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For the ten avatars of Vishnu, see Daśāvatāra.
Dasavathaaram
File:2lmuff5.jpg
Directed byK. S. Ravikumar
Written byKamal Haasan
K. S. Ravikumar
Sujatha Rangarajan
Crazy Mohan
Produced byVenu Ravichandran
StarringKamal Haasan
Asin Thottumkal
Mallika Sherawat
Jayaprada
Napolean
CinematographyRavi Varman
Edited byAshmith Kunder
Music byHimesh Reshammiya
Devi Sri Prasad
Production
company
Distributed byAascar Films
(India)
Ayngaran International
(Europe)
Walt Disney Pictures
(Canada)
Narmadha Travels
(United States)
Release date
  • June 13, 2008 (2008-06-13)
[1]
Running time
185 mins
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget60 crores[2]
Box office270 crores (57 mil USD)[3]

Dasavathaaram is a 2008 Tamil supernatural disaster film co-written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. Kamal Haasan, who wrote the screenplay and story of the film, stars in ten distinct roles, including the lead character. Asin Thottumkal appears in a dual role and Mallika Sherawat plays a subsidiary role in the film. The film, which had been under production for nearly three years, was produced and primarily distributed by Venu Ravichandran, who made the film with a budget of 60 crores.[2] The soundtrack to the film was composed by Himesh Reshammiya, while Devi Sri Prasad composed the background score. Cinematography and editing were conducted by Ravi Varman and Ashmith Kunder respectively, while Michael Westmore was the chief make-up artist for the film.

The film revolves around bringing together the lives of several individuals during the week prior to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Primarily, the story revolves around a research scientist who loses a biological weapon of mass destruction in the United States. The weapon is also sought by a former Central Intelligence Agency officer for his own use. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse chase throughout several countries, as the scientist and the ex-CIA officer vie for the possession of the weapon. The proceedings are affected by several characters and their issues which disrupt the weapon from going to the hands of the former officer. The story occurs within a week building up to the tsunami of December 2004.

After post-production problems delaying release for one and a half years, it was released worldwide on June 13, 2008 in Tamil, with simultaneous dubbed versions released in Telugu. The film was also released in Hindi as Dashavatar almost a year later and had mixed impact at the box office. Ultimately, the Tamil version become the all time blockbuster in the history of Indian cinema, grossing 270 crores worldwide.

Plot

The film begins showing the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium filled with an audience, being hosted by Govindarajan Ramaswamy-Govindaraju Ramaswamy (Kamal Haasan) with prominent personalities including Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, President of the United States George Bush (Kamal Haasan) and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, seated on the stage, following the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Govind explains the idea of the chaos theory[dubious – discuss] and its effects on the world. Govind begins by reciting events from Chidambaram in the 12th century Chola empire of South India. Kulothunga Chola II, (Napolean) the King of the empire is a Saivite, believing in the Hindu deity, Shiva. The King wants to get rid of all temples of the deity Vishnu, followed by the Vaishnavites and intends to take a large idol of Vishnu from a temple intent on disposing it in the Bay of Bengal. However, Rangarajan Nambi (Tamil), Rangaraja Nambi (Telugu) [Kamal Haasan], a Vaishnavite, tries to stop the King from disposing his deity. Uncovering Nambi's plans to stop the idol's disposal, the King tells him to renounce his belief or be destroyed along with his idol. Nambi refuses to bow to any other god, despite pleas from his wife, Kothai Radha (Asin Thottumkal) and their son, and is subsequently tied to the huge idol and both are thrown in the Bay of Bengal.

File:Dasavatharam sherwat.jpg
Govind (Haasan) and Jasmine (Sherawat) pictured in Chennai International Airport.

The scene switches to the week preceding the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, beginning on December 20, 2004. Govindarajan Ramaswamy (Tamil), Govindaraju Ramaswamy (Telugu), commonly known as Govind, is a biotechnologist working at a lab in California, USA. He works in an organization which had invented a deadly virus which has the potential to be the greatest bio-weapon ever made by man, with the actual matter being kept well protected. However during an announcement with George Bush, Govind's lab monkey breaches the security protecting the bio-weapon and swallows it, killing it and producing a devastating effect. Following this discovery, Govind wants to destroy it, with the only possible remedy being the mixing of the weapon with sodium chloride. But his boss, Dr. Sethu (Rajesh Toleti) at the organization has a different idea and attempts to sell it to terrorist organizations. Upon the discovery of this, Govind makes off with the vial containing the virus and flees to his friend, Suresh's (Sanjay) home. Suresh betrays Govind and informs the boss that Govind is at his house.

