Dasavatharam and Dasavatharam: An analogy

Below is a very meticulously thought out analogy between Kamal's Dasavatharam and Lord Vishnu's Dasavatharam formulated by my friend Yagna. Very well done indeed.

The 10 avatars described in movie Dasavatharam

1 Krishna avatar - Vincent Poovaraghavan Lord krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned [shyamalam]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated and he was the actual diplomat in mahabharatham. Lord krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look at how vincent was introduced.. he appears when asin is about to be molested and he saves her like draupadi. Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his leg. Oh even five of vincent's men are drugged at P. Vasu's.. sounds familiar???

2 Balarama avatar - Balarama naidu This is an easy given. as the name suggests and the role personifies you can easily get it.

3 Mathsya avatar - Rangaraja nambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save lord from being thrown into sea, though vainly. what more clue do you want?

4 Varaha avatar - Krishnaveni paatti During the mukunda song, krishnaveni paatti does varaha avatar in the shadow puppetry. The frame freezes on it for a second. there is the clue. Moreover, in varaha avatar lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here too krishnaveni hides the germs - life form inside the statue so as to protect.

5 Vamana avatar - Kalifulla khan remember in vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant kalifulla here symbolises vamana avatar.

6 Parasurama avatar - Christian Fletcher Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the real KILLER… Guess what thats what our Fletcher is! He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for ax] and kills everyone around. I have to check out if he really kills 21 people though.

7 Narasimha avatar - Shingen Narahashi first of all the name itself is a play on the words singam [means lion in tamil] and narasimha [the avatar being symbolised]. Lord Narasimha manifests himelf to kill the bad guy and he also teaches prahaladha. In the movie, he shows up to kill the killer fletcher! and is also a teacher.. Lord Narasimha had to kill the asura with bare hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.. get it?

8 Rama avatar - Avatar Singh Lord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of symbolising true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.

9 Kalki avatar - Govindaraj Ramasamy As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!

10 Koorma avatar - George Bush This is the most loose adaptation I couldn't clearly comprehend. But if you look at the real koorma avatar, the lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras. Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom…
May be Kamal also indicates that.

Dasavatharam: Movie Review - When more is better

Awesome! That was my reaction when the movie ended amidst sounds of "Ulaga Nayagane" and snippets of the make-up magic that went behind the scenes to develop this magnum opus. Finally a Tamil movie that connects chaos theory/intelligent design with bio-warfare, sand-poaching, Tsunami and god. Tough job, but in the end the screenplay and direction ensure that the movie comes out trumps!

I am a great fan of Kamalhassan and I am also his greatest critic when he ruins some of his best movie concepts with his over enthusiastic ego (e.g., Anbe Sivam). But I must say that I was blown out of my mind with Dasavatharam.

The movie starts off in the 12th century, highlighting the conflict between saivites and vaishnavites under the rule of Kulothunga Cholan and it caught me by surprise that religious persecution had reached such heights during the perceived golden rule of the Cholas, perhaps a gentle reminder that history is written by the victor and not the vanquished. The first 20 minutes take the audience to dizzying heights of grandiose and kick start the story, albeit with aroused curiosity and confusion in the minds of the audience.

The movie then moves to the state-of-the-art biological sciences labs in the US where a virus and its side effects are graphically demonstrated. Needless to say, the virus falls into the hand of the bad-boys and what follows next is a classic chase story that takes the viewer from the streets of Washington DC to the agraharams of Chidambaram, touching Japan on its way and finally culminating in the beaches of Chennai with the Tsunami of 2004.

Along the way we encounter a multitude of Kamals (10, to state the obvious), some of which are exceptionally portrayed and will linger in our memories for eternity. The one who casts a lasting impression on us is Indian RAW agent Balram Naidu who is outright brilliant with his Telugu accented Tamil and comic timing and is on par with the Palakkad brahmin from Michael Madana Kama Rajan. Next is Chris Fletcher , a former CIA agent who chases Govind, the scientist Kamal who is trying to chase down the virus. Fletcher's accent and body language blows you away and he reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the Terminator movies with his shades, jacket, Harley and robot-like assassin mannerisms. Poovaragan, as a social activist stands out with his Nellai Tamil and exemplary body language, while the Japanese kung fu exponent comes close in this avatar race with terrific make-up. Kamal as President Bush is funny and authetic with his accent and IQ level I won't be surprised if Kamal has spawned a million Bushisms in India. My favorite dialogue is when Bush is briefed by his scientific aide on the effects of the virus and Bush says - "Don't explain if it is complicated!". The rest, apart from an aptly named Sardar, Avtaar singh, fail to make an impression but the movie compensates for it with crisp dialogues that are funny and intelligent and amazing action sequences that are on par with Asian/Hollywood movies.

