Dasavatharam

Spoiler Alert: If you are interested in watching the movie without knowing the storyline please skip this review. I have written major aspects of the story line as I found the internet replete with opinionated reviews that were more of a malicious propaganda against the movie and hence thought I will give a complete account of the movie to put it in proper perspective.

You might find all my cine reviews appreciating the movie but then I have so far felt like writing a review for only those films that caught my imagination.I did watch Kuruvi and Arai En 305il Kadavul in the same weekend but wrote a review only for the latter.

Now that I have clarified this aspect...I want to start off by saying that an amazing storyline, non stop entertainment filled screenplay and a few amazing characterizations make Dasavatharam a very fulfilling movie watching experience.

More than the 10 characters essayed by the legendary actor....it is the story writer in him that stands out as the ultimate hero of this whole project. Off course the humungous effort that this perfectionist puts into each frame of the movie makes you pray for his success lest we lose his talent to the dictate of market forces. But I do not think that is anyway required for this movie of his as it has the ability to carry itself and go on to be a blockbuster.

I would want to emphatically state before even analysing the movie any further that it lives up to all its hype and deserves every bit of promotion that it has got so far.

Before writing this review I glanced at some of those rumoured photographs that got out before the movie released that showed him and Asin as Bush and his wife....I could not stop laughing....for it was far removed from the actual quality of what was shown in the movie....

1. On the one hand Kamal is made to look exactly like Bush and not as shown in that rumoured promotional still....(which looks more like Mike Atherton than Bush) and
2. On the other Asin does not play US's first lady in the movie.
   

The movie has a mix of technical brilliance as well as technical glitches. The scenes that have different characters of Kamal appearing in the same scene is technically brilliant w.r.t the characters merging on the scene as if it were done by different physical people at the same point of time. The graphics of the initial 12th Century BC boat ride through a water way and the Tsunami are not that appealing as it is too obvious a computer imagery to make you a part of the experience like how a Titanic could get you involved.

But if you are watching this movie....please do not focus on this negativity as the entertainment value of this film has so many other facets to it that you will only be the loser for having paid for the ticket and focussing on all the irrelevant aspects to criticize in an Indian movie.

The story line is an exceptional one that uses chaos theory as its canvas to interconnect seemingly unconnected dots into an overall pattern of events culminating into a message that even as big a human tragedy as the Tsunami could have had a much greater design behind it such that the hidden benefit of it far outweighs the loss it created.

The movie starts off with an episode set in 12th Century BC where a forceful ruler King Kulothungan (played very effectively by Napolean) who is an ardent Shiva worshipper, orders the deity of Lord Vishnu to be immersed in the Sea as a measure to force all of South India to be only Lord Shiva worshippers.

Kamal who plays an Iyengar Priest (and a child hood friend of the King) vehemently opposes the same but is not able to do anything against the force of the King and gets immersed in the sea along with the deity for refusing to utter a prayer in the name of Lord Shiva.

The story moves on to the present generation where Kamal as Govinda Raju plays a Indian Scientist in US who is part of an advanced research team working on cutting edge bio technology.
They are shown to be studying a dangerous substance which can cause havoc to humanity if not utilized properly and this substance (virus) gets sold to the wrong hands by the senior management of the research team.

Govind who gets suspicious of this plot steals that substance from the lab so that he can hand it over to the FBI and expose the scam.

However he is chased down by a ex CIA agent (Fletcher) also played by Kamal who is hired by the corrupt management of the research lab.....and in an attempt to escape him with the help of his friend, Govind gets his parcel mixed up with that of his friend who is sending a shipment to India....and hence the story shifts to India....

Fletcher along with Mallika Sherawat (CIA trained Tamilian) as his translator follow Govind to India....

Here comes the entry of Balram Naidu (Kamal as a Telugu speaking RAW officer) which sustains your interest in the movie till the last frame. I think this role will be the newest feather in this legend's cap. The humour that this character evokes in the movie is to be seen to be believed as all the entertainment is situational and is based on his blind loyalty to the Telugu speaking fraternity.

Govind is initially in the custody of Balram Naidu and is then kidnapped by Fletcher and Mallika so that they can get their hands on the substance

What then follows is a edge of the seat thriller which introduces the rest of Kamal's characterizations at appropriate intervals.

