Ten avatars too many?

Dasavatharam is a hyped movie, as I have recorded in my previous post. My friend and I travelled four hours to Edison in New Jersey to watch this movie and also catch up with his family friend, who was kind enough to host us there. Thanks, Y! My friend and I both agreed that going to Edison for the movie alone would not have been worth it.

To concisely describe my Dasavatharam experience is easy. Which is not exactly good for a blockbuster movie. I have always been wary of blockbuster movies that fail to excite me intellectually. I can safely say that Dasavatharam was not one of them, while Sivaji was. However, I cannot claim that I found any of the real action behind the “scientific” background of the movie authentic. I did find many scenes interesting. To get some of the negative commentary I have to give the movie out of the way, the following things sucked: the make up, some of the special effects, both of which looked artificial, and of course, Asin’s average acting as the Iyengar girl Andal. All this made for an average blockbuster, if that is any term. However, the expectations were probably piled too high in my mind, since Kamal has been, in my mind, a thinking actor and any film of this magnitude would have his stamp all over it. And Dasavatharam does. Kamal’s George W Bush has average make up, but excellent body language. Christian Fletcher’s character has very poor make up, but excellent action there. Same goes with Narahasi, the Japanese martial arts exponent. I agree that some of the avatars of Kamalahasan in this movie were unnecessary, especially the giant, the punjabi pop singer (who sings in flawless Tamizh) and even Narahasi (although his Jap Tam-speaking sister was a fun feature of the movie).

The first half of the movie was pretty well done, especially the first few scenes. There was a semblance of a plot to the whole thing. As soon as the second half began however, things got pretty random, and without the lack of a clear direction in the complex plot, the film faltered. I know that many fans of Kamalahasan would certainly spare a second quota of 3 hours to watch the movie. My own movie experience was bad, however, in that the theater I saw it in goofed up the projector during the first half, after which they turned the projector off and back on.

The audience was a full house desi audience (what else can one expect in New Jersey?). I heard visible giggles from all quarters when George W Bush arrived on the screen (whether the appalling make up or Dubya himself is to blame remains a mystery). Kamal has put in an awesome performance, he has acted well in nearly all roles. Perhaps his best in this movie comes as Balram Naidu, a universal favourite of the audience. His double entendre jokes, and his obsequious Telugu speaking Iyengar assistant make up a lot of the humour in the movie. Krishnaveni Paatti was totally unnecessary and was a pathetic idea.

Despite all its failings, I think Dasavatharam has what it takes to be a big grosser, given the expectations of the average Tamil movie goer. Most people I have met speak of Rangaraja Nambi’s character as one of the best in the movie, and I agree that Kamal has done a pretty good job there. Some people also felt that ten roles were too many, which is true. Ten Kamalahasans, a tricky little story, a pseudoscientific premise of chaos theory (on which you will find some material on this website, look in the archives for my experiments with non-linear dynamics), biological weapons, the tsunami, the prospect of seeing arbit national/state leaders on the screen, etc., will draw a huge crowd, and these elements of the plot pay off for the 130 or so crores spent on it. I doubt Dasavatharam has not made up its expenses through revenues already, which makes it a hugely successful venture.

I have been watching a lot of movies lately and have some interesting perspectives which I would like to write about in another post. In short, I think Dasavatharam deserved better make up and special effects, and that the pace needed to be slower, the story with fewer loopholes. The grandeur in the opening and closing sequences with the political leaders and so on could have been removed. I wouldn’t mind if Kamal had played one less well known character – George Bush was a mistake, although well acted out. The screenplay of the first half was excellent, but the editing and the screenplay in the second half looked very botched and as if it was done by someone in a hurry (or by an amateur). Having said that, not many movies that have attempted something on this scale have pulled it off (although Hollywood does this kind of thing regularly with their blockbuster movies on comic heroes and what not).

Worth my money? Probably. A good effort by Kamalahasan? Oh yes. What let it down? Poor direction, rambling story with loose ends, non-linear storytelling without a narrator, etc. What should Kamal do next? Maybe make a movie as one comical character. (Quality, rather than quantity). What do I want to see next? Wall E.