Friday the 13th

June 13 will always be close to my heart for more reasons than one. No other day in recent memory caut my attention as much as this day does, for it happens to be the BIRTHDAY of some one special. Yeah, DASAVATHARAM [:)] saw the light of day.

This was in the making for more than 2 years given its magnitude. There is no denying the effort that has gone into this masterpiece. The top technicians in the industry not only came together, but also gave their heart and soul in pursuit of creative excellence on a never seen before scale.

No one could have put it better than the man himself about his movie – Dasavatharam. In an interview to NDTV, Kamal remarked that they had thrown the ball as high as they could. Whether it would be a six or a four, they were all anxious to know. “But definitely not less than three”, he was undoubtedly excited.

Well, his efforts seem to ve paid off. Yes, Dasavatharam is certainly a milestone in Indian cinema. Kamal has once again proved that he is the FINEST actor in the country beyond doubt.
No other actor can pull off so many roles with aplomb, whether it is the 12th century vaishnavaite who gets tied to the Vishnu idol and thrown in to the sea or the scientist who is working on a bio weapon or the terrorist who is after it or the cop who is trying to unravel the mystery. I am clearly spoilt for choice. Screenwriting is one of the highlights of the film & Kamal has lived up to his billing .He has succeeded in painting Science, philosophy, religion on the canvas where each is succinctly different from the other. The dialogues need a special mention here. Some of them were of highest quality like “Remember Hiroshima”, the American terrorist tells the judo expert. “Remember Pearl Harbour” is the retort. I cudnt help but rewind to HEYRAM where a similar dialogue drew my attention (Kamal says “ I am a normal civilian “, “ But this is civil war “ was the repartee from Atul Agnihotri). This is another facet of this genius that he isn’t known for.

However, the film is not complete. Certain scenes r misplaced. At times the director appears confused. Some characters were unnecessary and some, inadequate. One would have expected Kamal to do his homework well before attempting something of this enormity. Given his track record, it would be hard to think otherwise. At certain places the writer was trying to out score the director. Kamal would be ruing his inability to play the characters other than his 10 -the ones that were played by asin, jayapradha, etc. Such was his domination & performance.
The weakest link in this film has to be himesh Reshammiya.Music is ordinary. Only couple of songs r passable. This film is certainly a feather on kamal’s CROWN. . Kamal, certainly, thinks ahead of his times, but technology is finding it hard to catch up with him. The film wud ve been even better had the climax been a bit slick. The Tsunami scenes were depicted extremely well. Two avatars certainly stand out –Balram Naidu, who did a neat job of mimicking to perfection TS Balaiyya and the 12th century vaishnavite priest, the latter’s performance wud drive even an atheist to the temple.

I felt Kamal shud ve spent more time on the editing table. The film cud ve been pruned further. Overall, it’s an excellent film, which is very different in every possible way from the mundane ones that release every friday. It’s a must watch film for every movie buff who craves for mature movies.

One can hate “DASAVATHARAM”, but NONE can ignore it.

P.S: Even thou I am a Kamalhassan FANATIC, I ve curbed my strong innate bias and tried to be as fair as possible while writing this article.