A case of ten avatarams (Part 2)
(continued from the previous post)
My rants don’t end with the screenplay but with the reason behind why it was stretched to the limit, and that being the all hyped ten roles. Firstly, I failed
to
see the
need for the
ten rolesI failed to see the need for the ten roles. Some of them were outright outrageous and the rest could have been essayed by any character artist. Lets face it, you wanted to emulate your idol, the late Sivaji Ganesan and get into the record books. This thirst for roles led you to conjure three of the weirdest characters have ever seen in Indian cinema. You may have guessed by now that I am referring to that Frankensteinsh ‘cauliflower khan’ guy who looked like the lost son of ‘Lurch‘, the irritating ‘Dubyaman‘ guy and the Chinese martial arts teacher. If they were in jest then I apologize, for I failed to see the humor in them. The three guys collectively account for less than ten minutes of screen time and their existence is justified only by the fact that you wanted to please certain sections of the society. Your fans may argue that hadn’t it been for them, Govind would have never recovered the vial. Is this the lame excuse you wish to give in the name of chaos theory? To me the film seemed to resemble the election agenda of the UPA, as it seemed to have a little something for everyone. So you had, shaivism vs vaishnavism, bio-nuclear warfare, sand mining, cancer therapy, brahmins, muslims, christians, dalits buddhists, sikhs, strippers, CIA mercenaries, heads of state, casteism, martial arts, and a tsunami all under one umbrella called ‘Dasavataram’. Now that certainly is a feat to be proud of, but then were they warranted in the first place?
Many have been comparing Dasavataram to Sivaji, for both of them were hyped summer releases on mega budgets featuring the biggest stars of the industry. Before I receive scathing remarks on my comparison, let me tell you why I found Sivaji to be a more enjoyable experience. Firstly I had no expectations in the acting department, secondly the music was kickass and songs were well choreographed and thirdly the movie never took itself too seriously. Even in my review for Sivaji, I wrote
forget the rants, forget that there exists something called logic, watch the movie for what it is, the screaming, dancing, the rejoicing in the aisles, buckets of paper at your feet and a sore throat three hours later. This is what sums up the whole Sivaji experience.[link]
That was possible because we never took it seriously, we never sought any logic and enjoyed it for its madness. However it isn’t possible to just sit back and watch Dasavataram for you talk of things like the ‘Chaos Theory’, ‘Butterfly Effect’ and so-called mind-boggling-CGI. As educated audiences we are forced to put on our intelligent caps, recollect
wikipedia entries and
attempt to relate events
in the movie as we connect the dotswe are forced to put on our intelligent caps, recollect wikipedia entries and attempt to relate events in the movie as we connect the dots. This is where things began to fall apart for me as the loopholes seemed pretty evident. Most of the characters seemed unwanted, the music seemed insipid and the CG seemed shabby. The CG dept was the most interesting one, for some sequences were breathtaking and stunning would be a very small word to describe them, whereas some sequences reminded me of the production values of archaic times where we had cardboard houses and toy cars blown up. The much hyped tsunami sequence was ironically pretty damp but by Indian standards, it was a brave feat.
A majority of chaos has been caused not by the concepts adapted by the film but by your fans, who’ve launched a scathing attack against blogs that have carried mixed views. The illogical comments and email forwards doing the rounds today are a testimonial to your intolerant fan base. Some have even gone all the way to connect each of your role to the avataars of Lord Vishnu and thus attempting to explain the non-existent logic behind them. For every rediff style commentor who challenges my views, I have my answers ready. I managed to get a ‘Thirittu VCD'(pirated version) and can hence post screenshots and clips to elucidate my stand.
There are a few positives that mustn’t go unnoticed though. Dasavataram has proved that Mallika can even disappoint in a made-for-mallika role. The very thought of Mallika cavorting in a club as a stripper was reason enough to watch the movie, however she manages to disappoint in a role only she could have pulled off. Just like the way you managed to curb emotion, expression and even your voice behind two inches of latex. After the breathtaking first fifteen minutes, the only moment that sought attention was the short and hilarious interogation session between Balram naidu and Govind. The rest of the movie though watchable, never gained the focus it lost.
