Dasavatharam ****

The movie opens with a scene from the 12th century depicting the intolerance of Saivites against the Vaishanavites; it focuses on the confrontation between Rangaraja Nambi, an ardent Vaishanavite (played by Kamal) and King Kulothunga Cholan. It then shifts time (year 2004) and location to a lab in the USA where scientists are experimenting a deadly virus that could bring mass destruction, one of the scientists decides to make money out of it, he tries to get scientist Govind (played by Kamal) into this; but Govind refuses, as the movie progresses a small container with this virus is accidentally couriered to Chidambaram in S.India, Govind and Fletcher (a deadly villain played by Kamal) land in India. In their quest to locate the container; several incidents unfold which are sequenced to keep-up the thrill. The only possible way to annul the deadly virus is to immerse it into tons of common salt; incidentally tsunami happens and devours the virus once and for all.

The movie is a standing testimony to brilliant acting, mind-blowing technology, awesome artwork and world-class production values. The scene from the 12th century boasts of high-quality art and cinematography, the scene depicting tsunami leaves you with awe.

Kamal is brilliant as an actor as always, he does an outstanding job in playing the 10 different roles on screen; and has done absolute justice to the all the characters he essays. Comic relief comes in the form of Balrama Naidu whose tamil is heavily accented; the scene where he questions Govind is hilarious. Poovaraagan stands up against the sand mafia, this character could have been used more. Kamal showcases some brilliant acting in the guise of Krishnaveni paati who is retarded. There is also this Japanese karate master character who does a stunt with Fletcher, probably the inclusion of this character was a knack to leverage the popularity that Tamil movies enjoy in Japan. The characters Bush and Kalifulla looked like over made-up dolls. Fletcher is too deadly and unleashes a killing spree which makes it a not-so-good movie to watch with kids.

Kamal's rationalist ideals are evident in the dialogues he has penned; the dialogues provide comic relief and also provoke one's thoughts. I could see a touch of 'Crazy' Mohan in the comic lines he has penned. A sample of it is the conversation between Naidu and Nagesh at the scene of an accident, Naidu enquires Nagesh "enna nadanthuchi?" Nagesh replies "laarikaar idichutaan!" a confused Naidu retorts back "thelivaa sollunga idichadhu laari-ya illa kaar-aa?"

Mallika's pole dance is a wasted number and I felt it was unnecessary and stereo-typical, she accompanies Fletcher to India as a translator-cum-killer and gets killed by Fletcher himself. Asin does a neat role as Krishnaveni's grand-daughter and Govind's love-interest, being an ardent Vishnu devotee she is seen running with a Perumal idol with Govind's company and eventually develops an "idhu" on him.

The movie wraps up with a sycophantic song which doesn't fit well and I think was unnecessary. Hard working people will be anyways get rewarded.

On the whole Dasavatharam is a racy entertainer and I would give it a 4 out of 5.
Some may like it; some may hate it, but sure this movie had many talking and will be etched in the history of tamil cinema.