[Movie Review] Dasavatharam

By now, you'd have read this first line in reviews, a zillion times - 'The movie starts of with 12th century..." - whats with that People !



Anyway, the movie starts of with.. ;)



The more I think about this movie, the more interested i get about the movie, and how Kamal wasted a superb opportunity to make this movie work. First all the negatives.



Negatives

1. Cheesy Graphics - Vittalachariar movies had better graphics - all the rave about the tsunami, and 12th century river was a big load of ....


2. Contrived violent sequences, absolutely unnecessary - may be the masala element ! - I guess people misunderstood violence as 'via-lens' :P


3. As someone else said it, panchavatharam would have been as good. Nambi, Japanese, Avtaar Singh, Khalifullah and Boovaragan did not further anything in the movie.


4. Ridiculous make-up - I'd rather have them wear a 'macham' / mole to distinguish one from other than the so pla-sticky looking getups. As Balaji mentioned in his review, with his acting, Kamal did not even need any makeup for us to pick out which role he plays.


5. Mallika Sherawat - good riddance half way through


6. Music /Rerecording - call me sensitive, but it was too LOUD period

Now that we got that out of the way, here are some of the good things about the movie.

Good Things

1. Interesting storyline, could have been scripted better


2. Even though 10 avtaars were not needed, they have been decently connected


3. Amazing dialogs - wow Kamal DOES have such high wit quotient


4. Highly researched character etches


5. Very good acting, ofcourse by Kamal

Some of the thoughts I had as I watched the movie were

1. Shankar is one person who could have handled this wonderfully


2. Kamal could have played Asin's role as well - would have been interesting


3. With probably 10% of the budget, (i.e. remove make-ups, throw away ridiculously bad CGs, and cut violence) the movie could have been a big time, fast paced, laugh-filled entertainer.


4. Many events could just be 'narrated' ? i.e. Nambi - The movie could have as well opened saying that chozha raja dumped Perumal statue into the ocean in 12th century. What difference would it have made ? Instead they are used to showcase that Kamal can act in 10 different roles, and can shoot a big budget movie. D'uh if you did not know Kamal can act 10 different roles and pull it off with great aplumb, you won't be convinced after watching this movie either.


5. I liked the movie, but for the headache it gave me, and the gore violence sequences, and the moronic theather that brought back Indian memories (no AC for most part of the movie).

Verdict

The negatives outweigh many of the positives is the bottom line. But if you have the ability to 'overlook' the negatives - it is definitely worth watching - just for the performance of realistic Balram Naidu :)

p.s : Does any one know how this character played out in the Telegu version ?