I never thought inflation was such a crippling problem in the Indian economy until my brain send signals advising me to invest 40 bucks (obviously.. the ticket fare at Muvattupuzha Issacs theatre..)in Aascar Ravichandran's 65 crore Magnum Opus Dasavatharam which is written and rather ghost- directed by Padmasree Dr.Kamal Hassan (with the title cards bestowing K.S.Ravikumar the directorial credits!).Leaving the movie hall after 185 minutes of insanity(and obviously with a bad headache) i could do nothing but curse the fast rising inflation rates which might have cost Aascar Ravichandran a dear to make this boring and convoluted tale of Love,bio-terrorism and betrayal.
Coming to the plot ,the least said the better.It is nothing but a mismash of M:I 2 and some other B-grade Hollywood flicks. Though the starting reels of the movie(with the Rangaraja Nambi-Cholan sequence) were just stunning!(With some amazing work from Art director Thotta Tharani and Camera Man Ravi Varman), after the initial odd twenty minutes or so the movie seems to have lost his fizz and what we see subsequently is Kamal Hassan (in his attempt to be daringly different’)popping up in 10 different avatars every now and then with the aid of some amateurish and jaring make up.Be it the 80 year old Patti,the 7 feet tall Afghani Kalifulla Khan,the ‘menacing’ villain (who looks rather funny!)Fleitcher…. all are equally bad .Neither they look convincing nor they manage to get into the hearts of the audience.The whole setting seems to be so-made up that we sincerely wish Kamal had come up with something better to show-off his undisputed talent on screen.The special effects are just ordinary and the much hyped tsunami sequence was a let down.. ..
Dasavatharam is one of the technically weakest Kamal Hassan Movies made in recent times.To put it lightly Dasa is a pointless film and seems to be an exercise in self indulgence by Kamal.Asin in her attempt to be funny ends up rather irritating the audience.Himesh’s tunes are just ordinary.The Mukunda Mukunda number rendered by Sadhana Sargham is definitely the pick of the lot.Though the movie will not be a financial loss as far as the producer is concerned it is hard to believe that this Pointless Dasa with a hackeyned story line comes from a Versatile actor like Kamal Hassan who has given us gems like Nayakan,Avai Shanmukhi and Indian in the past.
Bottom Line: Watch it for once…..(If you have nothing else to do!)
reviewed by nikhimenon@gmail.com