I love to see you emote, break into tears, evoke laughter and much more without even uttering a single dialogue. Such is the greatness of a great actor called Kamal Haasan who is second to none. But narcissism has it limits and calling yourself ‘Ullaga Nayagan’ on screen with a song dedicated to you is a bit too much to endure. It could have been anyone behind all those layers of latex, but I feel cheated for I wanted to see you. Ten people with oversized heads is ok for the record, a villian looking like Shane Warne suffering from pigmentation is also tolerable. The authentic accents of a dalit christian and a telugu officer reminded me of vintage kamal, while the constipated faces of the giant, chinese guy and the president made me squirm in my seat. The nambi made us wail in support and the song that followed was heart wrenching. The sardar showed us cancer therapy that was heard of only in email forwards ridiculing the Thalaivar. The scientist was the sootradhar but the old lady made me want to slit my wrists everytime she appeared on screen. The best part was however, watching K.S.Ravikumar prancing along with scantily clad egyptian women!
In short, I missed Kamal the actor.
ps: It hurts when guys like this are touted as the ‘Tom Cruise of India‘
I loved director Ravikumar dancing in the credits.
But Maxu, are you sure that too is not Kamal dancing wearing Ravikumar’s mask? Huh?huh?huh?
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me: well he ghost directed the film anyways, you could also be true!
just for the record, this comment was less than 5mins after I published my post!
Ni nallavan da.. Enna feelings oda erudirka..I read every single word:).
I loved the Balram character though he reminded me of Indran in Indran chandran:)
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me: nandri nandri, readers like you inspire me even more… ditto for the indiran chandran..
Phew!! a much awaited review. All praise to u for writing a ‘mini-novel’ like this(lol). Guess u wud’ve done better than ‘kamalji’ in the screenplay department as uve ridiculed & diced the screenplay of the movie so meticulously. I read every word and really loved the way u’ve minced every single aspect of the movie and woven a crackerjack of a review like this. Though i havent watched the movie yet(my apologies!), but i read a couple more reviews which say the same story as this one, so i must agree that the movie isnt great by any standards that kamal has set in the past. On the whole, a commendable post i must admit.
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me: thanx pa, do watch it….
This is possibly the best negative review I’ve read. Most of the negative reviews reminded me of, like you say, rediff comments.
ROFL@ PS. I read that Simbu article!! Lol. The article itself says that’s pushing it a bit. :))
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me: thnx yaar, yea the sinbu thing was pretty disturbing
Great review Max!!
I have not watched movie yet but we are going tomorrow anyways….but u hit the nail on the head when u made the comparision between Sivaji and Dasa. With Sivaji, u know exactly what you r looking for and Thalaivar is good at delivering the goods. With Kamal, he always starts with big promises, delivers sometimes and disappoints many other times. Good job!
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me: welcome to this space sadhna, yea this time he didnt deliver for me…
[…] Go to the author’s original blog: A case of ten avatarams (Part 2) […]
But one thing I don’t understand is, why are actors in our country typecast? We go to a Rajni movie expecting something (or nothing) and we go to a Kamal, Balachander, Mani Ratnam movie expecting something else. If Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez can make a B-movie like Grindhouse, why cannot Kamal?
Don’t know about the truth behind it, but Kamal once asked Manhoman Desai’s assistant where is the script. Manmohan Desai apparently replied, tell that fellow even Amitabh Bachchan doesn’t ask me for a script. Kamal, I heard, told Amitabh can afford not to ask for a script. It is quite like that, no?
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me: that is a very funny anecdote and a very valid point you make on typecasting…
Lateaa vandhaalum latestaa vandhirku – your review. Well written dude. After watching all those crappy movies, I would have thought Dasavatharam felt better than it apparently did for you.
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me: thanx for the thalaivar comparison, yea it was surely better than jimmy!
Wow, I loved your review. I could feel your pain, though I have not watched Dashavataram as yet, and more importantly, been a pseudo Tamilian and not watched all Kamal greats. However, I’m still a fan 🙂
Great job, Max!
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me: thanks for dropping by, i’m actually a fan of neither kamal or rajini. I just appreciate good cinema…
Kudos for your honest review. Sivaji in Navarathiri is simply outstanding and overall he is incomparable as an actor. Therefore Kamalahassan is no Sivaji Ganesan.
And as such Asin is not Savithri.
KSRavikumar cannot even dream of what APNagarajan has attained in his career.
And lastly Himesh Romaiyya cannot even touch the feet of KVMahadevan in Music.
To sum up,
Navarathiri of 1964 was a nice experience,
Dasavatharam of 2008 is a debacle.
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me: welcome to my blog. I never wanted to compare the two. Only made a reference. But you do make valid points…
well written !!
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me:thnx
Great Review Dude!!!!!
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me: thnx pa..
Nice review man. I hated Dasa as much as you did especially for the explanations being given by Kamal fans
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me: I didn’t hate the movie. was disappointed thats all… welcome though
Machi sammaya bore adikardu. Edavdu kick ass a erudu.
super review!
