this
bio-hazard happens to be a monkey. Owing to the ill implications caused by it’s misuse, the rest of the story is about how the Hero struggles to prevent it from falling into the hands of the evil. Well this one happens to be most omnipotent villain of all times in Tamil Cinema, Christian Fletcher, played by Kamal. Do mind to watch a different point of view of a natural calamity which shook us in the recent past in the climax.
The first 40 minutes of the movie keeps you glued to your seats transforming you to Hollywood style of movie with swift stunts and Hi-Fi events. The Japanese girl who plays Yuca deserves a special mention here. The good start seems to ebb away later in the movie when the vial is sent to India by mistake. Both the hero and the villain Kamal alongside Mallika Sherawat come to India to find the vial. Mallika plays the lady accomplice of Fletcher and
does an item number and few chasing scenes to her credit. The scenes where Govind tries to convince the old lady(kamal) and her grand-daughter Andal(Asin) to give him the vial makes you yawn. Infact, Asin seems to be much of nuisance in the movie chanting the same dialogue all along. She could be called the inevitable heroine since she has not much work but all tamil films ought to have a lady-love and so she has managed some screen space.
Kamal has once again proved his mettle by portraying 10 different roles. From the anguished Rangarajan Nambi to the Half lunatic ‘Patti’, From the stubborn Fletcher to the singer Avatar singh, you could witness the hardwork of the actor called “Kamal”. The actor’s immense research for each of the roles is very much evident from the nativity slang of each of the characters. Not to forget the make-up for the ten though some minor flaws in some of them.
The Japanese guy, Vincent Poovarahan, Fletcher are just awesome and keep you spell bound with their performances.
Most of the veteran Actors like Nagesh, K.R. Vijaya, Jaya Pradha .etc. and even a few of the avatars of “Kamal” come in as guest appearances making the viewers realize that they are the desperate attempts by the director to justify the title “ Ten Avatars “. The crew seemed to have left no stones unturned in bringing out the Ten roles but have quite failed to pull strings for a strong story base.
The second half of the movie is much like a collage of characters just as a tantamount to showcase the talent of the Actor. If in Sivaji’s “Navarathiri”, the story demanded nine different roles(navarasa’s), here in Dasavatharam you could find 10 roles desperately finding their way to fit in to form a story. This happens to be the major pitfall of the movie. Owing to this, the meticulous efforts taken seemed to have rendered a squander instead.
Both Himesh Reshmaiya and Devi Sri Prasad have done their parts well. Mukundah. Mukundah. is a noteworthy melody and Kallai Mattum kandal is quite strong on https://lyrics.
But a mistake has been made in the Mukunda song. It's "varaga" avatar which is depicted but the song says "koorma" avatar.
The cinematography and the art direction are on par with Hollywood and so is the graphics. Even with a lot of impeccable positives the movie is quite short to have struck a high note.
So to say “ Penny wise Pound foolish”- The crew could’ve concentrated more on the bigger picture rather than the smallest of the details!
