Angelina jolie, Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy – A story of boy meets world (or rather man meets world) , betrayal, thrill, action, all put into a really spicy and racy screen play – u get Wanted..

An ordinary Accounts representative is “promoted” as a killer and is fully trained. He is part of the “Fraternity “ Why ? What follows next?  Is the code of the fraternity respected? 

A wafer thin story but very well executed. Editing and CG get 9/10 . Cool performances by every one, and pls do not expect any logic. It is just pure action with some expected and some unexpected twists, very well executed on screen with the help of technology.

Go watch it, In theatres.. U get your money’s worth.. Paisa vasool!!

Wanted- Rated A- A for Action 

Watching a Baseball Game at the Miller Park Stadium, milwaukee is sure fun. The game in itself, i thought was very slow, but actually it is pretty entertaining. The stadium had about 37000 people and the whole deal was pretty spectacular.

Started off the friday evening – june 20th with tail gating (in the stadium parking lot) .. Got a new 14 ” char coal grill and had some veggies and of course some meat for my friends who were visiting from Iowa , grilled and after that entered the stadium around 30 mins bfore game time.  The tail gating included some home made salsa and chips, cream cheese killer dip and corn chips, grilled veggie wrap, cheese and crackers, strawberries etc to name a few . The aroma of the grill surrounded the whole parking lot, coz there were so many people tail gating..a great sight indeed.

The game was aight.. pretty cool stuff and before it started got myself a iced caramel cafe.. that was bliss.. caramel flavor, and lots of ice over it, steamed milk, and 2 shots of freshly brewed  espresso, whip cream and caramel syrup on top.. Divine…

Brewers lost the game 5- 7 but the whole experience was something.. a good start for a great weekend….

My Friend Arun  was wondering about how to make a kappal (ship) using paper..and Yeah we helped each other to teach each other- something.. those awesome child hood games… Here i go, in my words…

 எக்ஸ் பாக்ஸ் வீ
பழகிப் போச்சு இப்போ
பள்ளிக்கூட நெனப்பு அது
வருதே அப்பப்போ

காயிதத்துக் கப்பல் ஒண்ணு
செஞ்ச காலம் உண்டு
அது மறந்து போய் மண்ட காஞ்ச
நண்பன் ஒருத்தன் உண்டு

ப்ளாக்ல தான் எழுதிப்புட்டான்
வெசனப்பட்டுக்கிட்டு
ஜி டாக்ல சொல்லிப்புட்டான்
ஜீரோ மார்க்குனுட்டு

ஆபீஸுல கொழம்பிபோய்
ஒக்காந்துகினுக்கீறான்
கப்பல் செய்ய வரலன்னு
காயிதம் கிழிக்கீறான்

கால் போட்டேன் அவன் ஆபீஸுக்கு
கப்பல் சொல்லித் தர
கத்துக்கிட்டான் ஒடனயே
நம்ம சீமத்தொர

ரஜினி படம் கமல் படம்
பார்த்த குஷிய விட
கப்பல் செஞ்சு பார்த்த குஷி
நூறு மடங்காம் அட

வருஷம் கூட, வேணாம்னாலும்
ஏறிப் போகுதே வயசு,
ஆனா வாழ்க்க முழுசும் இருக்க வேணும்
இந்த கொழந்த மனசு!

There is always a child in every person’s heart ..:)

Lots of reviews, good and bad about the movie which is intended to take Indian Cinema to greater heights. Well My review earlier was just to highlight the overall feel about the movie. Let me get into a little detail here..

 Plot Synopsis: Things happen in life , and do they happen for a reason?  if yes, What is it? is it Co-incidence or is it some thing beyond reasoning? Can everything be related to scientific proofs? or should it be confined to certain beliefs? What about Chaos? If there are certain things,that become certain only when they happen, how is that explained ? or Can it be explained? can we attempt at explaining something that we can probably never predict to perfection?
       Dasavathaaram does not attempt to answer any of these, but gives us an oppurtunity to think about it.Its our choice though.. Of course the characters share their opinions as we share ours..