The second half of dasavatharam was so mokka, it was almost painful to watch. But the saving grace was only Balram Naidu.
This movie is very much like the last installment of Harry Potter – Even for the die hard fans, oru ezhavum purila.
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me: yep the interrogation sequence is the only part that evoked a few giggles
Awesome review…I read quite a lotta reviews on a lotta blogs before wtaching the movie…Though i defintely went into the movie with prejudiced, cuz im not really kamal’s biggest fan, i still wanted to see just what all the hype was about…And disappointing it certainly was..I didnt even wanna do a review cuz i felt it wasnt worth the effort…It wouldve sounded pretty much like yours i guess (the angst parts r common)…
It was a B-grade movie in the garb of an Aascar (!) level movie…The plot (or whatever) was made ‘hi-fi’ so that the commonfolk would be in awe of what technology is…but it wasnt meant for them to be understood…Unfortunately, the movie also insulted the intelligence of the more-aware sector of the audience…
Sad it had to be this way…Atleast Sivaji had the masala element..
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me: welcome to this space! Hez a clever businessman, satisfied his ego by doin the roles, and then to spruce up sales created super hype like jackie chan etc. Also used some techy terms so that people go home thinking what happened, and his fans interpret it in their own way and attack blogs!
Best part is he made NaCl seem like some wonder-drug, like it was some mysterious solution that noone knew about and it was almost-close-to-impossible to get it! For Godsake it’s salt, uppu..whatever! THAT was something that konjam really bugged me…
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me: If they call it NaCl in the lab I’m fine, but even on the streets he was calling it NaCl…
sivaji, dasavatharamm, veerasaami… theres humor everywhere- just depends on how hard you look!!!
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me:Veerasaamy is a cult classic ok! Dont degrade it by using it in the same sentence as the other two…
I had so much expectations, I was so pissed after watching the movie. I wanted to watch an older Kamal movie just to make sure that Kamal has good actor/writer in him. I couldn’t even review the movie, I could only just come up with a Comedy blog post on how Dasavatharam Part II will be. I am glad I am sharing the same feelings with a lot of bloggers including you. You have written well.
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me: yea it was a bit painful
Sorry for late arrival. Your review echoes mind, except yours is more learned than my semi-literate one. Beautifully written. It has its points and are rationally explained. It’s hard to refute them (also coz it’s almost the same as mind). Here’s my review that I didn’t post fearing the wrath of my brothers. Just read it and you don’t have to publish it if its too long for a comment. Take it easy, mate.
Dasavatharam: What Kamal wants Kamal does not get.
How would I describe Kamal Haasan? A wonderful actor, a should’ve be great director, a good singer, a talented writer, a gifted dancer and overall visionary.
Or so I thought, until Dasavatharam came and made me revise my thoughts and opinions about this childhood idol of mine.
Is he a great actor? He is good, but not as great as, say Sivaji Ganesan. He has not yet showed the range Sivaji had showed. Heck, he’s not even has enough range to produce lazy campy performances Sivaji produced in the 80s. But right now, Kamal is the best, with Rajini, a great actor with performance amnesia, as runners-up.
Should he be a great director? Why not? Hey Ram, if not for the fact that it is obsessed with Kamal’s body and facial hair, is a masterpiece in direction and technical brilliance. As is Virumandi, which at least made better use of Kamal’s facial hair…and some of the films I believe he sort of ghost directed. But he ain’t K. Balachander, that’s for sure. Artful story telling is inherent in directing a film, and there is still no one to claim K.B’s throne.
Is Kamal a good singer? Of course, but adequate and limited. S.P. Bala he is not…even though Kamal is classically trained, and SPB is not.
As a writer, Kamal reached the pinnacle of genius in Michael Madhana Kama Rajan, a film with maze like script juggling many wonderful, colourful characters, marrying thriller and comedy – and a marriage made in heaven too. He has worked on many scripts since then, and can anyone forget Devar Magan? If the protagonist had been clearer, Hey Ram is a scriptwriters’ text book.
A gifted dancer? Heck year, be it classical Salangai Oli, or folksy Kakki Chattai or post-modern all out showing off of Enakku Oruvan, Kamal can do it. Yet, I have heard some who say his Baratha Natyam is not authentic, and some complains about the “same boring steps” in his other forms of dancing. I’d tell these people, “get a life”. But apparently he is not a perfect dancer either.
And visionary? I thought so, once. But I am still waiting.
What we have here most of the time is regurgitation of Hollywood stuff. I mean, I wouldn’t have minded him regurgitating Hong Kong stuff (which he sort of did when aping Jackie Chan in fight sequences in the 80s and 90s), but taking it directly from Hollywood is not exactly what I’d describe visionary move.
