Revisiting Dasavatharam
At the outset let me make it clear that this write-up is not an attempt to review Kamal Haasan’s Dasavatharam.A lot of discussion has happened about the merits and the demerits of the movie on PFC as well as other forums so I’m not going to make another attempt for the same. Then why am I writing this post on the movie? Well because tomorrow- 17th April marks the release date of the Hindi version of the movie (Dashavatar) and so I thought of revisiting the movie and sharing some thoughts on the same.
The release of the movie couldn’t have been timed better. Due to the strike in Bollywood, there is a clear lack of content to feed the theatres and multiplexes and thus a release like this is welcome. So all those who have heard of the movie but couldn’t watch it in its Tamil or Telugu version can now watch it in Hindi. While I do not expect the Hindi version to be a blockbuster, I’m sure that it will definitely get noticed.
Around 10 months after its successful release in Tamil & Telugu, the Hindi version is finally releasing. While there will always be a debate on whether the butterfly effect/chaos theory angle was actually utilized well, whether the SFX work could have been better, whether some of the characters portrayed by Kamal Haasan were necessary or not, one thing that should be accepted is that the movie falls in the category of – love it or hate it but you can’t ignore it. For ages Rajnkikanth and Kamal Haasan have been the pillars of the Tamil Film Industry and both have charted their own paths to glory.
While Rajnkikanth played to the gallery and delighted the audience, Kamal Haasan went in for artistic satisfaction and in the bargain also developed his own niche audience. After Sivaji-The Boss redefined the outlook of Tamil movies in the eyes of the rest of the country, Dasavatharam only helped in re-enforcing that outlook even better. In spite of the movie being as commercial as it could be Kamal Haasan still pushed himself hard physically and mentally to portray the 10 different characters. Yes while it is easy to criticize the make-up let us realize that wearing such make-up and shooting for months together is not an easy task. Of course due credit needs to be given to the producer Aascar Ravichandran whose astute marketing brain played no less a role in ensuring the movie’s success.
Apart from Kamal Haasan and Aascar Ravichandran, a special mention must be made of K.S.Ravikumar, the director. Now all said & done – K.S.Ravikumar may probably never end up winning any National Award ( forget the Oscars 
) but one needs to accept that when it comes to hard core commercial Tamil films, he’s probably among the best in the industry today. He’s made movies with nearly every big star and knows the pulse of the star and the audience quite well. Another person whose work needs a mention here is Himesh Reshamiyya who has composed the songs for the movie. I am highlighting him here for two reasons- not only did he compose songs keeping the true requirement of the movie (no trademark Himesh songs ), this may probably be the last time( atleast for now) one gets to actually hear Himesh composing for any other hero’s movie as Himesh is now only composing movies in which he acts.
Giving you below links to two of my favorite songs in the movie-
The first one is Kallai Mattum Kandal sung by Hariharan and chorus
The second one is Mukunda Mukunda sung by Sadhna Sargam and Kamal Haasan
Both the songs are quite different in approach and concept.
The Hindi release of the movie is also important for its heroine- Asin who is currently very much in the limelight after Ghajini & is being seen all over due to the Mirinda ads. Till her next release London Dreams comes along, Dashavatar is there to keep the audience reminded about her. And finally I would like to conclude by paying my homage to 2 eminent film personalities associated with the movie & who are now no more amidst us- H.Sridhar the brilliant Sound Designer and Sujatha the writer (who along with Crazy Mohan and K.S.Ravikumar is supposed to have helped Kamal Haasan with the story creation).So for all those who have seen the movie and also for those who will see it now – this was a revisit to the movie from my side.
Tags: Aascar Ravichandran, Asin, Bollywood, Ghajini, H.Sridhar, K.S.Ravikumar, kamal haasan, London Dreams, Rajnikanth, Sujatha
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Nice post, hopefully will revisit the movie in hindi this weekend.I hope Kamal has dubbed for Hindi Version .
