Dasavatharam -The over riding factor

Read the blog titled "Dazzling Dasavatharam" before this...

Dasavatharam does not have a theme like Anbe Sivam (those helping people in need are God) or typical Shankar movies concentrating on corruption... Was there a deliberate attempt made to package too many things and obfuscate the viewer while also managing to get across their personal manifesto?

Kamal movie and controversy have been kind of going hand-in-hand ever since Virumandi. The only difference being that opposition that was raised this time were dismissed outright by the court. And i wonder how not. Because the opposition is not the violent type. When the name of the movie itself caused so much furore and forced kamal to change it from 'sandiyar' to 'virumandi', dasavatharam is not a name patented by kamal. An old tamil movie, 40 years old, already exists in this name,and for all his meticulousness, his proficiency in tamizh, his quest for originality and perfection, Kamal could have found some other title (with tax rebate) for his dream project.

Boovaragan's character was used to stress on dalit magnanimity, dedication and liberalization. There was a massacre of dalits in melavalavu in south Tamilnadu involving some upper caste (again related to virumandi & co) in late 1990s. For all his screen play skills, Kamal could have squeezed it in the storyline. But would he have dared to to after the virumandi episode? There has been a case of forced religion conversion, involving some christian missionaries sometime ago, maybe he could have touched upon that. How about tailoring Da Vinci code for tamil audience, a book that shook the entire world, which proclaimed Jesus was no supreme being and in fact had earthly descendants; would have been a mouthwatering prospect for Kamal. But when the opposition managed to block the screening in Pondicherry of a movie made 15,000 miles across in Hollywood, Kamal would have been lynched had he tried to...

"The word Shouchalayam (toilet) also has aalayam (temple) in it" - And this guy technically is a brahmin. With the community deciding to keep quiet and watch, and just because he has the control over a mass medium doesn't mean he can get away saying anything and everything he wants.

"At a time when Shiva and Vishnu, perhaps because they were the only Gods that existed wished to fight through their devotees" For someone who screens in the initial scene that it is based on proof and imagination mixed, he should have known that even before the trimurthy, there was a Goddess supreme, who was the starting point for everything...

I'm a hybrid. So my views will not be biased to one side in this regard. I accept whatever exists in history/mythology as granted including the episode involving Rangarajan Nambi.

Mahabharatha was written by Lord Ganesha, son of Lord Shiva. If as per Kamal's vyagyanam, the Gods were at loggerheads, Lord Ganesha would have annihilated Ved Vyasa, as Mahabharatha's main protagonist, star attraction was Mukundha, Lord Vishnu's incarnation.
Hanuman is identified as 11th avtar of Lord Shiva. Rama bhakta Hanuman is an epitome of devotion to Lord Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Just one reckless statement mentioning devotees fighting with each other can be interpreted in different situations. I'm sure if Kamal is given guarantee of security to life and all the time he wants (provided he has too), he would go on a talkathon about these...
Had it not been for Lord Ganesha's tricks, the lanka bound statue of Lord Ranganatha would not have landed in Srirangam.
Bhaja Govindam was written by Saiva guru Adi sankara even before Ramanujacharya came into the picture. When both saivites and vaishnavities are atleast not fighting now, picking a slice from history in the form of Chola king's lunacy and dramatizing it will needlessly hurt sentiments.
Why does kamal not give any justification for tsumani water not entering the mosque?
The mosque's architecture was such that it could block water at the rate of xyz cubic metres per second? During Tsunami 2004, the waters receded in the shore temple of Tiruchendur, Kanyakumari. Any explanations for why that was not shown Universal Hero?maybe technical non feasibility or maybe because these two temples were housing saiva Gods?

