06/12/08 ~ Early Tollywood

6.12.2008

DASAVATHAARAM - A SUPER HUMAN EFFORT

What a super human effort! That will be the first reaction of any normal film buff who watches Kamal Haasan's. Tamil magnum opus, Dasavathaaram. The film is certain to thrill and entertain the audience for all of its 165 minutes, making them feel that they are watching something unusual and spectacular on screen.

Story and Performance:

The film starts off with an incident that occurs in the 12th century when Shaivite intolerance against Vaishnavites was at its peak. An ardent Vishnu devotee loses his life to save the idol of Lord Ranganatha. Kamal plays his first role of Vishnu devotee Rangarajan in this episode which is marked by excellent technical work and the actor's extraordinary performance.

From here, the film goes to a time when the whole world is on the brink of a biological warfare waged by terrorists. Actively opposing them is the American president who urges the rest of the world to combat this evil.

Meanwhile, a computer chip containing a vicious biological material goes missing from a laboratory in the United States. An in-house scientist Govinda (again played by Kamal Hassan [Images]) who is aware of the dangers of the material launches a hunt for the missing material, which takes him to India.

In the course of the hunt for the missing chip, Kamal takes on eight more characters and travels to many continents.

The film is a scientific thriller par excellence and it is certain that Kamal has excelled in his eleventh role of the story and script writer. It is difficult to imagine that any normal script writer can think of weaving such a fantastic subject that mixes intelligence with commercial ingredients. It requires an extraordinary intelligent mind to write the sequences some of which are food for thought to the intellectuals as well as ordinary people. Perhaps this is the best script of Kamal Hassan till date. Throughout the film, the writer, an atheist questions the existence of God.

Now comes the challenging part -- picking Kamal's best role out of his ten. Will it be Annachi or Padikkadha Medhai, who fights against the Sand Mafia? Or will it be the investigative officer Naidu? Better yet, will it be the 100-year old woman Krishnaveni, who still yearns the return of her son? But what about the Punjabi pop singer Avatar Singh or for that matter the former CIA agent, Fletcher? Will it be President George Bush or the lanky Afghan merchant? You get the point. So excellent is the make-up and voice modulation that picking any one character is difficult.

Though Kamal had performed many roles that were similar to the roles of 12th century priest, Rangarajan and scientist Govinda, you still see some novelty in Dasavathaaram.

It is very difficult to single out the best sequence of the film, yet the tsunami episode is perhaps the outstanding presentation mainly because of the top class visuals backed by a superb background effort.

It is not necessary to say how great an actor Kamal Haasan is but one thing has to be said; no other actor would have dared to take on these varied roles. And hats off to him.

As for the heroine, Asin, she has improved since her debut. In a way, Dasavathaaram is an extension of her excellent performance in Ghajini. All the other artists have also performed very well.

K.S. Ravi Kumar should also be complimented for his handling of such a complicated but challenging subject. This may well go down in the history of Indian cinema as a unique experiment in the commercial circuit. He has taken the best out of his artists and technicians.

Only Himesh Reshammiya fails him. Except for Ulaganayagane and the Bhangra song, the rest are nothing to write home about. However, background music by Devi Sriprasad is excellent.

So is the camera work by Ravi Varman. The special effects and stunt choreography are of international standards.

All in all, Dasavathaaram as an extraordinary effort.

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PRINCE MAHESH IN A BIG WAY

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KAJAL AND NAVADEEP IN ARYA'S SEQUEL

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DASAVATHAARAM REVIEW

Starring:
Kamal Haasan
Asin
Mallika Sherawat
Jayapradha
Nagesh
Nepolean
Santhana Bharathi
P Vasu
R Sundarrajan
Erode Sounder and others
Direction: K S Ravikumar
Music: Himesh Reshammiya
Production: V Ravichandran

It has been a long wait for Kamal’s fans after Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu and the legend has not disappointed them. He has established emphatically that the wait is certainly a worthwhile one and has proved time and again that cinema is his lifeline.

The seventy crore magnum opus challenges Hollywood films and has even set up a benchmark for their films. Special kudos to producer Oscar Ravichandran for ably supporting the actor and the director in their pursuit of rendering a world class Tamil cinema - especially in the technical department.