@ Cinemausher- from what I’ve heard Kamal has dubbed for the central character of Govind the scientist but apparently the other characters have been dubbed by others.
I am thinking of a post detailing the beauties f dasavatharam that got buried in tonnes of latex that were poured on it – Kamal blames it on the unfinished colour correction process for the absolutely tacky look and feel of the movie and pon my revisit I am tending to give him the benefit of doubt. It is a wonderful script but only if you are extremely kind to the badly made up characters .
Jai- yes the benefit of doubt should go to Kamal.actually the movie was going way above budget & thats when Aascar Ravichandran the calculative producer stepped in & hurried up the final product.Thats why in terms of box office they had a solid winner but in terms of cinematic brilliance it landed up as a product which was meant to be much better than it turned out.
Great post, i would love to see this movie, though i think i would prefer to see the original tamil version, i’ve searched up and down for the dvd but can’t find it anywhere, your post really makes me want to see this
@ bollywooddeewana- Yes anyday the original Tamil version would make a better watch.I dont think the original DVD has been released yet.
Really anxious to see how the hindi audience react to the movie. The delayed release is not going to help..but i think the current strike between the multiplex owners and the producers..might help dashavathar…
@jaiganesh
hope you come up with the article soon…
@ Balaji- good to see you back on PFC.
Yes if not for the strike in Bollywood the delayed release would have been a big negative.lets wait & watch for the response.
Actually, Kamal Haasan has dubbed for all the characters and this I’m quoting straight from his interviews and his dialogue writer for the Hindi version, Atul Tiwari.
Dashavtar is not completely dubbed nor a remake, it’s a mix of both (Think back to 1996 when the superhit Hindustani was released up north, it’s scenes with Manoraman were reshot with Aruna Irani instead.)Also the original artists including Kamal sir himself have dubbed themselves in Hindi. At the same time, loads of surprises are in store for the Hindi version that weren’t featured in the Tamil and Telugu versions respectively.
In this version, Balram Naidu, a Telugu speaking RAW agent is changed to “Bengali Babu” a Bengali speaking man. Poovaragan, a dalit leader has been changed to a Marathi man named Babrbahuan.
Avatar Singh (Punjabi singer), Shinghen Narahashi (Japanese Martial artist), Kalifulah Khan (Urdu speaking Muslim), George W Bush (former US Prez) and the antagonist, Chris Fletcher are retained and not dubbed save for Rangaraja Nambi (12th century Vaishavaite), Avtar Singh’s Tamil Punjabi lines and Kalifulah Khan’s Urdu Tamil’s lines. Asin will speak Hindi while Malika will mouth in Urdu.
Kamal has done a commendable job in weaving the Chaos Theory in the film along with a real-life incident in the film. For a read up or brush up on this, check out this: http://passionforcinema.com/dasavathaaram-a-brilliant-portrayal-of-chaos-theory/#comment-150629
I suggest you all go see Dashavatar because it’s an experience of Kamal Haasan telling a really epic story. Even Himesh has done a commendable job in music as compared to his latest outing Karzzz. Even Asin did a great job with her Iyengar accent (which is not an easy task). Basically, she was as good as Ghajini, role wise.
Crap movie.. caused headache.
waitin for this one, varan aiyaram, abhiyum nanum & subramanyapuram. when the hell will someone release such films with english subtitles?
I saw it last year…luckily they released the movie with english subtitles in select theatres in Mumbai…
Agree with Jaiganesh…the movie felt like as if another round of color correction was pending…
a one time watch mainly due to it’s exhilarating pace…
Wish there would be more south movies that would release with subtitles though :(
Magic…ull enjoy the film if you don’t have any expectations of being a very intelligent movie (I had such expectations due to the pre release publicity)
@nick:
Dude u do have a lot of info on the Hindi version…good to see that there’s an attempt to adapt the dubbing rather than make a plain vanilla dubbing….and Asin was a headache in this role…Didn’t like her at all in this flick…
Horrible POST highly pompous!!da movie was unbearable,what do u mean by thi s After Sivaji-The Boss redefined the outlook of Tamil movies in the eyes of the rest of the country” ru dreamin MAN
I am ready to witness this ‘epic’,all 2 hrs 40 minutes. I saw Shivaji, in spite of the fact that I don’t understand Tamil, got so impressed that i wrote my review on it. Please do read & let me know.