But they were fun. Be it Rain Man, What About Bob, Planes, Trains and Automobile or Mrs. Doubtfire, the Tamizh version somehow seemed organic. And when he is purely grounded, remaking Tamizh films like Michael Madhana Kamarajan (of Bale Pandiya), he is an organic, original actor in a very original, well scripted movie. There is innovation involved, but visionary he is not.
When idolising Kamal, I saw a Hollywood future, when I thought Hollywood was the future. I saw De Niro and Brando in Kamal. That was then. The feelings started to change when I started appreciate originality in Tamizh film industry, especially of Sivaji Ganesan and his peers.
So, it was not until Dasavatharam, when Kamal playing Fletcher Christian (Brando’s name in Mutiny on the Bounty – 1962) mouths the infamous line made popular by De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976) “Are you talking to me?” that I realise that Kamal was not only inspired by Brando and De Niro and Hollywood films, he actually want to be De Niro and Brando and do Hollywood films.
Unfortunately, what Kamal has done is what Eddie Murphy would have been proud of. Having slapped the makeup and done multiple roles in many comedies, Eddie Murphy is a one trick pony with many costumes. In short, Jack of many roles and master of none. Has Kamal been reduced to that?
His fans (used to include me) would disagree.
Those who say the movie lacks something wanted me to say, “at least the effort was good”. We are talking about multi-million dollar effort here. We are talking about two years in the making, and that is long enough to do Ben Hur. And that was back in the 50s. Tamizh film does not take that long to do, and all those effects and make ups are supposed to help to save time.
What did go wrong in Dasavatharam?
I don’t want to talk about the make up. I have discussed it to death. Even Hollywood’s make up technology is not 100% perfect. Make up here was supervised by Michael Westmoore. Go and check his credentials and you will figure out why the Japanese Kamal looks like a Klingon.
The first problem is the script. There seems to be a genuine globe-trotting chase thriller element in it. But when you realise that it was story spun around the ten characters created first for Kamal, you lose focus. I am certainly wrong, because looking at the films success, most fans seemed to be in focus. But I still don’t get the importance of maybe 7 of the characters.
Aside: Speaking of which…with Kamal doing the rest of the nine, he basically deprived nine actors of so-called important roles. End of aside.
Another issue I have with this film is how to view it. I know, we are pattern seeking animal and like to pigeonhole things. It makes understanding the subjects easier. So, what is Dasavatharam? A Comedy? With scenes of a man hung with steel hooks like a hunk of beef before being drowned, and many who were dispatched with death coming fast and bloody, and with Tsunami scene wiping out thousands of lives? I think not. But there were laughs here and there. I feel guilty.
Then, come the insults. One after another.
First, the crime of insulting the memories of thousands who died during the 2004 Tsunami. Better thousands then millions dead, Kamal? Good, I hope you slept well. What about the “Remember Pearl Harbour” “Remember Hiroshima” wise crack in between fight sequence with poorly made up Asian stunt men? Other memories of thousands to insult. But maybe not, coz this film could be, just may be, possibly be a comedy. If so, Kamal, I will laugh at the Tsunami scene and get stomach cramps at that “Remember…” wisecracks.
Then, insult to the cancer patience. Kamal the scriptwriter somehow found the cure for cancer – bullets. You see it you know what I mean. If you haven’t, never mind. This is insulting the memories of patience dead by cancer! That’s gazillions if start back from the beginning of time.
After that comes the insult of seeing all the characters dance to the tune praising Kamal the actor. Yup, all of them, dead, good, bad, serious, all of them!
Final insult comes from seeing Kamal getting the make ups done at the end of the film. This is movie and the making of the movie in one package. We see the atrocity called the process of applying prostethic make up unfold in front of us.
I wish I had followed by instinct and walked out after an hour into the movie. I should have.
Dasavatharam is basically about biting more than what Kamal and his team can chew. At one point after delays after delays, everyone stopped working and decided, “screw it, let’s screen it!” The result is half-baked entity that will be frowned upon, not so far, maybe a year from now. Only ego will refuse to look at its flaws and see it as the greatest triumph of (Tamizh film Industry) mankind. I see it as another reason to re-evaluate my status as a Kamal fan.
Oh boy all of your readers didn’t like the movie and quite handful haven’t even watched the movie yet.
Well written post. A good attempt to dumb the movie down of all its merits. I have this beeg urge to start opposing every point of yours, but everyone has their own views!
( actually I’m scared you’d win with your wonderful writing/arguing skills) 😛
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me: I’d take it as a compliment!