Suddenly Christian Fletcher (Kamal Haasan), who is an ex-CIA officer, also appears in the scene wanting the vial for his own nefarious purposes. At Suresh's house, Govind manages to escape without harm but Suresh and his Japanese wife, Yuka (Ann), are murdered by Fletcher. The escaping Govind, finds himself in a car with another friend, Sairam (Chakri Toleti), in whose belongings, the vial gets mixed up accidentally, sending the vial by mistake to Chidambaram in India. Unable to stop the flight, Govind finally manages to escape from the USA by sneaking aboard a cargo flight. Receiving intelligence on this issue, Fletcher decides to fly to India to recover the vial. Prior to leaving, he finds himself a translator in the Las Vegas pole dancer, Jasmine (Mallika Sherawat); also getting married to her before leaving. In Japan, Shingen Narahashi (Kamal Haasan), a Japanese martial arts expert and brother of Yuka, thinks it was Govind who killed his sister and comes to India, seeking revenge.

Upon arrival at Chennai airport, the vial is transferred to another plane and Telugu intelligence officer, Balram Naidu (Kamal Haasan) intervenes and questions Govind, who insists on talking to higher authorities but to no avail. As Naidu walks out of the room briefly, Fletcher invades the building taking Govind and a police officer, Bharath (Akash) hostage. The trio along with Jasmine are stopped at immigration but mange to escape after a Punjabi pop singer, Avtaar Singh (Kamal Haasan), faints and causes a frenzy at the airport. Eventually Akash gets shot and during this, Govind manages to escape from Fletcher and flees to Chidambaram in hope of finding the vial. Subsequently, Fletcher and Jasmine hire a driver, Broadway Kumar (M. S. Baskar) to transport them to Chidambaram as well.

The vial ultimately ends up at the house of a Brahmin family in Chidambaram. The vial, delivered in a parcel by the postman Prabhu (Vayapuri), is taken in by a 95-year-old, senile woman, Krishnaveni (Kamal Haasan), who lives in belief of receiving a parcel from her son, who perished. Govind pleads for it to no avail, but eventually changes the mind of Krishnaveni, after explaining the scientific threat to her granddaughter, Andaal (Asin Thottumkal). Krishnaveni responds by putting the vial inside the idol of the deity, Perumal, citing that God would destroy the weapon. Fletcher and Jasmine, eventually arrive in Chidambaram and Jasmine attempts to seduce Prabhu and Naidu's assistant, Ekambaram (Chitti Babu) to reveal Govind's location.

Govind tries to secure the vial before Fletcher and Jasmine reach them. Soon, Fletcher fires his gun near an elephant and it starts rampaging, with Jasmine getting badly hurt in the commotion. Lest she should say something, Fletcher shoots her dead. Govind tries to escape with the idol but Andaal, who worships the idol, tries to stop him. Eventually they both escape and after a long chase, they manage to reach the old Chola Temple, where the King watched the idol of Vishnu being thrown into the ocean in 12th century. Govind remembers that the vial should be kept cool so they bury the idol in cold sand and go in search of ice to maintain the temperature. As they stop to get ice, the pair find out they are being hunted by the police and that they are being portrayed negatively in the press. When they return they find that the quarry sand, where they planted the statue, is being stolen by illegal sand miners. The miners capture the duo as they try to reclaim the idol. Furthermore, their leader (Santhana Bharathi) attempts to rape Andaal when she shouts into darkness for help. Lights flash and Vincent Poovaraagan (Kamal Haasan), a Dalit who was neglected by the society due to their caste arrive, along with a bunch of TV reporters, comes to question the theft of sand from quarries. Using this opportunity, Govind and Andaal escape with the idol.

