Dasavatharam (2008)

Vow! Fantastic. An fast paced action thriller, this is the best Indian movie ever........

A movie, which I went into the theatre with little expectation, came out with such enjoyment that, I am planning to see it again. In the world of cinema no one has acted in 10 varied roles in one movie. Most of the 10 characters were portrayed with such diligence with only few not up to the mark (in comparison with others, but by itself they are good).

You don't need to be anyone's fan to watch this movie. Just go and watch with no threads attached and you won't be disappointed. You cannot expect a great screenplay in a movie such as these, as 10 characters have to be intercepted without logic. A clean entertainment in the ropes of Hollywood style computer graphics and action.

Fmovies: Dasavatharam is spectacular What a super human effort! That will be the first reaction of any normal film buff who watches Kamal Haasan's Tamil magnum opus, Dasavathaaram. The film is certain to thrill and entertain the audience for all of its 165 minutes, making them feel that they are watching something unusual and spectacular on screen. The film starts off with an incident that occurs in the 12th century when Shaivite intolerance against Vaishnavites was at its peak. An ardent Vishnu devotee loses his life to save the idol of Lord Ranganatha. Kamal plays his first role of Vishnu devotee Rangarajan in this episode which is marked by excellent technical work and the actor's extraordinary performance.

"Kallai mattum kandaal kadavul theriyaadhu, Kadavul mattum kandaal kalladi theriyaadhu." With these words starts the movie Dasaavathaaram, which means "If you see stone, you cannot see God. If you see God, you cannot see the stone behind it." Kamal Haasan may have excelled in ten different roles in the movie, but his 11th role as a script writer, according to me dominates the film. His rationalist thinkings dominate the theme of the film. Does God exist? If He exists, then why such inequalities and turmoil in the world? God created Man, but Man created temples and idols, caste, creed, races, religion and differentiated within himself and this has resulted in the current agony facing mankind. So explains the scriptwriter in this film.

The movie starts excellently with the breathtaking story of Rangaraja Nambi, a devotee of Lord Vishnu who gives up his life for Lord Vishnu in the Shiviite - Vaishnaviite battle. Here Kamal asks questions as to why Rangaraja Nambi died? Was it due to the Lord or the man made differences between Shiviites and Vaishnaviites. The movie goes along these lines and explores all the differences - the caste differences portrayed by Dalit Kamal Vincent Poovaraghavan, the Muslim Hindu differences portrayed by Muslim Kamal Kalifulla Khan. The differences in the world leading to the emergence of the terrorists which gives rise to the 9/11 bombings and the quest by the US to develop biological weapons after that, which threatens mankind.

Here Kamal portrays himself as scientist as Govindaraj Ramaswamy. He playes as the US President Bush also, which looks a bit comical. Some evil men take advantage of these differences as portrayed by the character Christian Fletcher also acted brilliantly by Kamal and are out to destroy mankind. Scientist Govind takes it upon himself to destroy the biological weapon and is prevented by all the evil forces. A Sikh singer Avatar Singh, affected by cancer and is shown to get caught between Govind and Fletcher in which Fletcher shoots Avatar Singh accidentally and the same bullet helps Avatar Singh from cancer. The Sikh family of Avatar Singh thanks their God for the divine help. Here too the writer Kamal resurfaces to show how man made events playing a role in the life of man are attributed to God. The Muslims including Kamal Kalifulla Khan who are illegally detained in a mosque by an hilarious RAW officer Balarama Naidu are saved by the Tsunami in the climax of the film. So did Allah save them, Kamal questions. The upper castes drowned by the Tsunami are saved by the Dalits but the Dalit leader Vincent Poovaraghavan gets drowned himself. So did God not do justice to him? Kamal again asks.

The Tsunami finally saves the world from the biological weapons. Asin, the heroine of the film thanks the Lord for saving the world from this dalamity. At this point, the scientist Govindaraj Ramaswamy questions her "Did God really act as savior, when several thousands have also died by the very Tsunami." Though Kamal shows the Tsunami to be the savior in this film, he also symbolically questions the reason behind the Tsunami. The man made differences leading to quest for scientific inventions going against the forces of Nature gives rise to such global warming and Tsunamis. So man in a way is destroying mankind in the name of God, whether be it in the 12th century or the 21st century. This is the underlying message of the film conveyed beautifully through a fast paced plot where Govind Ramaswamy the scientist is chased down by the villain Fletch

Dasavatharam fmovies. an instance for chaos theory....the statuette hits ocean beds....beneath the bed develop faults....faults run for kilometers say upto indonesia ....and pressure builds up....for almost 800 years.....at last it unleashes....triggers tsunami....to save lives???? the above 3 lines is my opinion of the plot of dasaavatharam....yours may be different....if this is not art then what is???? the creative genius of kamal haasan has been unleashed to an audience who have witnessed thousand odd duets,thousand odd cheap fights and few good movies as well.music was good and the make up was not upto the standard that kamals earlier films had set.perhaps he felt the pressure of the time this project took.ravi varman deserves mention.asin was irritating at times and of the ten three to four roles was not enjoyed.and like this the film may contain many flaws if not less but kamal stands as tall as kalifulla khan does before these flaws.dasaavatharam may or may not be a commercial success but it is time for the world to stand up and congratulate this artist.

(First of all, I'm not a Fanboy) How could a movie in which One Man In Ten Roles be bad/not good?

I agree that, the story line is not that strong as we expected. It has got only a basic thread (but) onto which the ten characters have been BEAUTIFULLY interlaced.

The Movie is a VISUAL TREAT (100%). It is worth the money you pay for.

If you want to experience the full thrill of the movie, don't read any summaries/synopsis nor read about the Ten Characters of Mr. Kamal in the film. If you've read about those different characters before watching the movie, You've already missed a great part of the thrill.

Some characters of him, (I'm not mentioning since it has to be experienced) are SO PERFECT that you'll take time to convince your mind that it's Mr. Kamal itself.

Now into the movie. There are shots, where 3 or more characters of Mr. Kamal interact with each other. (not to mention a shot which took 20 days where Mr. Kamal kicks Mr.Kamal!!)

Though, you might get slightly bored during the half hour just before the intermission, the events after the intermission are enough and more to pull you back into the movie. Especially, the Tsunami Sequence is the best. Perfectly shot sequence. Also there are some Hollywood-class Car Chases including Choppers (which are a rare thing in Indian Cinemas).

Overall, I recommend this movie. Be proud that this happened in Indian Cinema.

Thank You. (I've not mentioned any incident/event so as not to spoil the thrill. It has to be experienced).

I have read many user comments here and i don't know why they were disappointed by the film. This movie holds you up throughout the film. Wow awesome! Kamal excels donning ten roles with gr8 efforts differentiating each one through a different slang and body language. The movie is a racy thriller which has very right mixture of action and comedy and is splendid because of kamal's acting, makeups(one or two makeups are not very pleasing though),crazy's sensible and witty dialogues,special effects and all.I want to remind people that like any other film Dasavatharam is also a 'film' which is intend to satisfy all type of movie lovers. The plot may appear simple but the way it is portrayed in a thrilling way throughout without any flaws, introducing each role at appropriate time with most of them strongly connected to the main story(though i feel one or two characters not very needed to the film,we can give it up as they don't deviate you from the plot)is really superb.

Hello movie goers, don't even think to miss this movie. Go for the movie mainly for KamalHaasan who has taken really painful efforts and excelled in all ten lovable characters and i promise the movie will hold you up providing a 3 hour non stop entertainment in terms of action,special effects,comedy and a thrilling adventure no matter any genre lover you are..