Patti(Grandma) Character - to whose address Govind randomnly misdirects the shipment of the virus (so that it does not fall in wrong hands). Kamal plays a woman in her nineties who has lost it in the mind due to an untimely demise of her son in the 1950s and refuses to believe in it and is still expecting parcels and letters from him.....it is one of those parcels which well wishers of her family keep sending from US to keep her hopes alive that Govind chooses to keep the virus container in for safe custody.

The naughty patti refuses to part with the virus parcel thinking it is meant for her and eventually drops it inside of a Lord Vishnu statue which is going on a religious parade instead of handing it over to Govind.

This makes Govind forcefully take the Lord Vishnu statue and flee with Andal (Asin's 2nd gen character) in hot pursuit.... Andal is one character which gets on your nerve...but to be fair to Asin her comic timing keeps pace with that of Kamal and does not spoil the movie's pace.

Japanese Martial Arts Teacher- who is initially behind Govind and then after Fletcher as he gets to know that it is Fletcher and not Govind who was behind the murder of his sister. (Govind's friend in US is married to a Japanese both of whom are killed by Fletcher in an encounter to get at Govind)

Dalit Leader character - this character is typical of Anbe Sivam (Nallasivam) who is an activist against sand quarrying by P Vasu and Santhanabharathi and whose actions save Govind and Andal from the clutches of the quarry gang.

Khalifulla character - a 7 foot muslim whose family gets injured in a road accident as Kamal and Andal escape in a lorry from the clutches of the quarry gang. Andal's irresponsible behaviour causes the lorry to collide with the Van.

Avtar Singh character - A punjabi pop star who is suffering from throat cancer and who gets admitted in the same hospital that Khalifulla's family gets admitted. Oh Oh Sanam being Avtar's last stage show before his operation.

George Bush - Kamal plays GB to perfection. The makeup looks very professional and is almost like a mask of his face instead of a make up. Kamal's accent is perfected to that of an American.
This role is very limited in terms of scene exposure and is used to only make some comic statements in typical Bush style without realizing the impact of the out break of Virus. The only reason Kamal seems to have donned this character is because you cannot hire Bush himself to act and expose his intellect like this and if someone has to act him out....who better can it be than Kamal himself.

The climax is one where Fletcher manages to get hold of the virus parcel from Govind after a long hard chase that ends on the sea shore. By that time the Japanse martial arts teacher also reaches the sea shore and declares that Fletcher has to die for killing his sister.

A very good martial arts fight sequence ends with Fletcher being brutally defeated and Balram Naidu reaching the spot in a helicopter by then (He atlasts gets his investigative skills right in the climax as all the while he chases Govind as the terrorist).

A cornered Fletcher consumes the virus in an attempt to spread it....(this is one part that is not acceptable since Fletcher is shown as a merciless mercenary who kills for the sake of money and him consuming the virus as if he is a brainwashed terrorist out to destroy the world is not properly fitting into the overall cogency of the screen play).

Fletcher is quickly reduced to the blood vomitting and decaying corpse which has a potential to spread the virus to millions around his epicenter.......requiring tons and tons of NaCL to quell the impact.........

Lo and behold comes the awe invoking TSUNAMI of Dec 2004 and washes away Fletcher and the deadly virus along with it (The NaCL in the sea water also acting as an effective antedote to the spread of the virus).

Andal and Govind are then shown interacting with each other in an attempt to convey their love interest to each other.....Andal putting a very strict condition that it will be impossible to consummate their love into marriage if Govind keeps denying the existence of God....

Govind's interesting response to Andal is that "I never told that God does not exist. I am only saying it will be good if he exists" :-)

And as if to answer the scientist character's pondering, the screenplay writer in Kamal responds with an apt answer.

As the camera zooms out it shows Govind and Andal walking away from the backside of the 12th Century BC statue that gets washed ashore by the Tsunami....

The symbolic interpretation here being that it can only take a Tsunami to bring that huge deity out from the depths of the ocean onto the sea shore and amidst humanity where it rightfully belongs.....and further that God chooses that point of time to come ashore (riding on the Tsunami) so as to quell the impact of a major virus that could have affected a greater section of the humanity....(as compared to the loss of life on the immediate shoreline).

It is a well known fact that Kamal is an atheist in real life....but that is not what he is telling in this movie.

The scientist character is an Atheist and reflects the real life view of the actor......however Kamal as the story writer has left it to the imagination of the viewer whether to construe the greater design behind the tragedy is

==> What the scientifically inclined world knows it better as chaos theory (or butterfly effect)

Or

==> What the spiritually inclined world believes it as "an act of God"

Let me sum up the movie with this conclusion

Is there value for money for your ticket if you watch this movie????

