Dasavathaaram

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Dasavathaaram
An early poster for Dasavathaaram
Directed by	K. S. Ravikumar
Produced by	Venu Ravichandran
Written by	Kamal Haasan K. S. Ravikumar Sujatha Crazy Mohan
Starring	Kamal Haasan Asin Thottumkal Mallika Sherawat Jayaprada Napolean
Music by	Himesh Reshammiya Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography	Ravi Varman
Editing by	Ashmith Kunder
Distributed by	Aascar Films/Sony India Ayngaran Int.
Release date(s)	June 13, 2008[1]
Running time	166 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	140 crores[2]
Official website
IMDb profile

Dasavathaaram is a forthcoming Tamil feature film currently being directed by K. S. Ravikumar, who with Dasavathaaram, pairs up with Kamal Haasan for the fourth time. Haasan acts in ten different roles, breaking the record for an actor's portrayal of the most different characters whilst Asin Thottumkal in a dual role and Mallika Sherawat also play lead roles in the film. The film, which has been under production since mid-2005, has Himesh Reshammiya as the music composer and Venu Ravichandran as the main producer. The film, made with a budget of 140 crore Indian rupees, is set to be released on June 13, 2008.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Development 3.2 Casting 3.3 Filming 4 Controversies 5 Soundtrack and DVD 5.1 Soundtrack 5.2 DVD 6 Release 6.1 Screenings 6.2 Reception 6.3 Reviews 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

[edit] Cast

• Kamal Haasan in ten roles as Rangaraja Nambi, Govind Ramasaamy, George Bush, Avtar Singh, Christian Fletcher, Shinghen Narahasi, Krishnaveni, Vincent Poovaraagan, Kalifullah Khan and Balaram Naidu.
• Asin Thottumkal in dual roles as Kothai Radha and Andal.
• Mallika Sherawat as Jasmine.
• Jayaprada as Ranjitha Singh.
• Nagesh as Sheikh Mukhtaar.
• Napolean as Kulothunga Chola II
• P. Vasu as J. Raghavendra
• Santhana Bharathi as P. Raghavendra
• Rekha as Meenakshi
• Raghuram as Robin Roy

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

Kamal Haasan was keen to break the record for an actor appearing in the most roles, so he came up with an original storyline and approached prominent directors, to direct it, when K. S. Ravikumar accepted the offer. Dasavatharam began soon after the announcement of another magnum opus, Sivaji: The Boss starring, the other major star of South India, Rajnikanth; the films, despite being released nearly a year apart, were built up to be rival projects.^[3] K. S. Ravikumar and Kamal Haasan came together for the fourth time following their three previous successful ventures, Avvai Shanmughi, Thenali and Panchathantiram. Haasan announced he was set to play different roles in the film, making it the first time that an actor has appeared in so many roles in world cinema. Venu Ravichandran, who had a profitable 2006, signed up to produce the venture securing distribution rights in the process.^[4] Following nearly a year of post-production, deciding the cast and the locations, the film began its first schedule on September 11, 2006.^[5]

[edit] Casting

Between the announcement of the project and prior to the launch a year later, several heroines were signed up and then either removed or opted out from the project. The first being Vidya Balan, who was signed up and set to make her debut in the Tamil films, however due to the long inactivity of the film, Balan opted out citing date clashes with her Bollywood project.^[6] Following the removal of Balan, it was reported that each of the ten characters portrayed by Kamal Haasan in the movie, would have a female lead opposite them. Heroines who were reported to be a part of the film but failed to make the final shortlist were: Jyothika,^[7] Mumtaj,^[8] Kiran Rathod,^[8] Meena,^[8] Bhumika Chawla,^[7] Sameera Reddy,^[9] Nadhiya Moidu,^[10] Kamalinee Mukerji,^[11] Nithya Das,^[11] Meera Jasmine,^[11] Simran Bagga^[12] and Vasundhara Das.^[11] Moreover, few heroines, who were selected, opted out due to date clashes like Balan, Trisha Krishnan^[13] and Nayantara.^[14] Furthermore, Shriya Saran was forced to opt out of the project by the producers of her other Sivaji: The Boss, a film built up as the rival to Dasavathaaram at the box-office.^[15] Finally, the major female lead role was given to Asin Thottumkal, who was later assigned two distinct roles in the project.^[16] The second lead female role in the film, went to Mallika Sherawat, for whom Dasavathaaram is her first Tamil language film.^[17] Over the course, of the production more supporting actors were added to the film, the first being Napolean, who was signed up to portray a king in the film. Other veteran actors, Jayaprada, Nagesh, P. Vasu, K. R. Vijaya and M. S. Baskar were roped into essay other small roles in the film, as well as a bevy of American supporting actors.^[18] Actors, Jayaram and Vadivelu opted out of the film during the production of the project, citing date problems.^[19]