They manage to escape using the sand lorries and on the main road, they collide with a car which contains a Muslim family within it. Govind helps the family out of the house, with the injured also including seven foot giant Kalifullah Mukhtaar (Kamal Haasan), furthermore they simultaneously escape from threats from Fletcher and Balram Naidu. Kalifullah's mother, Megha (K. R. Vijaya) begins to bleed and Govind with Andaal take her to the local hospital. At the hospital Avtaar Singh rests with a tumour in his throat posing potential danger to his vocal cords and thereby, his singing career. He checks into a hospital and the doctor gives him some medicines in a cooler. Govind also gets a cooler, similar to the one of Avtaar Singh, to preserve the idol and hence, the vial. In a lift, the coolers of Govind and Avtaar Singh are mixed up, and Avtaar Singh sets off for his concert. Govind meets Bharath again, with the police officer instructing him to meet Balram Naidu. Govind picks up the cooler which actually contains the medicine and sets off to the police station, thinking that it has the idol inside. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Fletcher arrests Andaal at gun point and takes her to Kalifullah's home. He makes a phone call to Govind to get back along with the idol. Govind retreats from the steps of the police station, only to be spotted by Balram Naidu and Shingen Narahashi. The entire police force follow Govind to Kalifullah's home hoping to arrest Govind and Fletcher. When Govind and Fletcher meet, they are surprised to see that the cooler box does not have the idol in it and Govind guesses that it should be with Avtaar Singh. With assistance from Kalifullah's father, Sheik (Nagesh), they escape to the concert hall. Balram Naidu brings the police and enquirers Kalifullah and the residents of the entire village regarding the escape of Govind. Subsequently he orders everybody to be stationed in a Mosque to hasten the inquiry.

Avtaar Singh finishes his predicted last musical performance, vomiting a lot of blood while singing. At the end of the concert, Govind and Fletcher are waiting for him to exchange the cooler box. Fletcher shoots Avtaar Singh in the throat and after little confusion, Govind and Andaal set off on a bike along with the idol and Fletcher continues to chase them. Govind and Andaal reach a construction site along with the idol. The sun dawns on December 26, 2004. Fletcher holds Andaal at gun point and Govind hands over the idol to Fletcher, only to confess later to Andaal that he had removed the vial from the idol. Balram Naidu reaches the spot in a helicopter and chases Fletcher. Govind and Andaal set off with the vial, with Govind realizing the urging need to preserve it.

Meanwhile, J. Raghavendra (P. Vasu), head of the illegal sand miners tries to cajole Vincent Poovaragan to give up his activities and join his side. Most of Poovaragan's members have deserted him, however Poovaragan remains unchanged. At the same time, President Bush and few others come to know that NaCl could destroy the weapon. Back in Tamil Nadu, Govind notices a couple of drainage cleaners who coat their bare bodies with crystal salt before getting into the drainage holes. He gets an idea and runs toward the sea, only to be stopped again by Fletcher and Govind is no match for Fletcher and Fletcher succeeds in securing the vial. While Govind is hurt badly, Shingen Narahashi comes to his rescue and fights against Fletcher, after he understands Fletecher had killed Yuka. Govind watches Shingen Narahashi break Fletcher's arms and legs. Fletcher helplessly and in frustration, curses India and breaks open the vial and eats it despite pleas from Govind who shouts not to do it and at the same time asks Shingen Narahashi to back away. Balram Naidu, in his helicopter has followed Fletcher all the way through till the beach. As soon the vial is open, he zooms in with his binoculars and the virus starts replicating rapidly in the atmosphere.

Almost immediately, the Tsunami strikes. Balram Naidu flees away in his helicopter. Govind, Shingen Narahashi and Andaal take refuge in a small boat while the decaying Fletcher gets washed away. The Mosque which hosts the inhabitants of Kalifullah's village is unstruck and the entire village is saved and they return the good will by helping the police in Tsunami relief. J. Raghavendra's house is struck and Poovaragan saves the children of Raghavendra, but gets himself killed in the fracas. During relief efforts, Krishnaveni believes Poovaragan to be her son and cries out of grief finally, breaking the barriers of her caste. Andaal expresses her love for Govind and at the same time, praises God who, according to her, has saved millions of lives through a Tsunami in place of the vial. Govind questions her theory by asking if a God would kill thousands of lives. As Govind and Andaal set off from the beach, an idol of Vishnu is shown to have brought back to the land by the sea through the Tsunami. It is also indicated that the bullet that struck Avtaar Singh's throat cleared off the cancer and he should be able to get back to singing in a span of six months.

The scene changes back to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai where President Bush is invited to deliver his speech. After speaking, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi is invited to speak and credits roll by concluding in the Ulaga Nayagan song, in which K. S. Ravikumar makes his special appearance.

