Friday, February 6, 2009
1. Physically challenged beggars
2. Aghoris (A type of Shaivate saint of Hinduisim)
[Spoiler ~~~~ Contains the plot of the story. Those who have not watched the movie or intend to do so, don’t read further]
The film starts with an old man and his daughter from Tamil Nadu searching a man named Rudran(Arya) who was left in Kasi before fourteen years on astrolger’s advice. They find that Rudhran is no ordinary man now and he is an aghori (one who believes that He is God). Rudhran’s Guruji asks him to go with his family and return on time after shedding the bounds of family.
Meanwhile in a village called Malaikovil in Tamil Nadu there is a notorious gang which trains the physically challenged to beg. They live with the money which these beggars bring. It is a cruel world which Bala throws light upon. The dungeon like place where these people live itself showcases the pain and suffering of those people.
But those physically challenged people share some lighter moments too. Particularly the conversion between them when they are costumed as different Hindu deities. Allotting different cabinets for them was amazing! There is a kid in the film who has pulled a brilliant performance (His name was not displayed in the titles). He mentions about Ambani to his group. When a guy queries who is Ambani, he replies that he is the one who sells cell phones. There are many such rib tickling one liners in the film.
*Pichai karan kittayey pichai edukkarayey (You are begging from a beggar)
*En annana thozhilathipar aaaki heroinukku katti koddupen (I will make my bro an industrialist and marry him to an actress!)
Are just few samples...
Now coming back to the plot of the film, Amshaveni (Pooja), is a blind woman who sings old film songs to entertain people and gets money from them (yet another form of begging). She lives with people who monoact and mimic like the film actors MGR,Shivaji Ganesan and Rajnikanth. The dialogues by those artists are pretty sharp. MGR’s film songs were meaningful, which helped MGR win votes, but did people follow his advice? And MGR asks Shivaji to teach the current young actors to act(I think Simbhu was clearly the target here!).
A guy named Murugan who belongs to that notorious gang of Malaikovil sees her singing and finds her to be a good asset to their gang and takes her with him, after some drama. After few days of crying, she becomes accustomed with that group. But it’s not happy going for her still. Another guy from Kerala, pays 3 lakhs of money to hire 15 children from the Malaikovil gang. And those children are removed to kerala. The dialogue “Maatu Kari saapitaalum malaiyalathaan moolaiyey moolai” (Even though Mallus eat beef, they are brainy!) was pretty apt there.
Meanwhile Arya who returns to his hometown which is Malaikovil too, doesn’t live in his home, instead he settles in the temple where those beggars beg daily. The same man from kerala who bought the children brings an ugly looking man(he infact resembles the cannibal in worng turn movie) and asks for a blind girl so that, she need not look at him but love with him after marrying him. That ugly looking man is a very rich guy who offers 10 lakhs for the blind girl. Here again the dialogue of Kavundamani “Kozhi kuruda irunthaalum, kuzhambu rusiya irukkanum!” (even if the hen is blind it’s meat is tasty!) fits aptly. Amshaveni fits into the bill exactly thinks the leader of the Malaikovil gang. But Murugan who feels pity for her tries to save her. She takes shelter under Rudran. Rudran kills the man from kerala. He is taken into custody by the police who are afraid of him. They produce him in the court and court releases him because his crime could not be proved.
The leader of the notorious gang wants to revenge Rudhran but he ends dead too.Before his death, he had tortured Amshaveni and had beaten her up heavily. Amshaveni comes to Rudran and asks him what mistake did she do? Right from her birth she had been suffering! She asks for a solution. And Rudran kills her too!
Rudran recalls his master’s words, for some people death is a boon (Siarukku maranam thaan varam). It’s an astonishing climax from Bala. Who had depicted in this film that euthanasia (mercy killing) is the only solution for such people!The story looks pretty simple. But the screenplay and the performance of the actors make it amazing!
