I saw the film Dasavatharam last week, after most people have seen it and commented it enough.

Most of the feedback that I got was that while people appreciated Kamal Hassan’s hardwork they did not understand it and it looked more like a fancy dress competition.

I had low expectations of the film, when I went for it.

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The film turned out to be a genius of a film made by Kamal. The story was absolutely brilliant, Kamal’s depiction was simply superb (except in 2 characters) and the story flow was so racy, it kept on flowing fast except for a few places in the latter half.

First what the film says:

The film is made based on Chaos theory. Chaos theory is all about how a set of actions at a point of time amplify actions at another place or another point of time. Though several actions seem to be chaotic and random in nature, they are kind of related or influenced in some way.

Chaos theory talks about how one event could affect another totally unrelated event happening at a different point of time or place. It just stops there.

Krishna goes ahead in Gita and states emphatically that every action has its reaction good or bad and there is no way to escape the fruits of an action.

And Kamal’s Dasavatharam illustrates this action-reaction consequence not so emphatically as Krishna said, but more loosely as the Chaos theory.

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Before I get to the action-reaction consequences drawn from the film, Kamal’s depiction of each character in terms of facial appearance, facial expression,  body language, cultural expression (such as the choice of word they use, thoughts they have) were simply superb.

The hallmark of characters were Balram Naidu, Fletcher , Grandma and Vincent Poovaragavan. 

I have seen many Babu’s working in Government Higher Echelons, particularly the Telugu characters and it is exactly the same as Balram Naidu character.  

Similarly the American confidence (U can call it arrogance) is amply brought out in Fletcher. I just couldn’t believe that Fletcher is Kamal Hassan.  In the climax as Fletcher pounds down Govind and says “Who said one can’t get away with everything ?”, it is just that American confidence blooming in full. Similarly the stupidness and Cow-boyish attitude of Bush is bought out fully in depiction of Bush Character. But unlike Fletcher, the mask is sticking out for both Bush and Light-House Character.

Depicting Grandma character is one thing. But to demonstrate the old age of character, sitting in a cupboard is really intelligent. One can never fail to wonder how Kamal really shrinked himself to the cup-board.

Similarly Vicent Poovaragavan is another depiction that stands out. The body language, spoken words and the make-up itself is fabulous.

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It is because that Kulothunga Cholan shunted out the Moolavar Govinda Rajar out of Chidambaram the Urchavar statue takes refuge in Ramanjuar Mutt. And since Asin’s family is related to the Mutt and almost lives in the mutt, Asin has a great affinity for Lord Vishnu and also the Urchavar idol of Govinda Rajar.

Several Centuries later, when a killer virus is about to break, Urchavar Govinda Rajar takes the Vial containing the Virus in him and protects it from getting into unsafe hands. Since the Virus requires a specific temperature, Govinda Rajar idol serves as an ideal sanctuary for the Virus vial, as it gets shifted between Sand and Freezer box. 

And finally when the virus was about to spread, Moolavar Govinda Rajar comes out of his place in the form of a Tsunami and eliminates the virus.

If the Chola king had not shunted the Moolavar and Urchavar of Govinda Rajar out of temple, it would not have come to Ramanujar Mutt. It might not have served as the sanctuary for the Virus Vial box. The Virus might have spread and killed the whole population of earth.

The love of Kamal for the idol of Govinda Rajar separates the family of Asin and Kamal in 12^th Century and kills Kamal that time. The love of Asin for the idol of Govinda Rajar in the current century unites Kamal and Asin and saves the whole world.

The love that Chola king had on Lord Shiva blinded him to all other perspectives. The love that King Bush had on his country blinded him to all other perspectives. 

If the Grandma’s son had not died and Grandma had not become insane, the vial would have never got into Govinda Rajar’s statue. If the Muslim family had not been suspected and rounded up in a Mosque, they would have died in Tsunami.

If Singer Kamal had not had Cancer, Fletcher would not have able to escape the airport. If Fletcher had not come to India with Virus, Singer Kamal could have died of Cancer.

If the Japanese girl (Kamal’s friend’s wife) had not been killed by Fletcher, her brother (Japanese kamal) would not have come to India. If he had not come to India, Fletcher would have finished off Govind (Scientist Kamal) at the beach and would have fled.

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When Asin cries for the help of Narayana, he comes in the form of Vincent Poovaragavan, a Dalit. If he had not come,  what could have happened to Asin and the Virus vial is unpredictable. When poovaragavan gives up his life to save the children of his opponents, Grandma cries as if her son is lost. She does not know that Vicent Poovaragavan saved her grand-daughter’s life. Still something forces her to cry as if her son died and she chides her sons for caste affinity.

When Kamal jumps from the bridge, Narayana comes in the form of Vegetable lorry and saves him. When the Fletcher and gang was about to succeed in their efforts, he comes in the form of elephant to kill Mallika Sherawat.

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So many actions and So many reactions.

We can understand that there is some relationship, but we cannot assign a motive. This is chaos theory.

We can understand that there is a relationship between our actions and reactions and we can assign a motive. The motive of God’s will. But we cannot explain it through our eyes, for it will be difficult. This is our theory.

Dasavaratham, kind of stands in between these two theories. On the whole a well made entertaining film.

-TBT