The grandiose scenes spellbinds the viewer and the crew has worked hard to sustain this feeling through out the film. The film opens with the camera zooming on Chennai from the ocean and gently stops at Chozha era when Saivites and Vaishnavites locked horns with each other.

Kamal’s performance, Ravi Varman’s cinematography, Devi Sri Prasad’s re-recording and Thanikachalan’s editing teleport the viewer to a different era which would take a long time for them to unravel, particularly the scene where the Saivite King orders the statue of Lord Ranganatha to be thrown into the sea and threatens the ardent Vaishnavite Kamal to utter Om Namashivaya just once. And when Kamal begins OM, the suspense is killing not only for the king but also the audience. Though the film begins with Chozha period, it subsequently moves to modern times, bringing with it adventure, high flying chases. etc

Kamal’s hard work and perseverance is palpable in every frame
and in the different getups that he has essayed. An angry Vaishnava young man from Chozha period, US President George Bush, mentally unstable old woman, a Japanese Karate master, Punjabi ghazal singer, a dalit man fighting for justice, an American terrorist out to kill people, an eight feet innocent Muslim, an astute scientist, a Telugu secret service man speaking Tamil in a weird fashion- a variety indeed!.

Out of the ten Kamals, the dalit Boovaraghan stands out with his distinct style in dialogue delivery, eye movements and body language. Grandma Kamal is a reminder of Avvai Shanmugi while the secret service agent tries to tickle the funny bone in us, while in all the other Kamals, makeup alone can be talked about.

Asin as an Agraharam girl is a revelation and is almost on par with Kamal in performance. Mallika Sherawat has understood why she has been hired and accordingly does her part.

In the music department, the Tamil flavor is retained only in the Mukunda number while in the others, Himesh Reshammiah’s difficulty in unwrapping himself from Hindi clutches is discernible. K S Ravikumar’s directorial acumen is revealed in Ulaganayagane number where he has picturized Kamal’s make-up secrets.

Dasavatharam’s main forte is technical expertise, which the technicians have utilized without the viewer being aware of it. Top of the line technical excellence is perceptible in Tsunami scenes, car chasing shots, Chozha period sequences and the scene where all the Kamals come together. On the flipside, if the focus given to technical brilliance had been given to a stronger storyline and character portrayal, the film would have earned a perfect TEN.

All in all a colossal visual opulence at its peak for the first time in Indian cinema.

ALSO READ DASAVATHAARAM - A SUPER HUMAN EFFORT

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WEDDING BELLS FOR MAHESWARI

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY URVASI SHARADA

Sharada (born June 12, 1945) is a three time national award winning South Indian actress. She originally hails from Andhra Pradesh. But has achieved success through Malayalam movies. Initially she has done many supporting roles in Telugu films, later on she moved to Malayalam film industry and gained success there. She is also known as Urvashi Sharada because earlier the National Film Award for Best Actress was officially designated as Urvshi Award.

Sharada, a Telugu Padmashali, was born as Saraswati Devi in Tenali, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Her parents Venkateswar Rao and Sachyavathi Devi belonged to a family of agriculturalists. She has a brother, namely Mohan Rao. Sharada was sent to Madras in her childhood to live with her grandmother Kanakamma. Sharada describes her grandmother as a strict disciplinarian who in the later days wouldn’t even let the heroes touch her and allowed rehearsals only on Sundays. Sharada started to learn dance when she was six. She used to perform during Dasara and other temple festivals. It was because of her mother's desire that she learned dance. Her mother wanted her to become a big star in cine field. Though Sharada's father was not too interested in the idea, he didn't stop her either.

Sharada married Chalam, a famous telugu hero,producer,and comedian.Chalam was the co-star of her debut film Tandrulu Kodukulu.They both got divorced later on.

When she grew up, she started in acting in theater, under the supervision of her grandmother. In Indian theater and cinema, the female lead stars used to leave the field as soon as they are married. So, most of the female lead stars were very young compared to the male leads. Sharada remembers in one of the plays she acted as the wife of a person 30 years older than her when she was just 13. Her debut in films was with a minor role in the Telugu film Kanya Sulkam. However, she returned to theater after it and did a major role in the Telugu version of Ratha Kanneer, a Tamil drama. The play went to get staged over 100 times in Tamilnadu.

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