.
Btw, I have met Crazy Mohan in person and he is a absolute deligh to converse with
Cheers!
~uh~
- uh- great if you liked Sivaji- The Boss, then you would most likely get even more impressed with Dasavatharam.
Yes Crazy Mohan is an absolute delight.If you could understand Tamil I would have recommended you to watch some of his plays- howlarious
SID- thanks for the feedback.Dont know what’s so pompous about the post.
If you didnt understand what I meant by -
“After Sivaji-The Boss redefined the outlook of Tamil movies in the eyes of the rest of the country” you could have very well asked & I would have explained.Instead I find you to be the one who’s dreaming.can you name any tamil movie apart from Sivaji & Dasa which had a wide release across the country?can you name any tamil movie before Sivaji which people in Mumbai-both industry folks & laymen watched in plenty?
Mind you I’m not saying Sivaji or Dasa are great movies.They are nowhere in the league of movies like a Mozhi,Paruthiveeran,Subramaniapuram,Anjathey etc.What I meant was with respect of reach of tamil movies across the country.
Nick,Sudhir Nair-
Well till yesterday what I heard is similar to what has been written by Nick.But I got to hear from a souce @ the producer’s office that finally only Govind’s character has Kamal’s voice in the Hindi version.Of course anybody who’ll be watching the movie over the weekend can confirm the actual thing.Of course everything else like Balaram Naidu becoming a bong character in Hindi etc are all true.
Magik- If you live in Mumbai there’s always a chance to watch some Tamil movies with sub titles.But since you are in B’lore you wont find any Tamil movie releasing there with sub titles.More people speak Tamil than Kannada in B’lore actually
@ Sethu: thanks for rubbing it in. Dusht. Kathor.
@ Sethu: sorry for being late in responding. article, as always, is nice, coming from u. im planning to watch it in INOX this Sunday. as it is, the ushers at INOX are already complaining of my long-absence, which is resulting in their fortunes dwindling even further. i plan to correct that this weekend. hahaha..
.
hv heard a lot abt the movie, hope its even half as good as im expectig. i wud recover my cost that way. just one worry… dubbing the dialogues is a different thing, butthe songs r difficult… remember “telephone dhun mein hansne waali…” from Hindustani? hope the lyrics r not as absurd in Dasavatar…
Jha- come on you cannot make INOX ka collection suffer
hope you do enjoy the movie.yes I’m aware of the problem with the lyrics.I’ve heard the songs of Dasa in Hindi- I would say the lyrics ( by Sameer) are ok – definitely not as good as the tamil original though.
Magik- kabhi kabhi jale pe namak dalne me mazaa aata hai
@~uh~ I read the Sivaji review, at your blog..it was an extremely interesting read…I rate Sivaji as one of Sankars cinematically worst but commercially most successful movies, but anyday better than movies with zero content…
I liked the last line of your review…’A new Rajni fan was born’ or something like it… :-)
One has to agree with Sethu when he points out about the impact Sivaji as a successful Tamil film…I was in Qatar during the release of Sivaji…It was the only movie, of any language (including English/Arabic) that ran to full house for 3 consecutive weeks in Doha..When I watched the film, a few Arabs were also in the hall, having loads of fun (they maintain immense hatred towards serious cinema which involves thinking)..even though they might not have related to 90% of the film, they were laughing and rumbling althrough at our Superstar’s innocent antics… :-)
Again Sivaji and Dasa..are at the end of the day commercial potboilers..not good cinema to be precise…I found ‘Dasa..’ as a poorly executed fancy dress compettition…my views only..
