Dasavathaaram - Making sense of it

Disclaimer: The article just lists a few of the subtleties, symbolisms and hidden meanings which are implicit in the film. It is not an exhaustive write-up on the same, and readers are invited to come up with their thoughts/ideas if interested. The major source for this article comes from the fans of Kamal Haasan at his Orkut community and a few things I had noticed when I saw the movie on June 13th. Also I wish to say that I have seen the movie only once. This is not a recount of the story. For that you can go to this Wikipedia article on Dasavathaaram.

"I didn't say there was no God. I only said it would have been nice if there was God".

You may love him, you may hate him but you just cannot ignore him. Kamal Haasan's latest flick 'Dasavathaaram' incorporates the themes of chaos theory, karma, spirituality, science and environment in a wholly entertaining package. While many have hailed the movie as a great effort, there are critics who have blamed the poor quality of graphics, bad make-up and seemingly blank script with 10 characters just stuffed in. But all that is another story.

Kamal Haasan is the leading method actor in India. In my opinion, Kamal Haasan comes from a school of thought which insists on symbolisms, facial expressions, body language and intelligent dialogues while making a film. Probably it could be attributed to the influence by his mentor K.Balachander and his interest in the works of Hollywood director Stanley Kubrick.

'Dasavathaaram' is what many call "a hologrammatic movie' . What you perceive of the story depends on from which angle you look at it. A rationlist would attribute chaos theory and butterfly effect for as the cause for all the happenings. A religious person would attribute the events/interventions as acts of the supreme being. A believer in Karma would attribute some later events to acts done in the previous birth. Finally, a neutral person would perceive the movie as an entertainer or thriller.

At the function attended by Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, Indian Prime Minister ManMohan Singh and American President George Bush (played by Kamal) we hear Kamal (face not shown fully) giving out a speech. On the stage is the Govindarajar (Lord Vishnu) idol. We are told that the idol has both a religious and scientific background.

We are taken to the 12 century period where Kolathunga Cholan II rules over Thillai (Chidambaram). He is shown to be a staunch Shaivaite to the level of being in a frenzy state of wiping out Vaishnavites. This is expressed in a very nice dialogue by Kamal. "Yaanayepol Manushyanukkum madham piditthal athu tholla thaan". The interesting thing to note here is the use of the word "madham". One interpretation is frenzy (as in the case of an elephant) and the other is "religion" (as in the case of humans). So he is saying that in either of the two cases it creates trouble/nuisance (meaning of tholla).

We are shown 'Ranagaraja Nambi' a staunch Vaishnavite who prevents the workers from displacing the statue of Lord Vishnu from the temple. He succeds in doing so but only in being captured and hands bound by chains by the king's soldiers. The king them speaks to him by telling him that he knows that he is a Vaishnavite, knows that he will turn into a Shaivaite etc. For the words "I know" the tamil translation is 'Arivom' , which the king uses 3-4 times. Kamal the mocks him by telling that his Lord Hari had made the king call his name by the words "Hari Om Hari Om" (Arivom sounds like Hari Om).

The king asks him as to the whereabouts of the 'Rangarajar' idol. The point to note here is that in South Indian temples (mainly in the ones in Tamil Nadu) one idol is the main one in the temple. The other is a smaller one used in the festivals (like Ratholsavam). So the Rangarajar idol here refers to the smaller one. The king wants to destroy that also.

The king then tells him that he could spare his life if he chants the name of Lord Shiva. On hearing this both his wife (played by Asin) and father-in-law plead with him to do as the king says as all gods are the same and it doesn't matter as to whose name he chants. Nambi instead chants 'Om Namo Narayanaya". As a result the king orders his people to tie him with the idol and drown both in the sea. As he is being taken to the sea, a boy throws a stone at his forehead and this causes a bleeding. If you notice, the bleeding comes in the form of a 'naamam' used by Iyengars, thus showing that however much they try to make him a Shaivite he still remains a loyal devotee of Lord Vishnu. Then as he along with the idol sink into the sea the colour turns a little red due to the bleeding he has. Also Asin throws her 'thali' in anger at the king. It misses him and falls at the lion sculpture indicating that her husband has the bravery of a lion.

We are next shown the period December 2005 in U.S where Govind Raamasamy (played by Kamal) is a scientist in a top bio-reserach lab in US. They have discovered a deadly bio-weapon which could prove to be the most destructive. However during an announcement with George Bush, Govind's lab monkey breaches the security protecting the bio-weapon and swallows it, killing it and producing a devastating effect. Now if you note the monkey which is very intelligent is named as 'Hanu' in the movie as a possible shortened version of the monkey Lord Hanuman. Govind realises the danger of the weapon (which can only be neutralised using large quantities of NaCl) going into wrong hands.

His boss has other ideas and so has ex-CIA agent Christian Fletcher (again played by Kamal). During the encounter with Fletcher Govind receives an injury in his forehead (same area where Nambi received the injury). Also the injury was caused by the security guard trying to shoot him. If you notice, the boy who threw the stone at Nambi didn;t even know why Nambi was punished. Also this security guard didn't even know what Govind was trying to do. He was merely shooting him based on the orders given by higher authorities.

Also Govind dresses the wound on his forehead by putting two plasters. One is vertical and the other is horizonatl and passing through the lower half of the vertical one. Probably Kamal is trying to tell us that Govind, at that moment, is a sort of Anti-Christ since he is going around with a potentially dangerous weapon which threatens to wipe out the human race.

