 Dasavatharam
The film opens with a bird's eye view of Chennai and takes the audience to the past the 12th century. In Chidambaram, Vaishnavaites and Shaivaites are in perpetual conflict with the former taking the position that Lord Vishnu is supreme and the Shaivaites being steadfast in their faith in Shiva. King Kulothunga Chozhan (Napoleon), a Shaivaite, forces Nambi (Kamal Hassan), a staunch Vaishnavite, to worship Shiva. As Nambi rebels, the king sentences him to death. On the orders of the King, his soldiers throw Nambi into the oceans tied to a stone image of Lord Vishnu. Nambi's wife Kothai (Asin) also dies from shock.
After this meaningless first avatar, the movie shifts to the present scientific world. Govind (Kamal Hassan), an American scientist invents a dangerous bio weapon in his lab but wants to destroy the same after realizing its dangerous consequences. But the US Govt and scientists don't allow him to do that. One fine day, Govind runs away from the lab with the bio weapon but Fletcher (Kamal Hassan), a former CIA officer turned villian, chases him to get the weapon back to destroy other countries.
The weapon is mistakenly sent to an Indian address by courier where a 95 year old lady (Kamal Hassan) receives the parcel. Govind immediately rushes to India and traces down the address. He is followed by Fletcher who is accompanied by his prostitute cum translator (Mallika Sherawat). The old lady refuses to give the weapon to them without understanding the danger it could cause and puts it inside a statue of Lord Vishnu.
The scientist captures the statue and starts running with it pulling Asin close relative of the old lady, along with him. Fletcher chases him till the end of the film. A foolish police officer Balram Naidu (Kamal Hassan) too is in the race always chasing both these characters.
In between a Punjabi singer (Kamal Hassan), US President George Bush(Kamal Hassan), a tall Muslim (Kamal Hassan), a martial arts trainer (Kamal Hassan) and a Southern district resident Annachi (Kamal Hassan) comes, does something and disappears.
Finally the tsunami comes to the rescue of the Scientist and destroys the weapon along with drowning Fletcher . The statue of Lord Rangaraja which was immersed in the sea in 12th century also appears on the shore after the tsunami.
Kamal Haasan has essayed 10 different roles s the title suggests. However, his best performance is as that of scientist Govind, followed by other avatars like a priest, George bush, Fletcher, chief of Raw, a pop singer, social activist, old lady etc. He is also very god in all the action scenes.
Music by Himesh Reshamiya is good. The production values are world class and the graphics work is really impressive.
The storyline is pretty simple but the screenplay is quite engrossing, particularly in the first half. The magnificent period sets of 12th century are really majestic and impressive. The re-recording work by Devi Sree Prasad is also good.
Computer Generated Imagery plays a huge role in the film. When the same actor plays seven feet plus youth and an old woman who is barely five feet, one can imagine the kind of intensive scaling and image manipulation by the CG team. Recreation of the 2004 Tsunami is impressive and the action part weaves the intensity of the story.
The direction has been apt sticking to the script in the true sense of the term. K. S. Ravikumar known for his simple style of narration has not been himself with ‘Dasavatharam’, but has shown sparks of ingenuity.
Kamal Haasan has stuck to his favorite subject of the 'no God' debate in this film too and has glorified himself probably for the first time on screen with a dialogue directed at him as being the 'Ulaga Nayagan'.
** Average **
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