It is a very brave attempt from Bala. The surprise in this movie was Arya’s screen performance which was very limited when compared to the promos. And his acting resembles Pithamagan Vikram (especially when police are afraid to talk with him). I believe many of his portions where removed from the film. Another surprise element was Pooja’s performance, especially in the climax where she has done a fabulous job. She is bound to get the national award.
And I nearly forgot to mention about Illyaraja’s music. He has done what is necessary for this film.
To me three people stand out in this movie.
1. Bala (for bringing out the physically challenged people into the scheme of things)
2. Jayamohan (Dialogues)
3. Pooja (Excellent acting)
I never expected Jayamohan to do such an excellent work in the dialogue department (To be honest, I didn't know much about him). Many of his dialogues resembled my thoughts, which moved me close to this film. I had read only one novel by him (Pani Manidhan). It was long time back. This movie has made me to search other works of Jayamohan!
Bala has yet again delivered. He generally disturbs people with his cinema but does not provide a solution. Here for the first time he has provided a brave solution to a problem. I would like to give it a 9.5/10.
I am waiting for the DVD version of the film which is supposed to have two climaxes for this film.
It’s definitely worth a watch. But I don’t think it would suit audience of all category. It’s strictly not for children.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
[Spoiler ~~~~ Contains the plot of the story. Those who have not watched the movie or intend to do so, don’t read further]
Kamal has performed ten roles in the movie.
The roles are as follows:
1. Govind Ramasamy(a scientist in USA)
2. Rangarajan Nambi (a 12th Century Vaishnavite Youngster)
3. George Bush (American President)
4. Christian Fletcher (ex CIA Agent)
5. Balram Naidu (Telugu speaking RAW officer)
6.Avtar Singh (Punjabi Pop Singer)
7. Shingen Narahasi (Japanese Karate Master)
8. Krishnaveni (a 95 year old mentally retarded lady in a Vaishnavite Math)
9. Khalifulla Khan(an eight feet tall Muslim youngster)
10. Vincent Poovaraghan (A Dalit youngster who fights against Sand Mafia)
I have given the order of roles as they appear in the film(with importance).
The film starts with Govind (played by Kamal) narrating us the story of Rangarajan Nambi in a meeting attended by George Bush, Kalaignar Karunanidhi and Dr.Manmohan Singh. The main plot of the story starts on 20th December 2004 and ends on 26th December 2004.
Kulothunga Kulasekara Chozha-II (played by Napolean) was a Shiva Devotee. He orders the removal of statue of Lord Govindaraja Permuaal from the temple and throw it into the sea. Rangarajan Nambi tries to save the statue but only in vain. Kulothunga tells to Nambi “If you praise Lord Shiva and say ‘Om Nama Shivaya’ I would leave you or else you have to reach vaikundam (place where Lord Narayanan lives)”. Nambi closes his eyes and starts saying, “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM”. The suspense prevails for some time. He finally finishes “Om Namo Narayana!”. The song Kallai Mattum starts, the song has been beautifully picturised showing the pain of a Vaishnavite. At the end of the song both the statue of Lord Govindaraja Permuaal and Rangarajan Nambi tied to it are thrown into the sea. All this happened in the 12th century.
Immediately the story shifts to USA (21st century). It shows Govind working in a research lab. The two wheeled mini scooter-like vehicle (as shown in the above image) used by the scientists of that lab is awesome. Govind places a vial inside a dry cold storage unit and leaves to watch the announcement of George Bush (played by Kamal again) regarding synthetic bio weapons. Anu, a monkey escapes from its cage and eats the semi-solid substance present inside a vial. The monkey dies with blood splashing out from it. They pour enormous amount of NaCl (Sodium Chloride) and arrest the virus. The semi-solid substance is a bio synthetic virus developed by Govind. It is capable of mass killing if it is let free inside a city. So Govind wants to destroy it. But he finds that his superior officer wants to sell the virus to terrorists. Govind takes the vial (containing the virus) out and escapes to his friend Suresh’s home. Suresh too works for the terrorists.
