Dasavatharam....

Err..I sure am late in watching the most awaited movie of the summer (Not speaking of Kuselan which is Thalaivar's offering for the masses coming up soon) - Dasavatharam! Kamal is acknowledged to be the finest that the country has produced (barring Shivaji Ganesan maybe, but I dont like his theatrics personally) and anyone who has seen Michal Madana Kama Rajan or Avvai Shanmughi would expect, without an iota of doubt, him to produce a swashbuckling, breezy and easy performance. The ulaga nayagan does not dissapoint - none of the roles appear labored. Infact the potrayal in a few avatars is so convincing that one starts counting and plays a Spot-Kamal game at times - This is especially true of the 95 year old Paati and the Japanese brother of Yuka - the Karate expert babe.

The story, screenplay and direction is by the master himself and it shows in every frame. The settings are top-class and there is not much time spent on frivolties. The stunt sequences deserve a special mention and look probable for a change - unlike in say Vishnuvardhan's Billa which looked like a cheap Matrix rip-off . The pace of the movie never lags and no normal movie-goer would ever have an attention-slip at anypoint of time during the 180 odd minutes, barring save some parts during the first half.

When someone plays 10 damn roles in any movie, it is but expected that he would eclipse all other performances. More so, when the guy doing this is Kamal Haasan. As such only Asin (played by Asin herself and not Kamal) and Mallika Sherawat (with a lot less cleavage on show for a pleasant change) had some kind of screen presence. Both disappoint but to be fair, no one takes Mallika to be a serious actress in spite of her "towering" screen presence. It must have been a surprising change for her from the usual kissing, cleavage baring, pre/post/extra marital sexual infidelity type roles that come her way. She must thank puritan south audiences and over-zealous political activists (double role of Karpu Guards) for making sure the screen stays clean. It is Asin, out of whom audiences expected a lot after Ghajini, who disappoints. Playing Kamal's lady-love sure has its negatives I guess - she doesnt make any mark and was an irritating presence during the second half. Seasoned veterans like Nagesh did not get time to do justice to their calibre. But hell, when you have one guy playing 10 roles...Jayapradha does a good job though in the limited time that she is on screen.

Some observations I made during the movie. The dialogues (quite evident in the second half) smell like out of a Singeetham Srinivasa Rao/Crazy Mohan flick. It does not require you to be a stud to figure out that these guys wrote scripts for Michael MKR, Kaadhala Kaadhala etc which had Kamal in them. Kamal has tried to bring in that type of humor into this movie through the character of the RAW Officer - The Andhra Kamal. Not quite rib-tickling and top class, but it sure is nice and funny at times.

I think Kamal as Chris Flethcher (Ex CIA) is the best in the movie. Would rate the 12th century role as second best. A comparision with previous movies by the legend is inevitable. Me thinks that Dasavatharam is a very good movie. But it did not have that big an impact on me, post movie. Not quite the level of Anbe Sivam or Nayagan. Imagine this guy pouring out all he has got in not 10 but in that 1 role.

Definitely worth a watch. Talks of Superstar doing not 10 but 20 roles in one song in the next movie. The clash of the titans begins this summer!