I see a contradiction throughout the movie. Someone wants Perumal to be under the spotlight throughout the movie but also wants to say it would be good if God existed. Meaning he won't accept it existed until proven so.Much like a classic court judgment where a person is accused until proven not guilty.Also, you can wake up someone who is sleeping, not someone who is acting like he is asleep. Likewise,this guy, irrespective of the attempts made will not change his stand

As per him, every human is God. But do we act like human? Do we have any consideration for other creatures with whom we share this planet? Poaching, disturbing the food chain, killing animals in the name of God, We plunder Mother nature. Hurricane, Tsunami and earth quakes are some ways in which Mother Nature shows her displeasure. How can Kamal explain how almost all the animals in a lankan zoo in Colombo managed to reach higher plains and escape the onslaught of Tsunami?Yes, discovery channels may give a scientific explanation. But why don't humans have those traits?Who will kamal blame for humans not having that foresight to see disaster?Obviously God. Even if he had, Man, equipped with the sixth sense, has become arrogant and calculating to the core.

Under the guise of rationality and a careful thought process, we are hell bent upon pulling each other down, we fight within ourselves, we kill each other. The gift of thinking and analysing bestowed upon man would certainly have given him self confidence in the initial stages of evolution. But over a period of time, man has become so much obsessed with it that it has made him feel that faith and the concept of an almighty can be discounted with. When a space probe gets successfully by Nasa, it is good work by scientists, but by chance the space probe gets burnt in space (like it did when Kalpana Chawla was on board), atleast the bereaved family members would first blame God. When they cannot fathom why something happened, they find a party to put the blame on.

Where there is complete faith, probability of miracles happening is quite high. There is literature mentioning that Saint Thyagaraja has seen Lord Rama, just 200 years ago. But the world is devoid of people of such faith. It has literally only 'suyanalavadhigal', who remember God only during troubled times and not when something good happens to them.

Alertness, brought upon by self confidence and faith, brought upon by belief in another power and subsequently considering oneself relatively a lesser being are kind of two contradicting schools of thought.Trying to maintain a fine balance of both is the trouble most of the humans who believe the existence of a supreme power have to contend with. Some people, who can't digest this situation of dilemma invariably take up the side of alertness, the reasons of which can be tracked back to the obsession with the capability of self...

Man has taken for granted that everything has an explanation (Even I've suffered from this syndrome in recent times; leading to a lot of heartburn and headache) There are many things beyond human comprehension. Why are planets aligned the way they are?Why does sun rise in east and set in the west?When people haven't cared to know about these ever since they came onto this earth, just using words like "pagutharivu" and "reasoning" at places convenient to them amounts to hypocrisy.

Just taking a small slice of history and over dramatizing it, capitalizing on the loophole in the form of limited availability of literature represents narrow minded thinking. Why do I have to crib so much when Kamal has not done it for the first time? It's because he has used the background of God to stress upon his doctrine of non-existence of God. As the face of tamilnadu and the nation as well, he has a lot of respect and is revered. Of late, his penchant for endorsing Athiesm, albeit subtly has increased. He has been candid in his views about sex and censoring in Indian movies. At this rate, maybe he will make a blue film in the near future and fight for its release. Quite possible!!!

This film has come at a time when the political forces are hell bent upon breaking down the Adam's bridge (spiritual and ecological opposition not withstanding) Such broadcasting would only pep these groups up and make the resolve of these groups stronger. How else can someone who hates hearing anything related to God appear as a guest in a movie bearing God's name?If this group has its way, faith of 80 million Indians would be shattered by a handful of people. Is this how democracy is supposed to operate? The only reason for me to be unhappy with Mahakavi Bharathiyar for these lines "sethuvai meduruthi vidhisamaippom".

There were a bunch of blind men who hit a block while moving by the road in the night. One guy touches the block and said it is a tree trunk, next guy touches and says it is a pillar holding some structure. Like this, all blind men keep giving some explanation and start fighting over it. After sometime, a guy with normal eyesight passes by and says "you fools!you have been touching an elephant's leg till this point. It is an elephant, okay... now chill".

The point is the blind men due to their poor vision could not get the complete picture of the thing as an elephant and started bickering that their point of view is right. The deeds and actions of humans could span beyond this present life. No mortal can interpret it, some accept it as it is (faith oriented), Some try and find a meaning and eventually give up and restrict themselves to a smaller zone of thinking. As a riposte to this narrow vision syndrome suffered by kamal, I'm forced to rephrase a couple of lines from the opening song...

"Kaalai mattum kandaal yaanai theriyadhu
Yaanai mattum kandaal kaalae theriyadhu"

:D