June 23, 2008

Dasavatharam

Finally got to see the movie Dasavatharam. Reviews were not good and lot of people gave me all kinds of stories on how disconnected the 10 roles were and etc.. I decided to see for myself and I must say I am glad I did that. Kamal Haasan makes intelligent movies and its a treat to watch some of them.. they don't necessarily do well in box office but are entertaining alright. Hey Ram was one such film.

I am not going to give you the usual review - plot, story etc. Read standard review sites for that:). What struck me most with Dasavatharam was the details.. they were there, so subtle but there for the discerning viewer to note. And then again, the casual viewer can skip the details and still enjoy the movie for the apparent story. So, its a movie made with enormous intelligence, for all kinds of viewers. For the believer, he will come back with a very powerful feeling that the movie demonstrates the presence of a Super Power, God. Yet, an atheist can come out of the theatre feeling the bang opposite. Such a beautiful display of excellence in weaving a complicated story of Chaos theory with the theory of Karma from Hinduism, blended so perfectly. And still very contemporary... An enormous task that only Kamal Haasan can handle with aplomb and style. The details were things like showing the mangrove swamp through which the idol is taken before being immersed into the sea, which is the route from the temple at Chidambaram. Later, the scenes were all events that happened in and around this town. In any other movie, this detail would not be given much importance. And right through, right from the names of the 10 roles, they all had a comparable relevance with the Epic Purana.
All in all, its a must see for any viewer of Tamil films. I would end by saying that its an amazing story of a very complex theory captured in a three hour movie

4 comments:

R Swaminathan said...

The plus points clearly were the gripping and fast paced story line, as well as Kamal's extraordinary acting versatality. However the minus points were the poor quality of the make-up and the masks. All-in-all one of the best tamil movies in recent years.

Devi said...

Yes, the makeup in some of the roles was quite bad. Notwithstanding the poor quality of makeup, the movie scores on all other fronts

Swahilya Shambhavi said...

Nice review. Wants to make me see the film soon!

Meena said...

Did not know the movie had anything to do with Dasavatharam at all until I read your reveiw.