'Dasavathaaram' - 10 Kamals Too Much - Movie Review

Film: 'Dasavathaaram'; Actors: Kamal Haasan, Asin, Mallika Sherawat, Santana Bharati; Director: K.S. Ravi Kumar; Music: Himesh Reshammiya.

Apart from 10 different avatars (incarnations) of Kamal Haasan, the only thing worth writing home about 'Dasavathaaram' is its technical brilliance.
The roles are myriad.

Kamal plays US President George Bush, a bumbling RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) operative, a selfless scientist, an old hag, terrorist, Dalit activist, a medieval Vishnu devotee, a cancer-stricken Punjabi pop singer, Kung-fu martial arts expert and a 10-ft tall Muslim - not necessarily in that order.

Starting with the drowning punishment of a Vishnu devotee, 'Dasavathaaram', for no apparent reason, morphs into an action extravaganza - full of chases over a deadly virus involving a scientist and assisted and hindered in turn by the other characters - all played by Kamal.

Asin plays a double role in the film that is a part-comedy-part-tragedy mishmash. Mallika Sherawat flits across the screen in skimpy costumes and ends up dead.

While the cinematography by Ravi Varma, background score by Devi Sri Prasad and Kamal's acting are the film's highlights, the Himesh Reshammiya numbers have as much Tamil nativity as George Bush.

Dramatic incidents galore are actually one of the minus points of the film, of which there are one too many.

Kamal is in every frame of the movie and knowing his methods, director Ravi Kumar's role in the film seems to be seriously limited.

The unsolved puzzle as to why there are 10 Kamals when one would have been more than enough remains an unpleasant hangover long after the movie.

In all, 'Dasavathaaram' is a movie that every Kamal fan would want to watch.

As for the rest of the audience, it is the case of a Kamal-overkill.

Courtsy: IANS

Dasavathaaram Wins Court Battle, to Hit Theatres

New Delhi: Actor-director Kamal Haasan's much anticipated film, Dasavathaaram will be releasing on Friday as per schedule after the Supreme Court on Thursday declined to stay the screening of the film.

Earlier in May, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had approached the Madras High Court demanding the removal of scenes that portrayed clashes between Shaivites and Vaishnavites set in the 16th century in the film.

According to them, these were controversial, and hurt the sentiments of Hindus.

However, following the accusations, the film's producer Venu Ravichandran announced that the film doesn't contain such scenes and went on to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court.

Source: CNN-IBN

Hindu group moves SC against Dasavatharam

The June 13 release of Kamal Haasan-starrer movie Dasavatharam may have to wait for the outcome of a petition filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday objecting to the title of the film as well as certain scenes in it on religious grounds.

Apprehending such a move by the petitioner, International Sri Vaishnava Dharma Samrakshak Society, which lost its case in the Madras HC, the director and producer of the film had on Wednesday filed caveats to prevent the group from obtaining any ex-parte order from the apex court against the release of the movie.

On May 29, a HC bench comprising Justices K Venkataraman and M Satyanarayana dismissed the petitions filed by the society and 'Kalyana Suba Samiti' seeking change of title of the movie and deletion of certain scenes in it.

Terming the apprehensions of the petitioner as mere presumptions as they had not viewed the movie, the bench had said: "Freedom of expression guaranteed under the Constitution cannot be curtailed on mere assumption of the petitioners that the said film contains certain scenes which will hurt the sentiments of the Hindus, more so the Vaishnavites."

Rejecting the plea that Hindus had a copyright over the title Dasavatharam , the HC had said: "Admittedly, there is no copyright over the word Dasavatharam ."

Source: Sulekhanews