Dasavatharam - Incompetence multiplied 10 times

***************************Spoiler alert********************

Dasavatharam is a movie that is the perfect example of 'kurangu kayil poomalai'(garland in the hand of a monkey). The movie starts extremely well and then degenerates into wild goose chase among ambiguous story lines. It is difficult to point out the story of Dasavatharam because there are too many of them to count. The movie itself becomes a vehicle for Kamal to grandstand and he does it well, ably assisted by the director, K.S. Ravikumar. This is another nail in the coffin of Kamal, the 'great' actor. I have seen unbridled egotism and vanity in tamil movie industry (See Rajinikanth, Vijaykanth et al) but this movie shows Kamal to be head and shoulders above the rest. For kamal fans, this will be another demonstration of the actor going to great lengths to innovate in the ossified environs of tamil cinema. For kamal detractors, this will be another movie that shows all that is wrong with Kamal. He overacts and spreads himself thin by acting in 10 roles, some of which overturn the story itself.

Synopsis:

The movie starts in 12th century when Kulothunga Chozhan, in his fanaticism for Saivism, is putting vaishavite followers to sword and destroying vaishnavite places of worship. Kulothunga Chozhan considers Vaishnavism as hereticism and wants to snuff out its existence. He asks Rangarajan Nambi to renounce Vaishnavism and betray their leader, Ramanuja. When Nambi refuses ( in spite of common sense entreaties from his wife), he is promptly tied to the ananthasayana idol in the temple and drowned in the sea. Nambi's wife kills herself. The scene then shifts to US where a synthetic biotechnology scientist has successfully developed a lethal toxin. He comes to know his boss and his colleague plan to sell the toxin for money. Pursued by them and FBI, he spirits away the toxin to India. Rest of the story is about what happens to him and the toxin.

Thoughts:

The concept behind the movie is interesting. My guess is that the idea grew from the newly discovered Pallava ruins, near Shore Temple in Mamallapuram after the 2004 tsunami. The movie lays the groundwork by starting with the 12th century scenes that explain how the idol got to the sea in the first place.
The execution (except for the 12th century scenes) is amateurish, haphazard and completely defeats the underlying concept of the movie. Kamal (and K.S.Ravikumar) come across as conceited, incompetent captains of the enterprise that is rumoured to have cost 70 crore rupees. Aascar Ravichandran (numerology nutcase ?), the producer of the movie should be ruing the day he gave the go ahead to the project.
What starts as a good idea degenerates into an over-the-top celebration of Kamal, the already overrated actor. The story is forgotten (and in some places, actively muddled with) as the imperative to show Kamal in 10 different roles takes over. After the movie, I was hard pressed to remember most of the roles because they didnt have the detailed character development. The make up was generally horrendous and distracting. I never thought I would see someone beating Ajith's makeup in Citizen but Kamal has done it. The makeup looks as if Kamal wanted people to know that he was making this much effort for the movie. A good makeup wouldnt have served as a distraction to the story.
Selection of K.S.Ravikumar as the director for the movie should have signalled its fate. Ravikumar is excellent is bringing a movie to the market that has all commercial elements of tamil cinema. He is not someone known for originality and given the idea behind this movie, it needed lots of it.
Kamal is very much to blame for such a bad movie. If he is considered to be a great actor, he should also know that the actor is there to move the story along. The story shouldnt become a vehicle of adulation for the actor. In this movie, Kamal has achieved it, albeit at a heavy cost to the producer.
Then, there is the standard fare of any kamal movie, put downs of caste and religion. What would have been good in a socially conscious movie like Unnal mudiyum thambi comes across as haughtiness in this movie. As someone who agrees with him on the evils of caste and religion, I was surprised he chose that route in this movie. It made the movie more torturous and unbearable.
I could only make some comparisons between the 10 roles and the actual ten avatars of Vishnu.
Nambi - Based on his death in the sea and subsequent reemergence after the tsunami, I am assuming this is kurma avataram. The role, in my estimation, the best within the movie because of the seriousness associated with it. Whether it is the argument between him and Kulothunga Chozhan or refusing to renounce vaishnavism in his reply to his wife (played by Asin), the role is very well defined as the fanatic who holds to religion even in the face of certain death.
Ramaswamy - This is the synthetic biotechnologist. My guess is that he signifies rama avataram. There are enough hints in the character other the name. He conducts experiments on a monkey called hanu (after hanuman).
Fletcher - He is the ex-CIA spy who is after Ramaswamy. The makeup is terrible even though the accent is pretty good.
Bush - I think he represents Kalki avataram given Bush's view on armageddon and end of the world. There are some potshots at Bush's intelligence. If they had made that effort towards the make up, it might have been better.
Balram Naidu - The experience of watching dasavatharam would have been really bad if it wasnt for this character. Given the name, he can be slotted as balarama. It is in his portrayal as the RAW officer that the movie gets into lighter territory. I guess the character made things so funny because it portrayed most of accepted stereotypes of telugu speakers among tamils.
Avatar singh - I dont know what this character was doing. The only reason I can find is that Kamal wanted to cover sikh base in the viewing public.
Patti - I have no idea what this character was doing other than to serve as an example of what is wrong with the movie. Terrible make up, incomplete character definition.
Kalifullah - I have no idea what this character was doing.
Japanese guy - Maybe Kamal wanted to compete with Rajnikanth for the japanese fan base.
Boovarahan - He is the leader of dalits who opposes the sand mafia. Based on the look and the way he dies (leg injury), I assume this is krishna avataram.