Cast

Further information: Cast of Dasavathaaram
  • Kamal Haasan in ten roles as Rangaraja Nambi, Govindarajan Ramaswamy, George Bush, Avtaar Singh, Christian Fletcher, Shinghen Narahasi, Krishnaveni, Vincent Poovaraagan, Kalifullah Mukhtaar and Balram Naidu. In the Hindi version, He is from Patna, Bihar. For the first time in world cinema, Haasan portrayed ten distinct characters in a feature film. The shooting for the roles lasted for up to 3 years, with some roles taking up to 6 hours to apply make-up for.[4] The final song in the film, Ulaga Nayagan shows how Haasan wore these synthetic make-up.
  • Asin Thottumkal in dual roles as Kothai Radha and Andaal. After a major battle to land the role, Asin, for the first time in her career portrayed dual roles in the project. The film is Asin's largest release to date.[4]
  • Jayaprada as Ranjitha Singh. After several films with Haasan throughout the 1980s, Dasavathaaram saw Jayaprada reunited on-screen with him. She portrayed the caring wife of Punjabi pop star, Avtaar Singh.

Production

Development

Kamal Haasan was keen to break the record for an actor appearing in the most roles, so he came up with an original storyline and approached prominent directors, to direct it, when K. S. Ravikumar accepted the offer. Dasavatharam began soon after the announcement of another magnum opus, Sivaji: The Boss starring, the other major star of India, Rajnikanth; the films, despite being released nearly a year apart, were built up to be rival projects.[8] K. S. Ravikumar and Kamal Haasan came together for the fourth time following their three previous successful ventures, Avvai Shanmughi, Thenali and Panchathantiram. Haasan announced he was set to play ten different roles in the film, making it the first time that an actor has appeared in so many roles in world cinema (this record was later broke by Priyanka Chopra in her film What's Your Raashee?). Venu Ravichandran, who had a profitable 2006, signed up to produce the venture securing distribution rights in the process.[9] Following nearly a year of pre-production, deciding the cast and the locations, the film began its first schedule on September 11, 2006.[10]

Casting

Between the announcement of the project and prior to the launch a year later, several heroines were signed up and then either removed or opted out from the project. The first being Vidya Balan, who was signed up and set to make her debut in the Tamil films, however due to the long inactivity of the film, Balan opted out citing date clashes with her Bollywood project.[11] Following the removal of Balan, it was reported that each of the ten characters portrayed by Kamal Haasan in the movie, would have a female lead opposite them. Heroines who were reported to be a part of the film but failed to make the final shortlist were: Jyothika,[12] Mumtaj,[13] Kiran Rathod,[13] Meena,[13] Bhumika Chawla,[12] Sameera Reddy, Nadhiya,[14] Kamalinee Mukerji,[15] Nithya Das,[15] Meera Jasmine,[15] Simran Bagga[16] and Vasundhara Das.[15] Moreover, few heroines, who were selected, opted out due to date clashes like Balan, Trisha Krishnan[17] and Nayantara.[18] Furthermore, Shriya Saran was forced to opt out of the project by the producers of her other Sivaji: The Boss, a film built up as the rival to Dasavathaaram at the box-office.[19] Finally, the major female lead role was given to Asin Thottumkal, who was later assigned two distinct roles in the project.[20] The second lead female role in the film, went to Mallika Sherawat, for whom Dasavathaaram is her first Tamil language film.[21] Over the course, of the production more supporting actors were added to the film, the first being Napolean, who was signed up to portray a king in the film. Other veteran actors, Jayaprada, Nagesh, P. Vasu, K. R. Vijaya and M. S. Baskar were roped into essay other small roles in the film, as well as a bevy of American supporting actors.[22] Actors, Jayaram and Vadivelu opted out of the film during the production of the project, citing date problems.[23]

The film was originally announced with A. R. Rahman as the music director of the film, however like Shriya Saran, he was removed from the project as per the request of the producers of Sivaji: The Boss. He was replaced by Himesh Reshammiya, for whom Dasavathaaram becomes his first Tamil venture as a music composer. Due to inconsistency of dates for Reshmaiyya, Devi Sri Prasad was roped into record the background music despite indications that Rahman would re-join the project to do so. Ashmith Kunder was signed up to edit the film, despite early indications that A. Sreekar Prasad would have landed the offer. The director, K. S. Ravikumar also wrote the script for the film following negotiations with the late Sujatha Rangarajan, who died before the release of the movie and Crazy Mohan. Late Jeeva was initially announced as the cinematographer of the film, who was then replaced by Ravi Varman.

