I had a lot of anticipation for Friday night, eager to see the ten on the big screen. The show, supposed to start at 7:45, started close to an hour late adding to the already long haul. Touted to be kind of a pathbreaker in make-up and special effects, it was a let down in those departments. I loved the chola period piece - although the movie failed to establish the connection between the past and present, except to show the statue resurfacing. A bit of a stretch there.
The violence that started in that first part didn't reduce in severity and that was a big drawback for the movie. Rather than adding to the movie, it took away. Does Kamal seem to prefer showing more than necessary violence in recent movies? It is not always needed. Thankfully my younger girl slept through it whereas my older one hid behind her fingers whenever it got gruesome. On hindsight, I would have preferred to have not taken them.
The make-up, oh the make-up. Enough has been said about the shoddy job done on the 'American' roles and the 'paati'. He did go through a lot of trouble to do it, but he needs to know when to draw the line. He could have had an international cast and the end result would have been much, much better. The Japanese role was slightly better.
The one that really took the cake was the telugu one. Balaram Naidu got the theater in splits. His face said it all, when a guy introduces himself as Narasimha Rao. His wig for the scientist role looked too artificial. Paati's role had some laughs too, but the make-up spoilt it. Poovaragan was good - the make-up, the accent and the walk. Some of the characters were well-etched. I would really love to see a spin off on Balaram Naidu, great potential there. Some of the characters seemed to have been added on, just to show what he could do with a bit of make-up.
Asin had a good role, suited her, though a little dumb at times. A huge cast, some of them showing up for hardly a minute or so, made it kind of hard to keep track of everything. Mallika Sherawat got a small role (considering the length of the movie). Tamil song in a las vegas strip(?) club. Gruesome end. If he could have, may be he would have done Asin's role too. When I said that to my s-i-l, her remark was that, it would have been 'asingam' instead of asin. A PJ, I know.
The climax was laughable w.r.t. special effects. Couldn't they do a better job of showing the tsunami? Looks like they ran out of money when it came to that. But the places where they show two (or more) Kamals fighting looked good. At times, you forget that some of these characters are done by the same person.
There was his usual debate about the existence of God. Why did they have the moorthy on stage when he gives his final speech? Considering his beliefs, the fact that he did the Nambi role with so much conviction and aplomb shows how good an actor he is.
Having said all that, the movie was entertaining, if you could forget the two major glitches (Makeup and special effects).
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Hey, read your post. I highly suggest you read this. The movie grows on you the 2nd time you watch it. But reading this will give you some sorta clarity and the connection between the past and the present in the movie (as you had mentioned)....
This is a forwarded message -
FOR THOSE WHO LOVED DASAVATHARAM AND ALSO FOR THOSE WHO CUDNT UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT!!!!!!!!!!
Too many doubts about correlation of the movie, Chaos theory and Butterfly Effect have come into Picture….!!!
The movie clearly states about Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect [Kamal says it in his Speech in the Movie ]
The concept of “CHAOS THEORY” and “BUTTERFLY EFFECT”, by itself is a complex concept, which mainly highlights the happening of huge unimaginable things because of least probable things…!!!!
Dasa although deals with these concept, but does not necessarily confuse anyone with it,,,, As i said earlier, its mainly “YOU”… that plays a factor in how the movie gets along with “YOU”.
You have got to be Case 1 or Case 2 as i have said earlier in this entry,,, No use being Half Baked…..!!!!
To just brief about these Concepts,
Q: What is Chaotic System ?
A: Basically a chaotic system is one wherein long term predictions are impossible.Like for example,if I push a car, I know that it is going to move and it will continue to do so if I go on pushing it on and on.However,in a chaotic system,this situation cannot be predicted over a long period of time.
Weather for example is a chaotic system.No matter how good your instruments are,you simply cannot predict the weather with 100% accuracy over a long term basis and forecast it.
Q: What is the Butterfly Effect ?