Well

IT CANNOT GET BIGGER THAN THIS

Kamal you are a genius....it is as simple as that.....it is but naturual then, that I doff my hat :-)

Arai En 305-il Kadavul

It was really one of the most refreshing films that I have seen and a lot of credit goes to Simbudevan for his creative screenplay and exceptional graphics that really hike the bar of tamil cinema.

The concept of the movie is almost the same as “Anbe Sivam” which manifests almost directly in one of Prakash Raj’s dialogues where he tells Rajesh (an atheist) “anbu dhaan kadavul”. However the backdrop of narration to convey the concept is at the other end of the spectrum as compared to “Anbe Sivam”.

This is such a light film on the mind that not a single frame goes without you appreciating it for one nuance or the other.

Thanks to Google Maps and IPL’s usage of the same a lot of films are using a drill down from the galaxy to show the shifting of a location within the story narration (something I observed in Kuruvi as well).

The film opens with the mighty galaxy milky way and drills down to another non-descript milky way ( a god forsaken street in Triplicane that bears the name of Paul Street translated into Paal Veedhi in Tamil).

The movie is majorly set in a Triplicane mansion the inmates of which form the predominant starcast of the movie.

The way each character is introduced is again a sample of genuine creativity where real life photos from different ages of each artiste are shown as a summary before showing how they look in this film along with the character’s name. Infact when it comes to introducing Jyotirmayi’s character, a real life family photo which has her mother as well is shown but the face is edited to that of Kuyili since she is her mother in the film. While it clearly shows as a superimposed image, what comes to the rescue is the usage of the appropriate photo of Kuyili in terms of age since it is an adolescent stage photo of Jyotirmayi.

Such an attention to detail is rare in Indian Cinema and has been introduced and followed only by stalwarts like Kamal, Maniratnam and Shankar. Simbudevan shows a sample to indicate he is in that league.

Santhanam(Rasu) and Ganja Karuppu (Mokkai) are room mates who neither have a job nor the qualifications to get one. Inevitably they are in debt with the mansion and all vendors of essential supplies.

The initial scenes of the movie show how each vendor is warning these two of breaching the credit limit and the sequence reaches a crescendo with the mansion manager (MS Bhaskar) giving an ultimatum to quit the mansion in a single day. The last nail in the coffin being driven by a loathful dialogue from Bhaskar(which is the usual clichéd taunt in all Indian movies) which challenge the chastity of Santhanam’s mother. Santhanam’s crestfallen reaction to that shows how good a potential character artiste he can go on to become.

The last night in the mansion is spent by our protagonist duo in drinking to glory with their inebriated self reaching an extent of prompting them to taunt GOD with the same loathful words of MS Bhaskar.
Lo and Behold….Prakash Raj makes an appearance in earthly costume…..as GOD…..and the movie goes on to a totally different plane from then on.

The scenes which establish Prakash Raj as God and the innocent (or ignorant) line of questioning from Ganja Karuppu to him are simply outstandingly conceived and executed by both actors.
God tries to reason out with Rasu and Mokkai that every individual’s present lot is only due to action or inaction of their own in the past and their future lot is also completely in the actions they take as of today.

With some brilliant creativity and graphics like the one where Rasu and Mokkai are reduced to the size of the tip of a burning matchstick to make them realize how God’s attention to life forms touches as small a thing as a mosquito the narration goes on till interval where God is engaged in a telling conversation that hints at him parting ways with them. This makes Rasu and Mokkai plead with God to stay back for one more night as the next day happens to be Rasu’s birthday.
You actually get the feeling that the story is almost over and keep wondering whether it is a movie without an interval that is going to finish overall in 90 minutes.

A slightly childish (but professionally executed) piece of creativity is the theorization of Godly power being embodied in a digital device that has a golden light emitting facade. In a scene where Prakash Raj explains it as the entire power of the galaxy in his possession through which he gets notified of every single happening in the cosmos….something similar to getting SMS on mobile (as innocently interpreted by Mokkai)….you get the feeling that this movie might get out of control with sensibility.
But then when you finish watching the movie that aspect of creativity is what hits you like a ton of thousand thunderbolts.

Simbudevan, the creative genius that he is, has used that device getting stolen and misused (akin to credit cards getting stolen and misused) by Rasu and Mokkai as the canvas to extend the movie to a full three hours of sensible story telling.