Filming

Picture of the film set depicting the Vishnu image used in the film

A preliminary schedule took place before the start of the film, which featured no filming, but only the make-up tests, which lasted 25 days in the USA.[24] The filming of Dasavathaaram began on August 3, 2006 at Mahabalipuram in Chennai, where a song was picturised on a set created by Sameer Chandra, an art director. The set resembled the Airavatheeswarar temple at Darasuram in Kumbakonam and scenes with Kamal Haasan in an Iyengar get-up and accompanied by over 750 extras were recorded. Asin Thottumkal joined the team on September 11, 2006 for a shoot in Uthandi. However in late September 2006, Sameer Chanda was sacked from the project due to his tendency to employ only workers from Mumbai and not Tamilians, prompting Haasan and Ravikumar to remove him from the project, with his role being entrusted to Prabhakar of Virumaandi fame.[25] Shootings were held at Chennai Airport in November 2006, which cost the producer 2 crores. Another team member was sacked in Chengelpet, when a stunt sequence was being captured by the camera, stunt master Kanal Kannan was reported to have used unparliamentary words at the workers and that too over the public address system. Angered and humiliated by such remarks, the workers walked out of the sets refusing to work any more. Finally they all resumed duty only after the elimination of Kanal Kannan. A new stunt master, Thyagarajan was given the opportunity to take over following the controversy caused by Kannan, who had a similar problem whilst shooting for Sivaji.[26]

Major portions of the films were shot extensively in overseas locations which included America, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. A role of a foreigner, played by Haasan, was shot for in casinos in and around Las Vegas and Orlando. A song involving Kamal Haasan and Mallika Sherawat that was to be shot in US was moved to Malaysia due to problems with Sherawat's visa deeming she could not join the crew. So the crew instead decided to shift the shooting to another destination in Malaysia and the song was shot in posh night clubs; furthermore scenes were shot at a lobby of a prominent Malaysian airport.[27]

A large set was erected at the Taramani Film City in India which was a Replica of the White House, with Haasan’s makeup for the role lasting six whole hours to obtain the desired outcome.[27] For the climax scenes of the film, a tsunami effect was created in Mahabalipuram. The scene was shot recently at a 50,000 sq. ft. area land in which a 100-ft. wall was created near Muttukadu. Six machines, which generated 20 ft. high waves, were imported from the US, for a total cost of 3.5 crore.[27] For the climax, another scene was shot dramatically above the Nehru Stadium with the permission of the chief minister, Karunanidhi. The film’s final shoot occurred on October 8, 2007 at Uthandi, a coastal village.[10]

Controversies

In September 2006, an assistant director called Senthil Kumar filed a case against the film at Madras High Court. He claimed to have created the story of Dasavathaaram, in a script titled, Ardhanari alias Clones, and that Kamal Haasan and Venu Ravichandran had stolen the script and left him out of the credits, violating the copyright act.[28] On the basis of this complaint, Chennai police queried the actor and later they accepted his explanation with the high court sending notices to Kamal Haasan and the producer of the film, Venu Ravichandran announcing an interim stay on the release of the film. The film was allowed to continue with its schedules, but the case was delayed till later in 2007. However in September 2007, The Madras High Court dismissed the petition of Senthil Kumar against Kamal Haasan in the case, clearing the legal hurdles for the film.[29]

Following the audio launch on April 25, 2008, Mallika Sherawat received a police complaint against the issue of improper attire at a film function. Hindu Makkal Katchi, a splinter group of the Hindu Munnani, lodged a complaint with the police, saying that Sherawat's attire at the function to release audio-CDs of Dasavathaaram, in which Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had been present, had "hurt the sentiments of Hindus". The actress was accused of wearing transparent, skimpy clothes and sitting crossed leg on the stage, revealing her lingerie. Sherawat, was later not asked, to apologize as she rarely visits Chennai and her visit for the film launch was a one off.[30]

