Story

The story starts with an incident taking place in 12th century during the rule of the Chozha dynasty when Hindus were divided into Saivites and Vaishnavites. Rangarajan Nambi (Avatar No.1) is a loyal disciple of Ramanuja Azhwar. King Kulothunga (Napolean – what a fantastic performance!), a follower of Lord Siva, compels Nambi to change his religious beliefs and worship Lord Siva instead of Lord Vishnu but Nambi refuses. The king then orders for the immersion of the statue of Lord Ranganatha along with Nambi into the sea.

After this meaningless first avatar, the movie shifts to the present scientific world. Govind (Avatar No.2), an American scientist invents a dangerous bio weapon in his lab but wants to destroy the same after realizing its dangerous consequences. But the US Govt and scientists don’t allow him to do that. One fine day, Govind runs away from the lab with the bio weapon but Fletcher (Avatar No.3), a former CIA officer turned villian, chases him to get the weapon back to destroy other countries.

The weapon is mistakenly sent to an Indian address by courier where a 95 year old lady (Avatar No.4) receives the parcel. Govind immediately rushes to India and traces down the address. He is followed by Fletcher who is accompanied by his prostitute cum translator (Mallika Sherawat). The old lady refuses to give the weapon to them without understanding the danger it could cause and puts it inside a statue of Lord Vishnu.

The scientist captures the statue and starts running with it pulling Asin close relative of the old lady, along with him. Fletcher chases him till the end of the film. A foolish police officer Balram Naidu (Avatar No.5) too is in the race always chasing both these characters.

In between a Punjabi singer (Avatar No.5), US President George Bush ( Avatar No.6), a tall Muslim ( Avatar No.7), a martial arts trainer ( Avatar No.8) and a Southern district resident Annachi ( Avatar No.9) comes, does something and disappears.

Finally the tsunami comes to the rescue of the Scientist and destroys the weapon along with drowning Fletcher . The statue of Lord Rangaraja which was immersed in the sea in 12th century also appears on the shore after the tsunami.

Performances

Kamal Haasan once again excelled in his performance. Especially, it was a record in the Indian film industry that an artiste playing 10 different roles on the screen. Moreover, all the 10 roles were distinct and have no connection with one another. Kamal Haasan portrayed the roles of a Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Japanese, an old woman, a Dalit leader, a police officer, a terrorist, and a scientist. He showed fantastic ease in all the roles and the audiences could not identify Kamal Haasan in some of the roles. Hats Off to the make-up by the Hollywood technicians. Asin also played two roles, once a small role as Kamal Haasan’s wife in the flashback dated back to 13th century, and as a girl from a traditional Ayyangar family. The entire film was shot on Kamal Haasan alone and one can watch at least two to three characters played by him on the screen. Mallika Sherawat shook her legs in an item song and later played in a role with negative shades. Jayaprada, KR Vijaya and others did justice to their roles.

Off the screen, there are three highlights and they are absolutely second to none. The first one is the make-up by Michael Westmore. It was a miracle and the normal audiences could not believe that almost all the characters in the film were played by Kamal Haasan. Second comes the cinematography. As the entire film runs with the characters played by Kamal Hassan, the audiences could find two or three characters on the screen and the cinematographer did a commendable job in mixing the scenes in an appropriate manner. Third comes the graphic works. Graphics and technology were used extensively in the film and the tsunami effect in the climax is ultimate. As a whole it is a feast for the eyes of audiences to watch such a technical marvel on the Tamil screen.

REMARKS

Though the film begins with a story on Chola dynasty and the fight between Vaishnavites and Shivites, how it was related to the present generation story could not be immediately identified by the normal audiences. It was the idol which has common in both the stories. The safeguarding of the ‘vial’, the container consists of the virus, was not properly established. The hero and heroine keep running with the vial and at times, the scientist worries about its storage. The production values of Aaskar films are excellent. But for the minor lapses here and there, the film is worth watching for all classes of audiences.

More DASAVATHARAM STILLS…….

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