Dashaavataram: Incredibly Unoriginal
Satyaki Roy reviews Kamal Hasan’s Dashaavataram
Dashaavataram (2008)
The film has a beautifully unoriginal plot line. An Indian scientist in USA runs of with a dangerous biological weapon (or whatever it is they called it) for the fear of it falling into wrong hands, loses it, chases it. The villain chases him and the virus. In the end, the world is saved by the tsunami.
George Bush dances, Manmohan Singh shows his face, Jayalalitha saves the coastline from her helicopter and Karunanidhi is glorified with the sun behind him. If Mr. Haasan’s aim was to redefine trash, I must say, he has succeeded. And there is a twelfth century episode in the beginning, which though interesting in some ways, fails to make the vital connection with the rest of the story.
The dialogs are loaded with references which are interesting at times. But of what use if they fail in contributing to the dramatic build-up. Some of them are plain rubbish. Towards the end an American is fighting a Japanese. And the American asks, “remember Hiroshima?” The Japanese fighter retorts, “remember Pearl Harbor?”. How incredibly lame could a writer get? A few characters are good. The character of police officer Naidu is impressive. There Haasan stuck to the simple stuff and did it well.
Horrible visual effects assist further. A simple question. If you don’t have the money to get good effects work, why go for it? The action sequences, which are supposed to be the primary thrill device fail miserably.
a) An action sequence has to have some live chunks of well-executed action in such a film.
b) The basics of action lie in showing hit, and impact. Not in showing hit, then some rubbish visual effects, and then show a delayed impact from an odd angle.
c) Visual effects, when done badly, puts the audience off the entire sequence. They don’t feel it’s real and get bored.
d) Pacing is all important and has to be consistent. It cant be too fast or too slow, it can’t end too fast or begin oddly. Simple rules great men forget.
The music is between average and bad. What else does one expect out of Himesh Reshamiya? The heroine is difficult to ignore because she shouts throughout. In the end everyone dances and they show Kamal Haasan getting his make-up for the different roles. That itself goes on and on. Its great to see such a versatile actor in ten roles. But all that is secondary to the film as a whole. Which can best be described as utter, absolute trash.
People are still returning to the theaters. Just to see Kamal Haasan again. Why don’t they put him on a stage and sell tickets for looking at him sitting there. They will undoubtedly make more money and people will be happy.
Your Rating
(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)
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Hi Satyaki,
I liked what you have written not because I agree with it. I haven’t seen the film to agree or disagree with you. But after seeing the promos I instantaneously knew this is going to be one hell of a confused movie which is what your post also suggests. The reason I liked your post is because I was unsure how one would write a comprehendible post on a melee of 10 avtars and you succeeded in doing that
Dear Satyaki
Just now went through your detailed and intrestingly frank review of Dasavatharam. Let me first of all appreciate your valour in showing the nerve to slice up kamal hasan’s magnum opus. To be ableto do it against ‘the man’, and that too in India.(hope you have not written your review from some seaside cabin in the Caymans…!) is a great thing to say the least…We are so happy to have found our own Roger Ebert in you sir. Indians are now safer to go to cinemas, with you catching the very first shows of all the new releases and unveiling the evil within each of those devious plots of film makers to poison our citizens…….
All Hail Satyaki……..
your humble subject
Parthan a k a Satyakidasa
Ihad never seen a Tamil movie being from the UK and over here for work. I had heard so much about the movie that I went to see it. I have to say Its close to the worst movie I have ever seen. The heroine was the most annoying charachter ever. And frankly as for the various faces of Kamal Hussein and the make up I think Eddie Murphys multiple roles and make-up were better in a movie he did over 20 yrs ago.it was hilarious seeing the baddie getting beaten up with his sunglasses never being dislodged!! I’m sticking to Bollywood movies
its a pity that you have sliced the magnum opus into pittance. a real pity indeed. it is mr. hassan’s fault for not havin made a film that will appeal to the masses. but, that by no means makes this masterpiece a bad film. there are two types of films - the ones that are made for business purposes and the ones that are made for the sake of the art itself. Dasavathaaram falls into the second category. in my career as a film critic, i have seen some extraordinary films made with a near shoe-string budget. a good film, in my view, is great story-telling and a fantastic concept. period. the rest becomes immaterial. make-up, camera, editing and all the other blah is jus hand-holds this great concept and story to make it more presentable and likeable. the crux is what matters. i agree completely when u say it has shitty graphics and all that. even the screenplay is not somethin i’d expect from a stalwart like kamal…
look at the underlying concept. indian cinema has never before explored a concept such as chaos theory. the movie is based on chaos theory. simply put, it means, how what you are doin now, rite now, this moment, has an impact on someone somewhere else, somewhere in time. it means, nothing happens without reason… it also means, every damn thing in the world is interlinked. this is the reasoning behind dasavathaaram. the 16th century episode certainly had a link to the rest of the movie. the statue that was drowned back then, upset the tectonic plates of the earth and thsi caused the tsunami to happen in the 21st century. it is possible.
each of the ten avtars represent the real dashavatar if u notice keenly. so, before trashing something and tryin to critic it, make sure u understand what the film-maker is tryin to say. i agree that the movie dragged a bit and cud’ve been better in terms of structuring. but, that, by no means makes it a bad movie… i’d rate it with 4 stars…. for the simple reason that kamal has given us a fantastic insight into what likes beyond in the grand scheme of things in this universe…
http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=14695489
read vinod kumar’s post here… u’ll understand the movie better
and btw am NOT vinod kumar… i jus thot its an interestin post… tats all
The only thing I liked about the movie, considering that tamil cinema caters to crass taste, is that there was a attempt at randomization (challenging the ‘low’ minds) into trying to dabble with various facets through out the movie. The end was a little bizzare but it kind of achieved some phase locking to my mind.. to that extent i liked it… but the overall experience was something I hate to go through in any form..