If you are a hardcore Kamal fan or enjoy the commercial format, you would definitely enjoy the movie. If you are looking for an exceptional movie experience, look elsewhere. Except for the first few minutes, I could not sit through…
Sethu, anticipatorily has mentioned that this is not a discussion about the merits/demerits of the film. So I assume calling the post pompous is pompous…
My friend Bala, the greatest Kamal fan in this world and his best critc too, has deciphered the inner meanings and historical significance of the song ‘Kallai Mattum Kandal’…has ingenious piece of lyrics by Vaali…with his permission I post this following piece
Song and its hidden meanings – Kallai Mattum Kandal….
Illai Endru Sonna Pinbum Indriamaiyathu
Thollai Thanthabothum Engal Thillai Maarathu
First line: Even if you say HE doesn’t exist, you cannot live without
- that is the meaning. ‘Indriamaiyadha’ – can’t do without.
Second line: Interesting line. Thillai refers Chidambaram. You may
wonder how Chidambaram which has the world famous Natarajar temple is
related to this song (which is about Vishnu). In Chidambaram Temple,
apart for Natarajar shrine there is also Govindaraja Perumal shrine
just opposite to Natarajar shrine. This is one of the few temples
where both the Shaivite and Vaishnavite deities are enshrined in one
place. During the Chozha period, Vaishanavites and Shaivaites fight
was also prevelant in Chidambaram. That’s why the lyrics is “Thollai
thanthabohum engal ‘thillai’ maaradhu” – means though there is trouble
between Vaishnavaites and Shaivaites our stand on Vaishnavism doesn’t
change.
Now the next two lines
Verasaivargal Munnal Engal Veeravainavam Thorkathu
Mannan Solluku Anji Enrum Maerkae Sooriyan Udikkathu
Controversial!! aint it? In Chidambaram, it is said that while
reparing the Nataraja temple, Aanapaya chozan also known as Second
Kulothunga ordered his men to remove Govindaraja’s idol and throw it
into the sea. There was heavy protest by Vaishnavites for this
mindless act of the King – these lines only depict this protest by
Vaishnavites during that period. It is the true history that happened
in 12th century.
Later the great social reformer Aacharya Ramanuja took great effort in
finding Govindaraja under the sea and found him and replaced him in
his original place. The King later realized his sin and bowed down to
Lord Govindaraja Perumal and pleaded to forgive him.
I guess now you know why the lyrics are penned in that way and I hope
you are also getting flash of the movie trailer in your mind where
Kamal is roped to a Perumal statue and drowned in the sea.
The next few lines are my favorite.
Raaja Lakshmi Naayagan Srinivasanthaan
Srinivasan Sei Intha Vishnudaasanthaan
Naatil Undu Aayiram Rajaraajar Thaan
Rajanukku Raajan Intha Rangaraajan Thaan
These lines has no significane w.r.t Chidambaram context. Because…
Raaja Lakshmi – Kamal’s mother
. He should be the Iyengar Kamal,
Srinivasan – Kamal’s father.
Now you know who is Vishnudaasan
one of the 10 characters in the movie.
“Naatil undu….Rangaraajan Thaan” – This is a classic.
As you all may know, Sujatha is the co script writer of this movie.
Sujatha’s original name is Rangarajan.He is from Srirangam ( a place
in Tamilnadu near Trichy .The lord of Srirangam is Rengarajan.( Lord
Renganatha).
Lyricist Vaali made it a point to praise the lord and the person
hailing from there , the co-writer Sujatha aka Rangarajan, who is no
more, in this song. Excellent lyrics from Vaali and these lines are
perfect tribute to one of the greatest tamil writer.
Hmm..Now what is Vaali’s real name? Yes it is also Rangarajan – can
you also see the subtle boastb by Vaali aka Rangarajan? Absolute
beauty.
Basically these four lines are about Kamal, Sujaatha and Vaali. This
We still have a reason….
talks about their brilliance.
