An atheist pays homage to Mother Nature

You get to know you are not in for the regular commercial fare when the titles start appearing on the screen on the backdrop of chennai's seaside. The first shot that spans through the Chennai skyline till it lands in the stadium sucks you into the movie. The 12th century episode that involves the shaivite king and the vaishnavite Rangarajan Nambi (Kamalhassan in his first avatar) wows you with its finesse and fine dialogues. From there on it is one thrilling ride across countries with Dr Govind holding the vile that contains the killer virus and an Indian investigating officer and an American terrorist both on its trail.

You have one avataram or the other turning up every 15 minutes and barely an hour into the movie, you have at least 3 avatarams appearing on every frame and that is when you realize the extent of research and detailing that has gone into this script. It is not about weaving a story around 10 characters for making a film titled Dashavatharam, it is about the multitude of issues that Kamal addresses in his racy, intelligent script- starting with Shaivite- Vaishanvite struggle of yore, it moves ahead and addresses burning issues like bio- weapons, international terrorism, apathy to Islam, Sand mafia, absolute casteism that is still prevalent in rural India and many more. But what bowled me over was the final point that Kamal drives home in his own characteristic manner- the universal fact that there is no power in the world that is mightier than the power of Mother Nature and what better way to prove it than recreating the havoc caused by Tsunami!

On the flip side you have tacky special effects, heavy make up that comes in the way of a fine actor like Kamal (his expressions are completely hidden under those heavy masks made of plaster of paris and not all of his avatarams look convincing), the supporting cast- none of them get a chance to make their presence felt since all important roles are played by Kamal himself, the lacklustre music by Himesh Reshammiya (the only song that stands out is Ulaganayagane) and the heroines (Mallika Sherawat is wasted, Jayaprada looks good thats all about her, Asin is competent but her screechy voice irritates)

What works for the film apart from Kamal's intelligent script are Ravi Varman's camera, Devisri Prasad's impressive background score, razor sharp editing by Ashmit Kunder and above all, the efforts of the captain of the ship- K S Ravikumar who proves that when it comes to heading a mammoth project like this one, there is no better man for the job!

Dashavatharam might not exactly set the cash registers ringing since it is not for the average cine goer but Kamalhassan, Ravikumar and Aascar Ravichandran can be proud of this one- these incarnations will definitely stand the test of time!