A: It is the most important component of a chaotic system.Basically,small perturbations results in amplifications which completely destroys the original nature of the system and makes prediction impossible.
If a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa,it could result in a cyclone in USA.(Mark the word COULD).A highly dumbed down explanation of the butterfly effect is in the film Anniyan,where Vikram’s sister dies because a liquor shop owner sells liquor on a dry day.
Q: OK, how does Dasa incorporate it ?
A: In essence,Dasa talks about 8 characters who are inconsequential as such,but are integrated in a larger picture.Without Bush,the plane would have been called back.Without Shinghen, Govind would be dead.Without the tsunami,the world would have been destroyed.Even Krishnaveni Patti plays a very important role.If she had not put the vial in the idol,maybe Govind would have recovered it then and there and a powerful weapon would have been unleashed.The very fact that it went into the idol meant that it was being accelerated to its destiny.Without Kaifulla Khan, Govind would have never escaped;the list simply goes on.
Q:OK,so does the film talk about theism or atheism?
A:Neither.It talks about how humans drive the destiny of the world.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
The movie does Show ” A Butterfly ” flying accross the screen after the Tsunami Attcck, clearly indicating that the Tsunami is an Outcome of ” The Butterfly effect “.
ALSOOOOOOO……..
I said that the butterfly COULD cause a hurricane.That’s a huge probability. Would be a negligible probability. NOT a huge one. if that were true, we would have cyclones on an hourly basis as butterflies keep flitting all over Africa and u don’t have so many cyclones to account for a HUGE probability.
Chaos,relativity and quantum mechanics are so damn weird that you will think I am talking metaphysics and pseudoscience.
Like for example,according to quantum mechanics,there is a finite probability that you will fall right through a solid chair.And it is a PROBABILITY.
Even 10 to the power -26 is finite :-) .
But yes, Quantum Mechanics does allow for weird situations.
THE CONNECTION !!!!!
Guys check this link for a clear and complete explanation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect
In the above links u can see that butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location..
So in dasavatharam that idol thrown into sea in 12th century is the cause for tsunami…. so everything is interlinked .The wiki entry also says that chaos could play an important role in plate techtonics. Which means even the 12th century incident is connected.
The 1st scene is perfectly connected to the climax, remember what Kamal says in the 1st scene, that he will not say “Om Nama Shivaya” , but Asin tells him to chant it , but still Kamal refuses , ( in this kamal in his story tries to tell that ) Nambi believes in his god more than anything, but Asin feels “Its ok if we change the god or chant other god’s name, its life thats most important.” Now if u see the climax its JUST OPPOSITE…. Kamal doesn’t believe in god much and values lives of people the most…. but Asin deeply believes in god and that too this dialogue comes when both Asin and Kamal’s hand is on the god which came from the sea , and it also means that they are getting united from the place they departed hundreds of years back ( Kamal and Asin).The connection between the 1st scene and the climax in the movie shows the generation circle combined with supernatural powers of GOD and destiny…..!!!
If you watch it closely u can also find another actor who has done double action other than Asin and Kamal.
Asin’s father Sahasranamam [12th Century], in the beginning he says to Nambi “Panchatchira manthirathai sollitu vaango mappillai” and at the End [After tsunami] he says “Avar enna jathiyo inga vaanga paati “.
Another Eg. of Chaos Theory and circle of life.
JUST IMAGINE THE CHAOS THEORY IN A TAMIL FILM ??
WILL ANYONE HAVE THE GUTS TO HANDLE THIS KIND OF A SUBJECT IN A TAMIL FILM?
ONLY KAMAL HAS THE GUTS…. U ROCK!!
FURTHER————-
Nambi explanation
Okay, this is slightly outside the chaotic system driving the film as a whole.From what I could gather he says that this story is about ideologies like God,the madness surrounding such ideologies and decides to tell the story of the Shaivite-Vaishnavite conflict to show how people go crazy in the name of God as an example.