Fletcher (played by Kamal again), an ex-CIA agent comes in the helicopter to the home of Suresh. He shoots Suresh. But Suresh’s wife a Japanese girl (sister of Japanese martial arts teacher Shingen Narahasi, played by kamal) trained in karate helps Govind escape but dies in her attempt. Govind finds another friend in the car park. Along with him Govind escapes in his car. Still Fletcher chases him in the helicopter. ‘How does Fletcher trace them?’ Govind thinks and finds that it is with his cell phone. He throws the cell phone out of his friend's car into another car.
The vial was sent as a parcel to India by Govind’s friend by mistake. Govind tries to stop the Cargo Flight and goes to the airport. Fletcher follows him there too. Govind tries to escape and falls into the cargo luggage and is board into the flight.
Govind is arrested in Chennai by Balram Naidu (played by Kamal again), a RAW officer who has fondness for telugu people. Meanwhile Fletcher finds a Tamil speaking ex-CIA agent in Mallika Sherwath. He marries her and soon leaves to India. At the same time Avtar Singh (played by Kamal again) arrives at the airport for a concert. Avtar vomits blood in the airport. It attracts everyone in the airport. Making use of this, Fletcher takes custody of Govind and a police officer.
But before Fletcher takes him to custody, Govind had cleverly sent the vial to Chidambaram. Govind also escapes from Fletcher and reaches Chidambaram. In Chidambaram Govind meets Aandaal (played by Asin) in a math. The vial parcel was sent by Govind to Krishnaveni (played by Kamal again) in the math. She is mentally retarded and ninety five years old. Krishnaveni doesn’t return the vial back to Govind. Govind says that the vial contains a bio bomb, a virus. Krishnaveni runs out of the math and throws the vial into the Statue of Lord Permuaal, saying that Lord would save all from the virus. Fletcher follows Govind to Chidambaram.
Govind tries to escape with the statue and Aandaal follows Govind because it was the statue that she had been worshipping for long. On their way they are caught by a sand mafia gang and they escape from the gang while Poovaraghan (played by Kamal again) fights against sand mafia. Govind and Aandaal meet with an accident. There they meet an eight feet tall Muslim (Khalifulla played by Kamal again).
After this, what happened to the vial? Was the city saved? What is the connection to all this with the 12th century episode? All these questions are answered in an eventful manner with the Tsunami playing an important role.
Either the eight feet tall Khalifulla or the Japanese martial arts master, Kamal Hassan has proved that he is the Universal Hero. His dialogues especially in the climax when Fletcher asks the Japanese Martial arts master 'Remember Hiroshima?' to which the the Master counters him with another question , 'Do you remember Pearl Harbor?' was a treat. Michael Westmore (the make-up designer) needs a lot of appreciation for his work on Kamal’s face and body, without him Dasavatharam would not have been possible. Special words of appreciation must be given to Ravi Varman for his excellent cinematography and Devi Sri Prasad for a great BGM. Though the stunts of Fletcher (Kamal’s villain role) are super human it is enjoyable. This movie is the best (techinically) in the career of Kamal Hassan and director K.S.RaviKumar.
One doubt solved….
What is the connection between 12th century episode and Tsunami?
There are two connections
1. Butterfly effect – A small event like a butterfly flapping its wing is responsible for a tornado in some other part of the world.
2. Because the statue was thrown into the sea, it resulted in movement of tectonic plates and caused tsunami.
Kamal had not explained it in a detailed manner. In addition to the ten roles he has played on-screen he has played another off-screen role of a script writer also. He has performed all the roles perfectly. The movie runs for three hours. As a true Cinema fan I still like Anbe Sivam, but this movie is of a different genre, a scientific thriller. There may be many logical flaws.Still, it is definitely worth a watch.
Rating: ********* / 10
Bottomline: Fantastic entertainer,Defintely worth a watch!