 The Movie : There is evil trying to take over the world. The definition of evil is universal , i think.. No body would like to appreciate what happened to Hiroshima ? so why in the first place such evils are allowed to exist? Are they allowed or do they exist ? Govind as the protagonist, a believer in co-incidence theory and his travails to end an evil episode for mankind is how the movie progresses.He has Aandal for company and she completely believes in a power beyond human as a reason for any action. So they both have belief’s and may be they both mean the same. Now the question is about the evil? Did they stop it? or did it end? Who caused the evil?  (Evil as an attitude, not as a thing )

           Fletcher is the evil torch bearer. He is probably the so called Satan’s protagonist. He tries every bit to make sure Govind does not succeed in his efforts. Evil (as a thing) lands in India. Coz nobody tries to stop it ,including the President Bush himself,and turn of events, Govind is now viewed as a
terrorist and Balram Naidu,a not so intelligent CBI officer starts his interrogation. So Naidu being not every intelligent allows Govind’s as well as Fletcher’s mission to continue.

    Now the so called evil is with krishnaveni paati(who has lost her son and still unable to accept that) and she is a believer in Lord Vishnu and so is aandal. She puts the evil inside God’s idol. So God now carries something which could be harmful to mankind (Basically like the Tortoise episode of Dasavathaaram- God Churns the Ocean and Shiva drinks the poison ). The so called God now has the poison and Govind and Fletcher still in pursuit. Had Govind been a firm believer in God, he could have left it in there ,thinking god would take care of it; But the world has Fletcher’s too

           In the meanwhile there is a group of people who are causing harm to the Environment by smuggling sand out. Enter Boovaragavan (shown as a Dalit), who is a Social reformer standing by the rights of the oppressed people in the society. Here is where,i have to mention Nambi, a person from 12th century,who was a Firm Believer in lord Vishnu and gave his life for his belief in Vishnu (He was given a choice and he chose to stick to his belief ) .He was chained to vishnu idol, and drowned in the ocean. He gave his life for his beliefs about a Power beyond Human.
            Now Boovaragavan is a person who believes in equality and he has his rivals who dislike him.   Fletcher on his pursuit kills many and some people are affected due to that. One being Narahasii (a japanese guru) and he too intially mistakes Govind as the wrong doer. And Kaifulla Khan, saves Govind from Fletcher when the latter is on his killing spree to get the evil.

           Also there is Avtaar singh, a popular singer, fighting Cancer and is doing his final show.In the cat and dog chase, he is shot by Fletcher.Narahasi knows that Fletcher is the real killer and saves Govind from Fletcher,Fletcher is dead, but now, evil is un leashed and no one can save India.  What happens next? Is it co incidence? is it chaos? 

                a. People cause harm to environment,and so there is earth quake
                b. A way to end the whole chaos drama, Evil Dies and Goodness Prevails.. etc

          Any of those, but the story does not end here, Boovaragavan, saves his rival’s children from drowning, gets stuck( chained) to the car and drowns in the ocean. Again he stuck to his belief about equality among mankind. He gave his life for his belief. History repeating, I guess, its God’s idol & Nambi then and Boovaragavan now.

          Here is where krishnaveni paati identifies Boovaragavan as her son Aravumudan,despite negative feedback from her community. I guess it is upto us to see Boovaragavan as Shiva or Vishnu or just Human too , if i assume him as closer to  Lord Shiva, just coz, he works for the so called “un touchables” and Shiva is supposed to work with the “kingaras”  . So Krishnaveni paati calling him as her son is more meaningful depicting both shivam and vaishnavam are the same . The Make up factor is dealt really well with a subtle inner meaning here. We necessarily dont have to agree here, its just how otherwise it can be viewed.  