As a loose end,it gets tied up in the end,when the Ranganathar idol is thrown out of the sea due to the tsunami which highlights the cyclic nature of life.Actually the Nambi character highlights both Chaos and Karma which I explained.That is the brilliance of this film,there is so much to see and understand.
Another explanation(and this is slightly far fetched— as explained earlier) is that Govind is in fact the reincaranation of Nambi. As Nambi he couldn’t protect God and died in the name of God.In order to fulfill his Karma,he is reincarnated as Govind Ramasamy who ultimately saves the world from destruction.The idol in the end somewhat hints to this theory; his story began with the idol and it ends with the idol.
As far as the connection with Nambi character and events in 12th Century goes…
The connection is based on the “Butterfly effect “.
When Govind and Andal goes to the bury the idol in the sands, Andal will stumble on a particular stone couple of times…This is the same stone as the one from 12th Century hen Kothai rips her Thaali and flings it at Kulothunga Chozan…it will end up hanging on the stone. So, the implied message here is Andal is Kothai reborn in the 21s century.
During the encounter with Santhana Bharathi in the sand quarry, it is repeat of the incident from 12th century. Instead of Kulothunga Chozhan, it is the Sand Mafia which tries to inflict damage on the land.
This movie is a brilliant juxtaposition of independent characters whose paths cross, if only briefly, which is stunning example of Chaos Theory.
The idol that is drowned in the sea along with Rangarajan in 12th century by Chozha king results in a fault being developed at the bottom of the ocean and creates tremors more than 800 years later. These tremors result in the Tsunami. This again is a classic case of Butterfly Effect wherein a seemingly inconcsequential event (the drowing of the idol) saves Tamil Nadu from being wiped out off the face of the earth.
But actually kamal has not left anything for our imagination… Explanation struck the right chord, Kamal does tell to Asin in a dialogue that idol which gets sunken back then gets struck between the tectonic plates under the sea and causes tsunami…
Many people missed this dialogue i guess. Kamal’s accent was so very perfect Tamil, that many people missed it…. Being perfect Is a Problem by Itself !!! :)
Although the explanation is a least possible theory, that is what “Chaos Theory” And “Butterfly Effect” are all about.
Its not just the statue that caused the tsunami, but it just started a large chain of effects which kept multiplying exponentially and finally lead to it after 800 years….!!
Why just say this concept is perfectly illogical… it is possible… thats what i have been explaining all the while !!!
The story line is that things going wrong are made to be right which involves many people and countries knowingly or unknowingly.
Knowingly:
-Bush, Manmohan Singh, Govindh, Fletcher, Balaram Naidu, Mallika Sherawath.
Unknowingly:
-Nambi’s drowning to death with the heavy statue causes simple changes to the seabed that causes a devastating tsunami 800 years later [Acc. to Chaos theor it is possible.... although it is least probable... It is possible.. so nothing TOTALLY WRONG About it ]
-Poovaragan(actually saved kamal unknowingly—when poovaragan enters kamal and asin were caught by those manal kollayargal.There poovaragan distracts the gang helping kamal to escape),
- Avatar Singh(gave way to Fletcher to escape in the airport unknowingly),
- Japanese(saved govind from fletcher,he knows he is saving but he doesnt know about the play and was there only for revenge),
- Kallifulla and family(saved govind unknowingly)……..
-Vincent is a dalit leader of a lower caste( the so called ) but saved an Iyengar Girl ……and at the end becomes the son of the Iyengar Paati !!
- If Shingen Narahashi’s sister was not killed, Fletcher could have killed govind and used the virus for wrong purpose..
This is based on Chaos Theory..!!!!!
Muni: Long time and liked ur review of 10. I hope to see it soon, it takes a while for it to peroclate Down Under!!
Cheers
Hi Kiwi, yep long time. I thought it was released worldwide. Well, at least you won't have as high expectations as I had and will probably enjoy it for that reason.
Munimma
Tagged here :). Curious to see your list.
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