In May 2008, the film was criticized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which claimed that the film has portrayed the clash between Saivism and Vaishnavism which prevailed in the 12th century in the film in an objectionable manner. The organization reported that many statues of Hindu Gods have been shown to be destroyed which will be highly controversial and will hurt the sentiments of Hindus all over the world. While condemning such scenes, VHP leader, Vedantham, had stated that the scenes in question be removed soon, failing which they will be holding agitations in front of the theatres where the film would be screened.[31] However, following the accusations, Venu Ravichandran announced that the film contains no controversial scenes and added that the film, based around the Hindu religion, will convert atheists to theists.[32] The charges were cleared on May 29, 2008 insisting that Dasavathaaram did not portray Hindu culture in bad light.[33] The movies however does show Kulothunga Chola II played by actor Napolean as throwing an idol of Lord Vishnu into the sea, but historically no such thing happened. (We need more confirmations on this - because, in one of the Veteran Writer Balakumaran's Historic Novel on SriRangam - Kaadhal Arangam, Bala portraits the King named Kirumi Kanda Chozhan as the same character that of one that is shown in the movie) Kulothunga II reigned over a period of general peace and good governance.

Soundtrack

Further information: Dasavathaaram (soundtrack)
Untitled

The soundtrack to Dasavathaaram was released on April 25, 2008 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, which became the largest audio launch for a film in the world.[34] Prominent film personalities across the world attended with Jackie Chan, in his first such appearance, being Hollywood's ambassador for the function. Other prominent regional Indian artistes such as Amitabh Bachchan, Mammooty, Vijay and Madhavan attended the launch, which was graced by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi. The event hosted by Shobana, was attended by all the artistes of the film apart from the producer, Venu Ravichandran, who opts not to attend public events.[35] The songs composed by Himesh Reshammiya were acquired by Sony BMG, purchasing their first Tamil film, for a record 2 crores.[36]

Songs

No. Song Singers Length (m:ss) Lyrics Notes
1 "Ulaga Nayagan" Vinit Singh 5:34 Vairamuthu Features K. S. Ravikumar dancing with the various avatars of Kamal Haasan in the background.
2 "Kallai Mattum" Hariharan, Chorus 5:28 Vaali Picturized as a 12th century episode with Haasan as Rangaraja Nambi, and Napolean as Kulothunga Chola II.
3 "Oh...Ho...Sanam" Kamal Haasan, Mahalakshmi Iyer 5:31 Vairamuthu Picturizes Kamal Haasan as Avtar Singh in concert with his onscreen wife, Ranjitha, played by Jayaprada.
4 "Mukundha Mukundha" Kamal Haasan, Sadhana Sargam 6:32 Vaali Features Asin Thottumkal singing in praise of Vishnu, with Haasan lurking behind as an old woman.
5 "Kaa...Karuppanukkum" Shalini Singh 5:06 Vairamuthu Features Kamal Haasan dancing with Mallika Sherawat in posh nightclubs.
6 "Oh...Ho...Sanam"
(Re-Mix)		 Himesh Reshammiya, Mahalakshmi Iyer 3:47 Vairamuthu An extra track that was not a part of the film.

Release

Screenings

The film's trailer was released publicly on April 23, 2008, a day after it was shown to special guests, which included M. Karunanidhi at a screen.[37] The first exclusive screening of the film, prior to release, was held on the morning of the audio launch on April 25, 2008, to visiting guests Jackie Chan, Mammooty and Amitabh Bachchan, all of whom were full of praise for the film.[38] Distribution of the film worldwide, was sold to various companies with producer Venu Ravichandran distributing the film around South India. Sony India distributed the film in North India, whilst Ayngaran International sold the film to cinema halls in the United Kingdom, Singapore and the Gulf.[39] Canadian rights for the film were bought by Walt Disney, becoming the first distributional venture of an Indian film by the production house.[40] Narmadha Travels acquired the rights from Aascar Films to distribute the film in the United States Of America.[41]

The film was shown subsequently to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi by the request of the producer on June 8, 2008.[42] Furthermore, Ravichandran sold the television rights for the film to Karunanidhi's Kalaignar TV for a record, 4.5 crore rupees.[36][failed verification] Two days prior to the release, the film was shown to prominent film personalities of Indian cinema at Four Films Cinema in Chennai, with the film receiving praise.[43]