The film was originally announced with A. R. Rahman as the music director of the film, however like Shriya Saran was removed from the project as per the request of the producers of Sivaji: The Boss.^[9] He was replaced by Himesh Reshammiya, for whom Dasavathaaram becomes his first Tamil venture as a music composer. Due to inconsistency of dates for Reshmaiyya, Devi Sri Prasad was roped into record the background music despite indications that Rahman would re-join the project to do so. Ashmith Kunder was signed up to edit the film, despite early indications that A. Sreekar Prasad would have landed the offer. The director, K. S. Ravikumar also wrote the script for the film following negotiations with the late Sujatha, who died before the release of the movie and Crazy Mohan. Late Jeeva was initially announced as the cinematographer of the film, who was then replaced by Ravi Varman.

[edit] Filming

A preliminary schedule took place before the start of the film, which featured no filming, but only the make-up tests, which lasted 25 days in the USA.^[20] The filming of Dasavatharam began on August 3, 2006 at Mahabalipuram in Chennai, where a song was picturised on a set created by Sameer Chandra, an art director. The set resembled the Airavatheeswarar temple at Darasuram in Kumbakonam and scenes with Kamal Haasan in an Iyengar get-up and accompanied by over 750 extras were recorded. Asin Thottumkal joined the team on September 11, 2006 for a shoot in Uthandi. However in late September 2006, Sameer Chanda was sacked from the project due to his tendency to employ only workers from Mumbai and not Tamilians, prompting Haasan and Ravikumar to remove him from the project, with his role being entrusted to Prabhakar of Virumaandi fame.^[21] Shootings were held at Chennai Airport in November 2006, which cost the producer two crores. Another team member was sacked in Chengelpet, when a stunt sequence was being captured by the camera, stunt master Kanal Kannan was reported to have used unparliamentary words at the workers and that too over the public address system. Angered and humiliated by such remarks, the workers walked out of the sets refusing to work any more. Finally they all resumed duty only after the elimination of Kanal Kannan. A new stunt master, Thyagarajan was given the opportunity to take over following the controversy caused by Kannan, who had a similar problem whilst shooting for Sivaji.^[22]

Major portions of the films were shot extensively in overseas locations which included America, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. A role of a foreigner, played by Haasan, was shot for in casinos in and around Las Vegas and Orlando. A song involving Kamal Haasan and Mallika Sherawat that was to be shot in US was moved to Malaysia due to problems with Sherawat's visa deeming she could not join the crew. So the crew instead decided to shift the shooting to another destination in Malaysia and the song was shot in posh night clubs; furthermore scenes were shot at a lobby of a prominent Malaysian airport.^[23]

A large set was erected at the Taramani Film City in India which was a Replica of the White House, with Haasan’s makeup for the role lasting six whole hours to obtain the desired outcome.^[23] For the climax scenes of the film, a tsunami effect was created in Mahabalipuram. The scene was shot recently at a 50,000 sq. ft. area land in which a 100-ft. wall was created near Muttukadu. Six machines, which generated 20 ft. high waves, were imported from the US, for a total cost of 3.5 crore rupees.^[23] For the climax, another scene was shot dramatically above the Nehru Stadium with the permission of the chief minister, Karunanidhi. The film’s final shoot occurred on October 8, 2007 at Uthandi, a coastal village.^[5]

[edit] Controversies

In September 2006, an assistant director called Senthil Kumar filed a case against the film at Madras High Court. He claimed to have created the story of Dasavathaaram, in a script titled, Ardhanari alias Clones, and that Kamal Haasan and Venu Ravichandran had stolen the script and left him out of the credits, violating the copyright act.^[24] On the basis of this complaint, Chennai police queried the actor and later they accepted his explanation with the high court sending notices to Kamal Haasan and the producer of the film, Venu Ravichandran announcing an interim stay on the release of the film. The film was allowed to continue with its schedules, but the case was delayed till later in 2007. However in September 2007, The Madras High Court dismissed the petition of Senthil Kumar against Kamal Haasan in the case, clearing the legal hurdles for the film.^[25]

