Review of DASAVATHARAM
Throughout his career, legendary star Kamal Hassan has played everything from an old woman to a midget. With Dasavatharam, he's gone and outdone himself by playing no less than 10 different characters! And he remains a delight to watch on screen, with or without prosthetics.
Dasavatharam is the most highly anticipated Tamil film this year, and it's easy to see why. It's historic in many ways - huge budget, huge amount of special effects, and of course, Kamal Hassan's career-solidifying performances. This is his vehicle, his magnum opus, his mightiest achievement so far, and his fans will have a ball trying to figure out which character is him.
It would not be much fun to write a proper synopsis for the movie; I'd rather audiences go into it with little knowledge. They'd kept the story a secret throughout the movie's production, and in a way, with all that the movie has going for it, withholding the story is far more effective than any Hollywood viral marketing. It also helps that Dasavatharam has an awesome trailer. Suffice it to say, the story is almost a sprawling "epic," that begins in ancient times of evil kings and heroic Brahmins, then fast-forwards to 2004. It's part fantasy, part-sci-fi, part-action adventure, part-crime-thriller, part-disaster movie etc. I could go on. It also spans the globe, from America to India and even Japan. Not only that, you get to see Kamal Hassan fighting, in bike chases, car chases, singing, dancing, on ledges of tall buildings, falling off construction sites, you name it. The best part of it all is probably seeing Kamal Hassan fighting himself!
While at times the special effects may not seem top-notch, it's a wonder to see how much work has been put into this movie. The digital composites, the way they choreographed the movements of the camera and the actors, especially when Kamal Hassan's multiple characters appear together in a single frame ... and move about, criss-crossing each other! It's really better and more seamless than what Zemeckis did with Michael J. Fox's multiple roles in Back To The Future II. But it's not all just a gimmick. Even when the prosthetics don't really work (especially when Kamal's playing George W. Bush), it's his acting skills that pulls it all off convincingly. These are multiple characters with different traits, gaits, ticks and quirks. It must have been incredibly taxing on the actor, given that he had to also endure hours of prosthetic make-up application. They managed to make him taller, shorter, fatter, thinner, older, younger.
The action here almost never lets up, with the film moving off at lightspeed from the get-go. When the action does slow down, it's the great chemistry between Kamal and Asin, who plays a village girl who thinks Kamal's character Govinda is a terrorist, and their very funny banter that provide the entertainment. Cameos from various familiar faces like Jayapradha, K.R.Vijaya, Rekha, Chitti Babu, and more, also keep things interesting. The wordplay in the dialogue is also hilarious, and thankfully the clever translation in the English subtitles retain much of the humour although some parts may have been un-translatable and different in English.
While some may find the use of a real-life environmental tragedy in the movie a little too provocative, the story however, attempts to evoke a profound sense that all things in this world are interconnected, but whether you want to call it God's will or simply just Chaos Theory is really up to you as an individual. In doing so, the story crams a LOT into the movie's running time, dealing with everything from racism, religious ideals, environmental concerns, socio-political issues, etc.
But in the end, all that matters little because this is essentially a Kamal Hassan movie for Kamal Hassan fans. And boy, will they be delighted. It's already a joy to try and spot him under all that make-up, and the audience I saw it with played the guessing game excitedly throughout. This may not be his best film, but it's a formidable addition to his filmography and to Indian cinema in general.