         And Avtaar is saved too, coz Fletcher shot him ..:-). Kaifulla Khan says he survived the calamity coz, god saved him. Co- incidence, Chaos, Super Power, -kamal leaves it to us.  A well crafted script and for people who havent watched it yet, all the characters i have mentioned above (except Aandal)  are played by Kamal…The movie probably lacks lots of other things (Especially the Screenplay) , but easily one of the best scripts of recent times. For sure the movie could have been much much better, it is a chaotic presentation of a brilliant script and may be thats what kamal’s intention were… Hmmm…

Well, to begin my blogging with my views on the most awaited movie in the Indian Cinema Industry , is surely something. Being an ardent cinema lover for so many years now, i guess, a review on Dasavatharam , the magnum opus of one of the very few intelligent film makers of India, Mr. Kamalhaasan, is probably the best i can expect for myself…

So Whats new—Not the make up, not the CI ,not the music, Not the Special effects, … we have seen it  all in variuos other Indian Movies and may be in some of Kamal’s own movies too.. So WHATS REALLY NEW??

The Visualization of the “Chaos” Theory to Suit Indian ( Largely South Indian) Film Goers… Kamal Scores 8/10 for his Story ,7/10 for his screenplay, and 9/10 for his dialogues. Had the screenplay been a little tighter, with not so many expected twists and turns, it just would have been a different experience… Well, i guess Kamal here, is trying to take his time , to educate his audience, and has played it safe… Yeah.. i feel it is a Safe bet…and yes he is quite successful in his attempts..

Parents want their children to excel in thier studies. Everybody wants their ward to secure the first rank. and Some of them go a little bit further, they want their wards to secure the first rank and also score a 100/100 in all courses. Kamal is always thrust with such a challenging task, and this movie is sure probably one of the few to secure the first rank , but not with a perfect 100/100 in all departments.

Mallika Sherawat is Pathetic in the movie. She is just a Commercial add on. She is found wanting in all departments- screen presence, acting, dancing, …Pathetic–Period!!!!. 0/10

Asin, shares the screen with Kamal almost through out the movie, and she has lived up to the expectations. 8/10.

Music- Himesh-nuthin to say… The movie requires just one song.. the rest of them are probably added to satisfy the commercial movie criteria. -2/10

BGM- Devi prasad is sure a revelation. Do not expect an IR’ish or ARR’ish type of Compositions. But Very decent effort- 7/10

KamalHassan’s–well see for yourself- it is 7/10 for him too…:)

Iam not going to spill the beans on the story or kamal’s Avatars. There are few scenes (towards the climax)  where in one might get the feeling that Kamal probably did ghost direct this movie;  Some of the Scene Conceptualizations does not seem like KSR’s way of Presentation.BUt on a whole feels like it is directed by Ravikumar.  It felt like a Commercialized version of Anbe Shivam in many regards. But this is a different package all together…

For a normal movie goer, the one who wants to relax, entertain him/herself- this movie offers the songs, a couple fights, and 10 different avatars to look out for..keep counting and i dont think u will miss all of them .. …

And the  Movie looks pretty Jaded…..Camera work wasnt quite there… Lights, tones were’nt creating the effect that is expected out of a particular situation…  6/10

Editing– again a Big let down- of course its understandable– to merry in 10 different characters and still tell a gripping story , and within 3 hours and also satisfy commercial audience is too much of an ask.. 5/10

Pluses-Story, Dialogue, 3/10 of Kamal’s roles, the Smart way of the depiction of History Repeating itself, the minute details taken into consideration with respect to names, characters, and adaptation of Chaos theory to Indian Cinema, Marketing..

Minuses- Editing, Music, Camera, Length of the Movie, 3/10 of Kamal’s roles , Marketing again

For Sure K.S.Ravikumar’s Best- Certainly not Kamal’s.

Kamal Scores a Perfect 10 for choosing to present this movie the way it is..It is not Intelligent , but it is very Clever..:)

Dasavathaaram=7 Avathaaram ..No,it certainly is not 10 , Really.. Iam sure Kamal would Concur with that..:)..

Go Watch it – Once for Sure