Other actors are overshadowed (by the egotism of kamal and incompetent direction of K.S.Ravikumar) throughout the movie.
Asin plays 2 roles, one as the wife of Nambi in 12th century and other as the love interest of Ramaswamy. She is completely wasted in both roles. In the first role, she spends her time whimpering and the second role, she comes very close to the annoying roles Jyothika used to play in her career.
There are also famous actors/actresses used in insignificant roles. Nagesh, K.R.Vijaya are just some of them.
Napoleon does very well as Kulothunga Chozhan. He chooses to play a cooler (and obviously more powerful) fanatic compared to Kamal's wide eyed, frothing-at-the-mouth fanatic as Nambi. In the whole movie, his is the one role I considered as well defined and well-acted.

The movie could have stayed away from expounding on rationality, especially towards the end. They didnt move the story and stuck out like a sore thumb. I appreciated and agreed with the sentiments behind those lines but they didnt belong in the movie.

Songs to keep me moving

I grew up listening to tamil movie songs (not because I wanted to but because I had a brother and sister who were certifiably music crazy in their younger days). I like running and have found that some tamil songs are peculiarly suited to pumping up the adrenaline during the run. I dont carry iPod or wear headphones when I run. I listen to the songs when I am not running, enough times, that I can remember the whole song. I didnt get to see most of the songs until after I got to college and even when I saw them, it was only the music and words that mattered. As a result, most of these songs include horrendous acting as a rule. All of the songs focus on the individual and use flowery language and violence. Lots of songs feature Rajni as he usually acts in roles that are designed to satisfy his fans and have no relation to reality. This set of Rajni songs are very effective at energizing me during my running. After all, what better way to pick myself up than through songs that border on delusion ? The songs that dont feature Rajni are usually the ones where the lines of the song perform the motivating job very well.

Vetri nichayam - Annamalai




This is the only song I know that works all the time, for me whether I am running a mile or 20 miles. I even finished my first marathon, with a foot injury, replaying this song in my head. I dont have any particular friend or relative in my mind, only things that annoyed me. Add to that, thalaivar's voice (To me, SPB is thalaivar, not Rajni) is just perfect, especially at the end when he finishes strong with 'Unnai vendraen'. The song has a flow and manic focus on work that allows me to visualize succeeding at the target distance for the day.

Arjunar villu - Gilli



This is one of the newer songs in the list which is perfect for any workout, not only running. The picturization is good. The only drag is Sukhwinder Singh's murder of tamil but the song has grown on me so much I dont hold that against it.

Ovvoru pookalumae - Autograph



The lines speak for themselves. Music is very very ordinary but the lines are worth their weight in gold. Especially, at the interlude of the conductor at 4:15. One of the very few songs that explains effort in very much common sense terms but does it so well, without recourse to god or supernatural or violence, that even the lack of fast music beats is not felt.

Vetri kodi kattu - Padayappa



The repeating refrain is very very effective in this song. This is the song in the movie where Rajni becomes wealthy by the end of the song. It is very similar in tone to Vetri Nichayam but here the song diverges into some unnecessary areas before coming back to the motivational piece(the repetitive portion that starts after 'vetri kodi kattu').

Agaram ippo sigaram ippo - Sigaram



Beautifully sung by SPB with very meaningful lines. I didnt get to watch this song till mid-90s so my like isnt based on the picturization(not that it would have helped). To me, the line 'Vaanodu mudivum illai, vaazhvodu vidaiyum illai, inrenbathu unmaiyae, nambikkai ungal kaiyilae' probably makes my day whenever I replay this song in my head. The lines are very well written, meant more as appreciation of an relationship than as a motivating song.

Tholvi nilayena - Oomai Vizhigal



Truly bad acting is defined in this song(Thankfully, Arun pandian failed as an actor in tamil movies. Else, it would have been terrible for movie fans). The lines are pitch perfect for motivation(the song starts slow and increases in tempo at the end) as it deals mainly with self-respect, growing out of fear and holding onto one's principles.

Ethir neechal - Ethir neechal



The song plays during the titles of the movie. The lines are good, as could be expected from that era tamil movies. It is pretty straightforward in terms of putting in effort against status quo.