Reception

The film evaded its set release for date for more than one and a half years ranging from October 2006 to June 2008. The Tamil film, upon release, was subsequently dubbed and released in Telugu on the same date, with later release dates set for the Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Bhojpuri versions. The Indian censor board certified the movie, giving it an "U", on April 24, 2008 and letting the film run for 166 minutes.[5] Dasavathaaram released worldwide with 1,300 prints in all the respective languages. For the Tamil version, Tamil Nadu alone had 275 prints with Kerala and Karnataka accounting for 85 and 80 prints respectively, with 190 prints released overseas. Moreover, the Telugu version of Dasavathaaram had as many as 260 prints in Andhra Pradesh.[36]

The film, upon release, became one of the biggest blockbusters in the history of Tamil cinema, breaking records in India as well as overseas. It became the first Indian movie to reach 200 crores gross revenue, total gross revenue is more than 250 crores[44] Domestically the film opened at number one, with collections in Tamil Nadu after the opening weekend was 21 crores, and Chennai alone garnering 3 crores. The film, also released in other parts of India, collected 60 lakhs from outside Tamil Nadu.[45] After the opening wekend, Dasavathaaram was placed 7th in the overseas weekend box office for the week ending June 13–15, becoming the first Tamil film to be in the Top 10 at the International Box Office with a total collection of $4,632,719 equivalent to approximately 19.7 Crores for 3 days.[46] The film was released in USA with 42 prints, an unprecedented record in US movie history for South Indian filmsand with print sharing facility, the film was screened in 50 cities across the country. The collection on the opening weekend in the USA was $500,000, the biggest opening ever for a Tamil language film.[47] In the UK box office, the film collected £126,747 from 19 screens on its opening weekend, debuting at number 12, the second highest position for a Tamil film after Sivaji.[47] In Malaysia, the film opened in second place for the period of June 12 to 15th having collected $601,307 on the opening weekend.[48] The film completed a hundred day run on September 20, 2008.[49] In Canada, the film was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the first Tamil film to be done so.

The film grossed 290 crores and became the highest grossing Indian film ever.

Reviews

Upon release, Dasavathaaram gained positive reviews at the box-office, but the majority reviewers claimed the film failed to live up to its expectations. However, Rediff.com praised the film as "spectacular" and a "super human effort" on the way to giving it a very high rating of 4 out 5 stars.[50] The reviewer claims its "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", in praise of the much hyped Tsunami scene.[50] The review adds that "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", praising his performances. Asin Thottumkal was described as having the second best role of her career, only second to Ghajini, whilst K. S. Ravikumar was "complimented for his handling of such a complicated but challenging subject". It adds that the film will "go down in the history of Indian cinema as a unique experiment in the commercial circuit".[50] The only negative factor in the film is described as Himesh Reshammiya whose music fail him but praise was addressed to Devi Sri Prasad, the background music composer who was labelled "excellent", as was the camera work by Ravi Varman.[50]

In comparison, the film was labelled "average" by Sify.com, who stated that Dasavathaaram fell short of the huge expectation and hype it had generated.[51] Sify wrote that the "trouble with the format is that far too many characters of the actor criss-cross without any reason—or they don’t make any difference to the story". Claiming characters such as the "Punjabi pop singer Avatar Singh, the tall Khalifullah Khan, the Japanese martial arts expert, etc., are unnecessarily stitched together to make it a perfect 10".[51] It also criticizes the make-up, lamenting that "Kamal’s prosthetic makeup, especially as George Bush, Fletcher and Khan, is a bit of a dampener" but praise Brian Jennings's special effects, mainly of the climax Tsunami scene, are top class by Indian standards. As Rediff mentioned, Sify criticizes Himesh Reshammiya’s music as "nothing much to talk about other than Kallai Mattum but Devi Sri Prasad’s background score is superb and makes up for everything".[51] Sify praises cinematographer Ravi Varman, who they claim "may take a bow, as his camerawork is glossy and superb". The actors performances' were all praised especially Kamal Hassan, who "pitches in yet another fantastic performance" with special praise for the Balaram Naidu character. Asin Thottumkal is described as "cute as the chirpy Andal, but beyond a point her character irritates you with her frequent Perumale calls", her dubbing effort is praised as "top class and deserves special mention".[51] Other actors are also appreciated, with Mallika Sherawat in a brief role "sizzles", while M. S. Baskar and Napolean in small roles "shine".[51]

