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.