His visualization or concept (as they say in asathapovathu yaaru) is one by which if God were to descend to earth with an externalized concept of godliness which gets stolen by mere mortals:
· How that power is likely to get misused in purile earthly wants by mere mortals; and
· How God, sans the Godly power, can still emit the divinity from within despite living as a mere mortal under the same trying conditions of our protagonist mansion dwellers.

It is Prakash Raj’s execution of God in the form of a mere mortal that takes the cake, baker and the bakery. He has given life to the story narration in the only way he can.

One of the mansion dwellers gets privy to the fact that Prakash Raj is God and also the fact that Rasu and Mokkai have stolen his Godly power. Ilavarasan (The manguni amaichar in 23rd Pulikesi) plays a very good support role in this film.

In one scene where Ilavarasan’s character wonders about the ill-effects of godly power falling into the wrong hands of jobless petty thiefs, the dialogue of Prakash Raj is a very good sample of how creative and telling the whole film’s content is made up of
“If a deer suddenly grows horns all over its body it does not mean that it will get violent and start killing other species. It will only continue to do what it knows like eating grass and running fast from trouble” so much to say that Rasu and Mokkai cannot think out of their capabilities to do any harm to the world.

In another context where Ganja Karuppu asks some leading question in an attempt to understand how God uses the device to control the entire universe or cosmos God shows him a lizard and tells him that “It is impossible to make that lizard understand how the tubelight functions. As far as the lizard is concerned it is a source of light which produce light on and off. Similarly it is not possible for you to understand what all I do to control this cosmos”.

A particular scene which engages God in human capacity and Rajesh (an atheist character) in a discussion about the concept of God is the most intellectual and meaningful dialogue of the whole film and is capable of making even atheists understand what divinity is all about.

Delhi Ganesh as Santhanam’s father plays a brilliant cameo. I simply cannot stop admiring him for the ease with which he slips inside the skin of any character he is asked to play in his long career as a character artiste. His predisposition about Santhanam’s inability to do anything worthwhile makes him wonder and ask his son how he made so much money overnight. When Santhanam abstracts his conduct and tells him that he found a software, Delhi Ganesh’s reply to that is stunning when he asks him back “who lost it?”(This is one of the many pearls that make up the movie’s original comedy track).

Another scene where an astrologer reads the palm of God and makes analytical statements about God’s family (both past and future) in the presence of all the mansion inmates is a laugh riot. The hidden meaning behind Prakash Raj’s mischievous responses and the ignorant but serious reactions of MS Bhaskar that end up reflecting on himself (Since God’s family is nothing but this entire human race) is such a laugh riot that you have to see it to enjoy and cannot be narrated in a piece of writing. This scene really had us in splits.

The film has the usual concept of a villain and one fight sequence where God in the form of a mere mortal is having to handle him with attack as the mode given the fact that it is the ultimate social balance or equilibrium which is more important in some situations compared to even taking the life out of a life form.

The turn of events that lead to Ilavarsan finding the godly device from a garbage can (since he now holds a job in NeelMetal Fanalca) and restoring it to Prakash Raj in the nick of time where he almost gets his head chopped off by the villain are all more of a normal story telling in tamil films that become inevitable to finish the movie.

Towards the end the movie shows how each character in the mansion benefited from its association with God during his human existence in terms of correcting their way of life and going on to become worthwhile individuals in their own spheres.

But just when you think the movie has a fairytale ending, Simbudevan’s ticklish bone takes over when he shows two more youths on the terrace of another godforsaken mansion calling out to God in foul language as a means of venting out the frustration of their lot.
Prakash Raj makes an appearance again but with a twinkle in his eyes as the camera goes down to focus on this kurta pocket where he usually keeps the cosmos device which is full of locks and chains so that it does not get stolen again.

You can rob Simbudevan of some credit by comparing his movie to Bruce Almighty. The only difference I feel is that while the Hollywood flick focuses more on the guy inheriting the godly power this film uses those characters more for a comedy side track and focuses on God who loses that power and how he exists in a human world without the power but retaining his divinity.

As a natural consequence this movie is able to hold its focus on the strong message of the correct mindset to adopt for living and is worth enjoying every frame over and over again with the whole family

Om Shanthi Om

Om Shanthi Om is one of the best movies of The King Khan (SRK). It has a storyline that is based on the concept of Re-incarnation. The reason I say this first is that not many people will agree to it being a real concept.