References

  1. ^ "Dasavatharam release". LOTW. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  2. ^ a b "Dasavatharam budget is 60 crores". Economic Times. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
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  4. ^ a b "Dasavatharam - Movie Preview". Behindwoods.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
  5. ^ a b "Dasavatharam - Censor cuts!". Behindwoods.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  6. ^ Gupshup, Gullu (2008). "Jackie Chan to release Dasavatharam music". Rediff.com. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  7. ^ ""I am being ignored by Dasavatharam director"". Behindwoods.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  8. ^ Kamath, Sudhish (2007). "The next big things". The Hindu. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  9. ^ Sreenivasan, P. (2005). "Kamal Ka Kamaal: A world record through 'Dasavatharam'!". ApunkaChoice. Retrieved 2005-08-23.
  10. ^ a b "Uthandi to Uthandi!". Sify.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-11. Cite error: The named reference "start" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Why did Vidya Balan opt out of Kamal's Dasavatharam?". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-15.
  12. ^ a b "Bhoomika as Villi in Dasavatharam". MaduraiMachan.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-04.[dead link]
  13. ^ a b c "Ravikumar nagged by heroines for Dasavatharam". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-11.
  14. ^ "Nadiya in Dasavatharam?". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
  15. ^ a b c d "Meera Jasmine in Dasavatharam?". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-25.
  16. ^ "Kamal invites Simran; Bharatiraja invites Ranjeetha". Cinesouth.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-06.
  17. ^ "Trisha unwillingly accepts Dasavatharam?". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-05.
  18. ^ "Nayantara will play opposite Kamal in Dasavatharam". Behindwoods.com. 2005. Retrieved 2005-11-09.
  19. ^ "A meatier role for Shreya in Dasavatharam". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
  20. ^ "It's double role for Asin in Dasavatharam". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-23.
  21. ^ "Dasavatharam shifts location for Mallika Sherawat". Behindwoods.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  22. ^ "The latest on 'Dasavatharam'". The Hindu. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  23. ^ "Vadivelu refuses Dasavatharam". Behindwoods.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-03.
  24. ^ "Kamal Hassan on Dasavatharam". Sify.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
  25. ^ "Sameer Chanda out, Prabhakar in". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
  26. ^ "Workers strike in Dasavatharam unit". Behindwoods.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  27. ^ a b c "Dasavatharam - Exclusive trivia". Behindwoods.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  28. ^ "TN HC stays release of Kamal Hassan's new film". OneIndia.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-20.
  29. ^ "Dasavatharam story haunts Kamal". OneIndia.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  30. ^ "Mallika's dress too revealing". FilmSutra.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  31. ^ "Dasavatharam in a religious tangle". Behindwoods.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  32. ^ "Dasavatharam taken to court!". Behindwoods.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-07.
  33. ^ "Two petitions against 'Dasavatharam' dismissed". The Hindu. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  34. ^ "Dasavatharam audio launch – April 25, 2008". ExtraMirchi.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  35. ^ Warrier, Shobha (2008). "Kamal, Jackie bring the house down". Rediff. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  36. ^ a b c Gopalan, Krishna (2008). "Dasavatharam: India's most ambitious film to date". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  37. ^ Srinivasan, Meera (2008). "Kamal in 'Dasavatharam' impresses Karunanidhi". The Hindu. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  38. ^ Shah, Kunal (2008). "Jackie-Mallika together again". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 2008-04-26.[dead link]
  39. ^ "Ayngaran buys Dasavatharam!". Sify.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  40. ^ "Walt Disney gets rights for Dasavatharam". LOTW. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-08.[dead link]
  41. ^ "'Dasavatharam' prints land in USA – Will take off in cinemas tomorrow". IndiaGlitz. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  42. ^ "4 days D- Day- CM watches the film". Sify.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
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  44. ^ http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/downsouth/tamil/kamal-haasan-starts-shooting-a-wednesday-remake.html
  45. ^ Krishna, Sonali (2008). "The Happening grosses $31.5 mn in US". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  46. ^ "Overseas Total Box Office (June 13–15, 2008)". Box Office Mojo. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  47. ^ a b "Dasavatharam - US box-office". Sify. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  48. ^ "Dasavatharam's extraordinary collections!". Sify. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  49. ^ "Dasavatharam- 100 days of celebrating 10 Kamals". Behindwoods.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
  50. ^ a b c d Vijayasarathy, R G (2008). "Dasavathaaram is spectacular". Rediff.com. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  51. ^ a b c d e "Dasavathaaram (Review)". Sify.com. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
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