Saturday, June 14, 2008

Dasavatharam: Kamal Konfused!



What explains Kamal's fascination with grotesque masks? It almost looked childish! We will come to this later.

The much-hyped Dasavatharam is a disappointment because the script failed it. Now, i sincerly hope Kamal gives up writing for movies. He is too obsessed with his own characters to script for any theme and the many characters in it. I thought Hey Ram was and Anbe Sivam were written brilliantly but then he also dished out Abhay and Mumbai Express. So, let him loosen himself up and instead look for writers who can provide him what he wants.

Coming back to discussing the movie, the film and its characters lacked direction. Its one long chase where the many Kamals with their masks chase each other and Asin plays the most irritating and irrational character for a main role i have seen in recent times. While my friend - a fanatic who watches the most inconsequential movies without complaint, dozed off, i just wondered whats happening with Kamal, the actor. There is nothing he needs to proove about his acting, so what is this whole thing about masks? None of those characters are so deep to warrant his interest in playing them (unlike in Avvai Shanmugi). Its just that they all sum up to the (im)perfect 10. The Fletcher character he does resembles the one Robert Patrick played in Terminator 2, in body language. Kamal worked very well on the body language, but there was no way it could translate fully to the audience' notice, what with that deterring mask on his face all the time. The Vaishnavaite role was impressive because of its context, but even that role has little relevance to the film in the end. Saddeningly, the main protoganist too which Kamal plays without any make-up dosent make us feel anything. What a pity.

Being a big-budget flick (supposedly costing 80 odd crores), the CGI is the best we have seen till-date in indian flicks. Thats the only saving grace combined with the cinematography. The music, coming from Himesh Reshammiya, is forggetable. The producers seem to have forgotten the southern factor. AR Rahman and others like Harris Jeyraj, Devisri, G. V. Prakash Kumar took the music here several notches higher. No nasal crooning here!

With its unrelenting chase sequences and the intermittent nonsense talk (which seems to be mistaken as some sort of comedy of errors), this film, to me, bought back memories of that dud Mumbai Express. I sincerly hope Kamal dishes us better fare next time. Else, it would be difficult for us to digest seeing one more god fall.

9 comments:

Sid said...

Hi Amar, I am just back from the theatre.
Although I agree with most of your opinions on the make-up part and Kamal's being in frame in almost every next scene, I somehow liked the story and it was connected alright.
I totally agree with you, none of the characters really have a deeper impact on the audience.
The extra-ordinary make-up somehow killed the histrionics of Kamal the immensely talented actor.

Just said...

The story is weaved in philosophically and esoterically. That is where good screenwriting could have made it more presentable.

Despite writing so well, Hey Ram couldnt make a popular mark as it was percieved 'heavy' - something thats too far away from mass conscience. I thought Kamal learnt the lesson but he does that yet again. I think i understood what he intended to make but i am not sure if he connected it all well.

Let us just hope he bounces back with a good story, good character and ofcourse without those bizarre masks.

Sid said...

totally agree!!

Unknown said...

Agree with you on Dasavataram, but beg to differ on Hey Ram.
Dasavataram looked more like a platform to prove his performing abilities, which never were in question, what with all the inane characters, the ending credits song glorifying him, so on and on…Hmmmmm!

Heard he's coming up with his directorial project 'Marmayogi', supposed to be set in 6th century.
Having seen his writing abilities, lets see how he fares in his new 'avatar'.

Just said...

Hey Vara,

so u dont think much of Hey Ram either? I thought the character of Kamal was nicely written in the sense that his initial transformation into a radical and importantly, then into a mellowed person was well-handled. And i think thats a rarity in genre as well simply because the story was so 'indian' with the partition backdrop.

Even the time the movie came in was very apt for the context, with the Hindutva campaign and its constant reminder of partition wounds.

As i said in the post, it was 'heavy' as a regular moviegoer, mostly young folks like us, did not relate to all this stuff as we never saw any real communal strife and the changes it may push into people's perspectives abt other religions.

Sandeep Naredla said...

hey buddy,
i agree with most of your views except this line "While my friend - a fanatic who watches the most inconsequential movies without complaint" can you just name 3 of inconsequential movies which i watched without any complaint :)

Just said...

Darling,

Thru 'without complaint', I just meant that u dont whine like i do while watching a boring film. You still keep ur attention on the film.

BTW whats the magic figure 3!? so u do think..?

Sandeep Naredla said...

aithe vaakayyy

Ravinder Pasula said...

"...and the intermittent nonsense talk (which seems to be mistaken as some sort of comedy of errors)..."

very much true... could not bear it.