Himesh Reshammiya's songs are good (especially since I listened to them after I saw the movie) and are expertly placed in the screenplay to carry the story forward. Kallai mattum and Mukunda stand out while O Sanam fits in well with the screenplay. Asin as the brahmin girl is effective, albeit irritating at times. Overall, credit must go to K.S. Ravikumar and Kamal for spinning a yarn that connects historical events, interspersing them with enjoyable scenes, songs, dialogues and stunts and for keeping the pace up, with distractions like Mallika Sherawat kept to the minimum. Watching the movie with my PhD-in-Biological-Sciences wife only confirmed that the research in the movie was fool-proof. (Spoiler Alert! - it was indeed a master-stroke to let the Tsunami produce the salt required to neutralize the virus).

There is a strong under-current of philosophy with the classic atheism vs. theism conflict reminiscent of Anbe Sivam, but Kamal does a good job of leaving it to the viewer to make up his mind by presenting two characters on either side of the fence. He also leaves the religious persecution bit to interpretation:

1. Man disposes against the will of nature, and nature restores equilibrium

2. Religious persecution existed in the 12th century (not to mention the crusades and the holocaust) and continues to haunt us today in the form of jihad, hindutva and the pseudo war on terror

Verdict: 8/10 overall - While the film deserves perfect Das (10) for make-up, dialogues, stunts and effort, some of the avatharams could have been better thought out. Truly international film from a truly international actor.

BMW Gina - the future car

This was on Wired, and it's already been made popular on Digg, but it's amazing so I am blogging about it.

BMW's new concept car, the GINA Light Visionary Model, has a body made from futuristic fabric, rather than metal. We don't know what happens in the event of a crash or a fire, but we do know that it looks totally revolutionary. And at one point in the video, the car seems to be alive.



You might also take a look at this piece on MIT architecture lecturer Sheila Kennedy, who's creating designs for flexible photovoltaic materials, which could lead to the construction of soft, solar-powered houses.

Apple unveils the new 3G iPhone: "twice as fast at half the price"

The wait is finally over. For all us Apple fans, who have been waiting for a cheaper yet faster version of the iPhone that is 3G compatible, the word is finally out.

Apple(R) today introduced the new iPhone 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built
with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.

iPhone 3G will also be available in more than 70 countries on July 11. Having waiting for 2 months since my contract expired so that I can lay my hands on this coveted piece of gadgetry, I am just thrilled.

"Just one year after launching the iPhone, we're launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year."

iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds.

Amazon Kindle: The future of book reading

With everything going "e" and "m", it was only a matter of time before the Gutenbergian document migrated to the electronic world. The recently released Amazon Kindle is one of many devices (Sony Reader is another one) that are trying to iPodify the ancient habit of book reading and from the reviews in CNET it looks like it does succeed.

But as with music, it is again, only a matter of time before it gets bundled with cell phones just like the iPod got bundled with the iPhone.

At launch the Kindle was priced at $399 but as of May 27, 2008 it now retails for $359.

Obama vs. Clinton

Hillary Clinton's quest to secure the presidential nomination has been an historic one. Despite a flawed campaign strategy, an inadequate (though massive) amount of funding, and some arguably sexist treatment from the media, she pressed on. On June 3, the night that Senator Barack Obama secured the nomination, she spoke to her supporters.





Her supporters exhibit some remarkable conviction. If she isn't on the ballot this November, will they really abstain from voting? Will they vote against the Democratic party on principle? We'll find out in five months.

Gas Price: $8/gallon

Chris Pummer of MarketWatch offers eight reasons why paying $8 for gasoline would actually do us a world of good. Seriously.