Dasavataram..After Watching the movie..

About the Tickets :

My dad's workplace has a recreation club which books tickets in large numbers for movies which generate a lot of interest. And so,they booked tickets and my dad bought the tickets for us. The tickets were for seating in the balcony of the Woodlands theater.

About the Theater :

The last time my parents were in the Woodlands theater was about seven years back. They are unable to recollect the name of the movie they watched. In fact i went along with them and i can't remember either. Anyways, we had no idea about what was in store for us.

The ambience was awful. Dirty toilets, chaos with people pushing to get inside,a car park where you have to wait for 10 others to move theirs before you can move yours, seats that were rock-hard, an AC system which didn't work and a cinema hall filled with waste bottles and wrappers.It was nightmarish and my dad felt bad that he got us into it. Filled with irritation and disgust we kept looking at the screen as we didn't want to face each other.

P.S-DON'T EVER GO TO 'WOODLANDS ' FOR WATCHING A MOVIE! DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK!

About the movie :

I have made it clear in my previous post that i am not expecting a great deal from the movie which ,possibly, could be the reason why i found it interesting! The best part is that i found that the movie had taken my attention off the theater.That itself is a huge success.

The opening 10-15 minutes were unbelievable.I am not a fan of Devi Sri Prasad but i think his background score for the 12th century period was mind blowing.Being a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu myself i was able to feel the emotion being conveyed.It was remarkable.

From there on it is the usual stuff.Commercial cinema at its best.The movie has an incredible pace to it in certain portions and is extremely sluggish in certain others.The manner in which the charachters are introduced and the roles they play as a part of the larger picture which unfolds is the work of a genius . The make-up was hyped but there were only two roles that stood out.The old lady and the Japanese teacher.The rest of them were mediocre. I will definitely have to agree with people calling it Kamal's magnum opus.More than his acting ability, the screenplay and storyline is what needs to lauded.The way the charachters were weaved into the story is terrific.Given that it is a commercial movie,we have to make our peace with certain illogicalities but from a bird's eye view everything seems coherent. And the song 'Mukunda' , has been beautifully picturized. It definitely deserves a special mention.You might have noticed that nobody mentions Mallika ,Asin or any other actor. They are merely props.

My Verdict..

From the perspective of a commercial movie lover (My mother) the movie is very entertaining and makes for an ideal evening with a bag of pop-corn.No doubt the movie is at the top of the food chain.

But for someone who is yearning for a change from the normal singing,dancing around trees, sentiments ,'Punch dialogues' illogical stories and invincible protagonists to a breath of fresh air with films that evoke concern on social issues , political issues or atleast a movie with a solid storyline where the director's prowess is the highlight , like in a play, in Tamil Cinema (Indian Cinema in general) the movie is a huge let down.Purely because Kamal Hassan is the only man who can make it happen.He has crossed the point where he has to do movies like Dasavataram to prove his brilliance.He should be looking at promoting meaningful cinema in our country and be more responsible.He must be looking at Cinema as a tool for providing people information about the world around them and promote awareness on issues that are plaguing our country.Considering the sort of interest his movies generate he can definitely make a difference.My rating ..

5/10

Dasavataram-Before watching the movie

It is all about hype isn't it? You can make people believe in something which is completely non-existent and gain mileage out of it.Right from rumors about the stock market crashing to 'God-Men' having mystical powers.

So where was I? Dasavataram .A movie in which there's one guy who puts on make-up and plays ten roles in an attempt to convince the audience that they're different people .And the reason to do so? Nobody has done it before. Perhaps he should consider having a sex-change operation and play both the heroine and the hero.Why?Because no one has done it before!! Give me a break people! I like the guy , huge Kamal Hassan fan by the way, but the fact that the movie is just a showcase of his talent as an actor i am pretty much sure the storyline will take a beating.In all likelihood its going to be a commercial entertainer and with a LOT of Kamal. The last time i had people around me buzzing with excitement about a movie was when 'SIVAJI -The Boss' .And frankly it wasn't all that great. This machine is running on a fuel called HYPE and guess what they'll run out of it once the movie releases.

And to demonstrate to people how all of us get fooled in our daily lives , i am writing this blog in all honesty to reflecting my feelings before watching the movie and this is my prediction.In a few days i'll be telling the world how the movie actually turned out to be! Whether i was right or it was worth the hype !!

What was he thinking machi..

A few days back i went to the theaters for watching the latest Indiana Jones flick and MAN was it boring! I mean the script is a cross between a Telugu movie and a Tamil movie.It would've grossed much more the world over had it been a Rajni movie . This movie could've made for an excellent advertisement for promoting Rights for senior citizens!The average age of the cast would be in the mid 50s.Since it is a period movie of sorts the director has actually made a movie for the audiences of the 1940s.What was he thinking machi! Pure unadulterated crap!I can sit through 20 hours of History lectures on ancient civilizations and still those 2 hours will seem hard for me to get through.


Overall its a tribute to all the things that make you want to kill yourself

Campus Blues...

My campus recruitments started on June 2 and i got myself a job.The company recruited 246 SSNites and i was one among them. A proud moment indeed. But this blog is not an expression of my joy.It is of agony. Agony that some of my deserving friends were unfortunate not to get a job. Students with high scores who worked hard throughout their college lives were left in the docks by the recruiters.These things are particularly cruel for those students wh0 haven't faced any sort of rejection or failure in their entire lives.And this failure is hard to cope with because, for some, campus placement is the objective behind their admission into Engineering education.


Although it's true that some of them do not possess the skills that these companies look for in an employee it is hard for me to digest the fact that my FRIENDS are going through this tough phase.I have had my share of failures and i can empathise with these people.I also have my own doubts on whether some of them will be able to take it.These are testing times and i pray that my friends do well for themselves..