Dasavathaaram : Mental Callisthenics for All

Let me first say that I heartily recommend this movie to one and all. If you don't understand any Tamil you will be somewhat flummoxed, but that won't differentiate you much from the rest of the audience. That's because the first thing you need to enjoy this movie is called "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" . The second is "A Fondness for Kamal Haasan".

Where to begin ? Better not to begin at all, and let all of you who have missed this magnum opus enjoy Kamal in his various roles as a -

1. Singing and fighting Vaishnavite priest
2. Japanese Kung-fu master avenging his kung-fu daughter(because all Japanese know martial arts)
3. Scientist
4. Old lady
5. Some kind of dark-skinned guy
6. Dubya
7. Telugu police officer
8. Assassin

and some other people, somehow adding up to 10.

BTW, the Dasavatharam website mentions that he may also appear as a dwarf and an emperor. If that is indeed the case, then I have somehow missed spotting these worthies.

On the plus side, Mallika Sherawat is NOT played by Kamal Hassan. But pretty much everyone in the movie does double duty, including the heroine. Perhaps this is to save on costs, because I am told the producer spent about 3 crores on the first few minutes alone.

Also, watch out for people spouting blood at any excuse, from any available orifice.

And a tsunami, plus voice-overs on Chaos Theory. Or perhaps it was on Lepidoptery.

Now you'll have to watch it, won't you ??