But Kamal, Sujatha and Vaali all the three are Iyengar!!!! Oops not
again
This song which is the pick of the album is sung by HariHaran…Hari
Cooooooooooooooooooool….
refers Vishnu, Haran refers Sivan
Note:-Bala wrote this even before the movie was released..
Sethu
In fact Kamal hasan is so obsesed with himself …very soon we can see him coming out with 20 and 25 roles and hell tell you that hes experimenting.
Dasavatharam is a substandrd movie where in every frame youll have a kamalhasan.
@ Ram V/ 23- Thanks for reading :D. Shivaji indeed was an experience. I never had seen any ‘Typical Rajini movie’ and Shivaji had it all. The innovative ideas and their implementation need an applause.
Watching Dasavataram this weekend without high expectation, but as a self proclaimed movie-lover ‘dekhna to hai hi na’.
@~uh~…Reading your blog was my pleasure, welcome. Sivaji was not exactly the ‘Typical Rajni Movie’, we are used to…I suggest you pickup ‘Padaiyappa’ or ‘Baasha’
(Hum repackaged, reinvented Rajni style) from any DVD shop or online…Those are what one would call the ‘Rajni Style’ movies… :-)
Not worth a dime or nickle of good cinema, but only thing that keeps these movies riding the high box office waves is the Rajni phenonmenon..
If you want to see Rajni the actor of yesteryears, watch ‘Thappu Thalangal’ or ‘Moondru Mugham’…where Rajni was still unaffected by stardom, and was what he really is, an electric performer…
Hope you enjoy your ‘Dasavatharam’ weekend… :-)
Awaiting your review…
@ Ram,uh- interesting discussion here.
Ram- your friend Bala has made an interesting interpretation, I’ve also thought in similar lines.
uh- just go without thinking too much, you may just have a good time.
We all share the blame for the commercial failure of Intelligent & ‘taking Tamil/Indian cinema to the next level’ movies like HeyRam , Anbe Sivam.
So how in the world can we expect a non-commercial and a very honest and super intelligent movie at a budget of 100+ Crores, that too from a Non-corporate producer, even if its by Kamal??
I strongly believe that had Marmayogi materialised in time, we could have seen a classic, intelligent and a high budget Kamal movie, thanks to our support for Dasa.
DEAR SETHUMADHAVAN,
I STAND CORRECTED! I HAD TAKEN THE ARTICLE IN A DIFFERENT PERSEPCTIVE!! SINCERE APLOGIES MAN (Mozhi,Paruthiveeran,Subramaniapuram,Anjathey etc.What I meant was with respect of reach of tamil movies across the country.) I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU THESE ARE THE WORKS WE SHOULD BE PROUD OF !! N NOT SIVAJI N DARVARATHAM!!! I HAVE SPENT ALL MY LIFE IN MIDST OF TAMILIANS IN MUMBAI VE BEEN EXPOSED ALL KIND OF TAMIL CINEMA BUT NOW EFFORTS LIKE VEYIL….ETC ARE MAKING IT WORTH SIT BACK AND NOTICE MAN… I AGAIN WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIE FOR MY IMPULSIVENESS BY THE WAY DO RECCOMEND ME SOME RECENT GOOD STUFF FROM TAMIL CINEMA!! I GUESS U ALSO SHARE YOUR NAME WITH ONE OF THE VETERAN MOVIE MAKER!! DOWN SOUTH RIGHT
SID- thanks for understanding my POV.I repeat again that I’m not trying to portray Sivaji or Dasavatharam as great Tamil movies.as for the recent recommedation of good Tamil movies- I would suggest you to watch Poo,Kanchivaram,Mozhi,
Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu,Subramaniapuram,Anjathey,Mozhi,Naan Kdavul etc.All these are good movies belonging to different genres.Happy viewing.Yes you are right- I do share my name with the veteran director
Sethumadhavan
Thanks MAN!! and thanks again for the list of movies…..