Christian Fletcher: Remember Hiroshima?
Shingen Narahashi: Remember Pearl Harbour?
Shingen Narahashi: Remember Pearl Harbour?
As two of the 10 avtars – Kamal Haasan, mightily affected as an American mercenary and Kamal Haasan, with rehearsed gravitas as a Japanese martial art ace – exchange this during the climactic fight in Dasavatharam, it’s hard to miss the point. Haasan is playing to the gallery. He wants you to take note. Fair trade.
But what, truly, tanks Dasavatharam is not the corniness of it all. It’s not the supremely shoddy graphic-work. It’s not Michael Westmore’s laboured, prosthetic faces. No, not even The Bullet That Cures The Cancer. This super-hyped return of the chameleon actor-star is done in by its ambition.
But what, truly, tanks Dasavatharam is not the corniness of it all. It’s not the supremely shoddy graphic-work. It’s not Michael Westmore’s laboured, prosthetic faces. No, not even The Bullet That Cures The Cancer. This super-hyped return of the chameleon actor-star is done in by its ambition.
Dasavatharam has an engaging premise that makes for a rollicking road movie. White hitman follows Indian scientist who flees with a deadly virus, in a cross-continent trail. The thread, though, gets thinned out as the actor-writer pursues the blurred and the superfluous, with an apparent nod to the Chaos Theory. In the process, Dasavatharam gets populated with the rest of the avtars, spun in for the all-lead-to-one effect.
RAW sleuth Balram Naidu – perhaps Haasan’s best turn here – has terrific possibilities as a stand-alone protagonist. There are also moments that carry the stamp of a writer who hasn't quite lost it yet. These are still parts of an underwhelming whole. Some of the avtars look straight out of a badly done school pantomime, ill-propped and cramped for movement. The CGI boys go berserk with their toys, belting out practically anything – from butterfly wing-flaps to the Tsunami – with a certain B-movie tardiness that you don't attach to the costliest (check) film made in the country. And Himesh Reshammiya has, probably, scored his last for a film down south.
RAW sleuth Balram Naidu – perhaps Haasan’s best turn here – has terrific possibilities as a stand-alone protagonist. There are also moments that carry the stamp of a writer who hasn't quite lost it yet. These are still parts of an underwhelming whole. Some of the avtars look straight out of a badly done school pantomime, ill-propped and cramped for movement. The CGI boys go berserk with their toys, belting out practically anything – from butterfly wing-flaps to the Tsunami – with a certain B-movie tardiness that you don't attach to the costliest (check) film made in the country. And Himesh Reshammiya has, probably, scored his last for a film down south.
But as always with a Kamal Haasan film, the fun is on the ringside. While many fans have been left shocked at this assault, the more trusted ones are out there, diligently decoding the method behind this madness. Last heard, the jury is still out on if Vincent Poovarahan – an interestingly etched Dalit leader – is a throwback to the well, varaha avtar. And if the kurma avtar has a parallel in the vaishnavite priest Rangaraja Nambi, who's left bound to his deity in the depths of the ocean. Loaded questions, really. But after an outrageously indulgent lead-man trip, do you care enough to dig deep?
9 comments:
this is a film not meant for the critics. kamal is only balancing the bad response to his good movies by making a masala entertainer. he has done this before in sakalakalavallavan years back. the response to 10A proves that he can be a mass hero too.
Yes, Krishna. He always plays to the gallery. And, primarily and ultimately, to himself. Apart from a few buffers like Virumandi and Anbe Sivam, it's always been the make-up monarch's self indulgences. But of course, there is ringside pleasure. Can't deny.
(Apology: Couldn't watch the new avatar)
velunaicker: there's absolutely no problem with the masala. in fact, it could have worked as a no-apology entertainer. the problem is the baggage with which it comes; and how the spirit of an entertainer is diluted by the writer-actor's intellectual excesses. seriously, kamal needs someone like gautam to keep him in check and still, deliver. in style. case in point: vettayadu vilayadu, of course.
suresh: you aren't missing much :) but seriously in some of the scenes, you can actually spot the brilliant writer that he is. the problem, as is becoming a norm for him, is a problem of plenty.
"Some of the avtars look straight out of a badly done school pantomime, ill-propped and cramped for movement"
Yes. They do!
I certainly don't care to did deep!
shiva: there are quite a lot who are deep in reflection on the avtars.
theory update: vincent poovarahan (dark and all that) is actually krishna. read somewhere that poovarahan's entry -- when aandal is about to get molested -- is actually about krishna, draupadi and the vastrakshepam. well... :)
So is the problem with what you see on the screen?? Or is it the thought process of the film makers? Dasa is not as bad as it's made out to be. If entertainment comes with something to think over, why should we complain? I think the argument that entertainers should be "no apology" entertainers and nothing more is itself flawed.
johnny g: fair point. well, let's just say the "thought" and "what i saw" didn't match. i found it audacious that after dishing out something that has ALL the trappings of a vijay or ajit flick (including the punch dialogues, a sexy vamp and gravity-defying stunts), kamal and KSR -- and of course, the fans -- can call it different only because there's some inexplicable "thought" involved.
Hi Krishna, just caught the movie last night and stumbled on to your blog today. Kamal Haasan's excercise in megalomania, wasn't it? Tell me didn't you find Asin extremely grating on the nerves? And what was Avtar Singh all about? Bewildered.
sushan: megalomania it is. and yeah, asin was pushing it far. avtar singh? well, the ones who are out defending the movie will tell you that every avtar -- including the robotic pathan, kalifullah khan -- has a bit to play in completing the big system of chaos :) btw, how's it doing in mumbai?
Post a Comment