Following the audio launch on April 25, 2008, Mallika Sherawat received a police complaint against the issue of improper attire at a film function. Hindu Makkal Katchi, a splinter group of the Hindu Munnani, lodged a complaint with the police, saying that Sherawat's attire at the function to release audio-CDs of Dasavathaaram, in which Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had been present, had "hurt the sentiments of Hindus". The actress was accused of wearing transparent, skimpy clothes and sitting crossed leg on the stage, revealing her lingerie. Sherawat, was later not asked, to apologize as she rarely visits Chennai and her visit for the film launch was an one off.^[26]

In May 2008, the film was criticized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which claimed that the film has portrayed the clash between Saivism and Vaishnavism which prevailed in the 16th century in the film in an objectionable manner. The organization reported that many statues of Hindu Gods have been shown to be destroyed which will be highly controversial and will hurt the sentiments of Hindus all over the world. While condemning such scenes, VHP leader, Vedantham, had stated that the scenes in question be removed soon, failing which they will be holding agitations in front of the theatres where the film would be screened.^[27] However, following the accusations, Venu Ravichandran announced that the film contains no controversial scenes and added that the film, based around the Hindu religion, will convert atheists to theists.^[28] The charges were cleared on May 29, 2008 insisting that Dasavathaaram did not portray Hindu culture in bad light.^[29]

[edit] Soundtrack and DVD

Further information: Dasavathaaram (soundtrack)

Dasavathaaram: The Official Motion Picture Soundtrack
Studio album
Released	April 25, 2008
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	44: 58
Label	Sony BMG

The soundtrack to Dasavathaaram was released on April 25, 2008 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, which became the largest audio launch for a film in the world.^[30] Prominent film personalities across the world attended with Jackie Chan, in his first such appearance, being Hollywood's ambassador for the function. Other prominent regional Indian artistes such as Amitabh Bachchan, Mammooty, Vijay and Madhavan attended the launch, which was graced by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi. The event hosted by Shobana, was attended by all the artistes of the film apart from the producer, Venu Ravichandran, who opts not to attend public events.^[31]

[edit] Soundtrack

No.	Song	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Lyrics	Notes
1	Ulaga Nayagan	Vinith	5:34	Vairamuthu
2	Kallai Mattum	Hariharan, Chorus	5:28	Vaali	Picturized a 13th century episode with Haasan as Rangaraja Nambi, whilst Napolean as Kulothunga Chola II.
3	Oh...Ho...Sanam	Kamal Haasan, Mahalakshmi Iyer	5:31	Vairamuthu	Picturizes Kamal Haasan as Avtar Singh in concert with his on screen wife, Ranjitha, played by Jayaprada.
4	Mukundha Mukundha	Kamal Haasan, Sadhana Sargam	6:32	Vaali	Features Asin Thottumkal singing in praise of Vishnu, with Haasan lurking behind as an old woman.
5	Kaa...Karuppanukkum	Shalini Singh	5:06	Vairamuthu	Features Kamal Haasan dancing with Mallika Sherawat in posh nightclubs.
6	Oh...Ho...Sanam (Re-Mix)	Himesh Reshammiya, Mahalakshmi Iyer	3:47	Vairamuthu	An extra soundtrack but not a part of the film.

[edit] DVD

[edit] Release

Ratings
India:	U[32]

[edit] Screenings

The film's trailer was released publicly on April 23, 2008, a day after it was shown to special guests, which included M. Karunanidhi at a screen.^[33] The first exclusive screening of the film, prior to release, was held on the morning of the audio launch on April 25, 2008, to visiting guests Jackie Chan, Mammooty and Amitabh Bachchan, all of whom were full of praise for the film.^[34] Distribution of the film worldwide, was sold to various companies with producer Venu Ravichandran distributing the film around South India. Sony India distributed the film in North India, whilst Ayngaran International sold the film to cinema halls in the United Kingdom, Singapore and the Gulf.^[35]

[edit] Reception

The film evaded its set release for date for more than one and a half years ranging from October 2006 to June 2008. The Tamil film, upon release, will be subsequently dubbed and released in Hindi and Telugu, with later release dates set for the Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Bhojpuri versions. The Indian censor board certified the movie, giving it an "U", on April 24, 2008 and letting the film run for 166 minutes.^[32]

[edit] Reviews

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dasavatharam Official Website
• Dasavathaaram at the Internet Movie Database

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