But wait a minute what is Real. 

Reality exists but in words....within the collective but finite human intelligence present in this planet. There is always something outside this boundary of finite intelligence which has no boundaries and where anything is possible....It is a totally different realm of intelligence in which reality itself can be sculpted.

Many people (across all religious faiths) believe that this form of intelligence is the domain of the Almighty. We as mere mortals can only hope to operate in this realm by wielding a camera or a megaphone...in other words in reel life.

So a movie should by all means be allowed to operate in that realm and weave concepts that are a mixture of real and unreal as long as the overall experience is cogent and offers wholesome entertainment.

OSO is a completely cogent film and offers wholesome entertainment as it is a beautiful mix of comedy, satire, sentiment,bollywood-group celebrations, revenge, thrills and even a haunting experience.

OSO is a celebration of bollywood itself. It is a movie that has been made with so much bonhomie and good humour that it has several current bollywood stars making a parody of their own future positions in the industry.

It is a fact that some inconvenient aspects of the stars of yesteryears have been projected but purely on the platform of satirical comedy with no offense meant. After all in a democratic country it is the right of everyone to voice their opinions especially on public figures and their performances and that does not exclude the next generation of stars taking a potshot at some of their own pastmasters.

SRK is brilliant throughout but he is at his best in scenes where as a junior artiste he performs like an ambitious hero only to be pulled away from the camera. And the one scene where his dream heroine comes to meet him in person and thank him for saving her from the perils of a set on fire, his expressions for his voice over which never comes out of his mouth however much he tries is not only hilarious but also showcases his complete talent as a consummate actor.

Deepika Padukone is a gift to this industry as she is not only very beautiful but also very expressive and knows the art of moderating her expressiveness as well. She shows a very good difference between her first character and that of the next generation.

Arjun Rampal as the sophisticated villain of the past as well as the hollywood return producer is magnificent in both his looks as well as his assertiveness.

All characters have done their best in making the film complete. For example Satish Shah just takes a couple of scenes as a megaphone wielding director of yesteryears to leave a lasting impression with his unique brand of comedy.

Farah Khan deserves so much credit for this film as she has created a lot of first instances in this movie

• Stars shedding their ego and making light of themselves and their future projections in a filmfare event of the future (with the next generation SRK bagging it ....but of course who else)
• Mixing of yesteryear heroes on screen with Deepika's first generation film character in such a complete way that even shows Deepika touching them and the yesteryear characters reacting to it with appropriate facial expressions. The graphics in this scene is near perfect.
• Om Shanthi Om is not only the movie's title but is also the title of the movie being made within the film. While this is not a first time concept the novel way in which event of that film's premiere is being used to introduce all the characters and technicians of the main film is simply appreciable. She has gone a step forward and introduced right upto the light boys who contributed towards the making of the film
• Actually when Farah herself arrives with the caption of Director the premiere event is actually over and the red carpets are being rolled up. This not only shows her inate sense for humour but also the fact that she is capable of setting the pace for taking a joke made on oneself.

Off course there are some aspects of attention to detail which Farah Khan should scale up on. The authenticity of yesteryear scenes are hugely impacted by the following things

• Deepika's stylish english accent that represents more of a modern generation
• State of the art ketchup squeeze bottles at the cafeteria shop on the yesteryear sets
• A few young kids roaming around in the background with ultra modern dress (like cargos) when SRK and his friend are discussing in that same cafeteria.

Maybe it will be a good idea for the Bollywood industry to involve some random samples of the general movie watching public in some contest (which also is a revenue source for the film) and where the top 10 winners are shown a sneak preview show to catch such mistakes as sometimes only the public is capable of spotting such glaring misses.

Only a person who does not passionately own a work product can find mistakes in that dispassionately. Such good practices from IT industry can be exploited by the movie industry as well and I am sure the general public would only be too keen to participate in such contests and improve a film before it hits the box office.

These glitches however do not take anything away from the completeness of the film. In fact a lot of times attention to too much detail can sometimes take the focus from the overall theme and I would not fault Farah's lack of attention to these details considering her overall vision in making this script very cogent.

Infact in this fast paced highly transactional world, there are not many films that leave you with a lasting impression that continues even the next day.

OSO is one such film that makes you repeatedly relive the movie watching experience and makes you want to plan the next visit to the movie halls at the corner of your mind.

This film is a must-see for all.