The vial (bio-weapon in its case) gets shipped to India (Chidambaram) under some circumstances and Fletcher and Govind continue their search in India. Here we are introduced to the CBI officer Balram Naidu (played by Kamal) who interrogates Govind. But in some bizzare situation we see Fletcher arriving there and taking Govind and another police officer Akash along with him to search for the vial in Chidambaram. Balram Naidu and other officers actually come back to continue their interrogation but are delayed when a famous pop singer 'Avtar Singh' (played by who arrives at the airport faints.

The vial ultimately ends up at the house of a Brahmin family in Chidambaram. The vial, delivered in a parcel by the postman Prabhu (Vayapuri), is taken in by a 95-year-old, mentally retarded woman, Krishnaveni (Kamal Haasan), who lives in belief of receiving a parcel from her son, who perished in 1953. Govind pleads for it to no avail, but eventually changes the mind of Krishnaveni, after explaining the scientific threat to her granddaughter, Andaal (Asin Thottumkal). Krishnaveni responds by putting the vial inside the idol of the deity, Perumal, citing that God would destroy the weapon. Actually here Kamal is telling us that the vial is being accelerated to it's destiny (final state/destruction). And a;so the Perumal idol here could have been that 'Rangarajar' idol which the Shaivite searched for destroying in vain.

Govind tries to secure the vial before Fletcher and Jasmine reach them. Soon, to embark fear, Fletcher fires his gun near an elephant and it starts rampaging, with Jasmine getting badly hurt in the commotion. Lest she should say something, Fletcher shoots her dead. A religious person will say that it was God's act of punishing the evil while rationalists would argue that it was a simple reaction caused by Fletcher shooting the elephant.

Govind tries to escape with the idol but Andaal, who worships the idol, tries to stop him. Now the thing to note here is that Andaal is shwon to be very religious and conservative (with signs of believing and practicing the caste system). Govind on the other hand is a pure rationalist/athiest. Asin asks him his full name and Govind replies saying that it is "Govind Raamasamy Naicker" and Asin shows here contempt for a supposedly lower caste by telling things (that %@#$* caste) which are understandably censored. Now if you notice Govind is of the same caste as the legendary Ramasamy Naicker aka Periyar who was an athiest. He did not have any children. So in essence Govind tells Aandal that he is one of the many adopted sons of Periyar.

Time and again we see Kamal potraying his athiestic beliefs through dialogues in his films. When Aandal tells him that the Rangarajar idol has its rightful place in Chidambaram and not Pondicherry , Kamal mocks her by telling her "Thoonilayum thurumbilayum daivam irukkinnu sollrenge.." which translates "You tell that God is present in every nook and corner.."

Eventually they both escape and after a long chase, they manage to reach the old Chola Temple, where the King watched the idol of Vishnu being thrown into the ocean in 12th century. Govind remembers that the vial should be kept cool or it could cause total annihilation so they bury the idol in cold sand and go in search of ice to maintain the temperature. It's interesting to note that Kamal first buries his watch inside the sand and only when he takes it out do we realise that he does so to note the temperature.

As I said, for those who belive in Karma theory Govind and Aandal could be the re-incarnation of Nambi and his wife who lived in the 12th century. If you notice again, in the 12th Century Nambi is a staunch Vaishnavite who doesn't mind sacrificing his life and rejecting his family for the Lord. But his wife and father-in-law on the other hand are not staunch devotees. This can be understood when they tell Nambi to chant Lord Shiva's name since all Gods are the same. But, in the present day Govind is an athiest while Aandal and her father are staunch devotees. So the Karma effect has ensured that people pay for their actions in the past.

So after the Tsunami you see Govind and Aandal professing their love for each other and join hands touching the idol which has been thrown out of the sea because of the tremor. So this indicates that Nambi and his wife who were seperated at the 12 th century have united at the present age through Govind and Aandal and the idol which was sunk in the sea has now been thrown out to be restored at it's original location.

Now , on the other hand a rationalist would say that the idol which sank in the 12th century (800 years back) disturbed the sea bed by a small amount. That fault gradually increased over the years and finally caused a tremor resulting in the tsunami. But this reasoning is not explicitly stated in the film.

Also, in the film, just before the tsunami the birds are shown to be flying away from the shore. In fact when the actual tsunami had occured , in Yala National Park at Sri Lanka most of the animals had fled away from the shore (probably they have an extra sense regarding these) and hardly few animals had died.

Also, in the film, the word 'Tsunami' is uttered only by the Japanese Shinghen Narahasi (played by Kamal) since the term was not known much among Indians at that time, whereas tsunami was a recurring phenomenon along the Japanese coasts.

There is a interesting dialogue between Shinghen and Fletcher.

Fletcher : Remember Hiroshima?

Shinghen: Remember Pearl Harbor? denoting the Hiroshima bombing by Americans and Pearl Harbor bombing by the Japanese which preceded that.

Also when Fletcher consumes the vial and dies, the tsunami strikes the shore and an Indian flag is uprooted and it goes ad pierces the body of Fletcher, who at that moment hoped to kill many Indians through his death from the virus.

The other characters include 'Vincent Poovaraghan' , a Dalit leader fighting against the sand-mafia and Khaifulla Khan (a 7 ft Muslim). If we notice carefully, the actions by each character finally shape the outcome. Avtaar Singhs health condition gives an escape route for Fletcher along with Govind. Poovaraghans entrance saves Govind and Aandal from the sand-mafia. The sand-mafia boss looks to rape Aandal when she cried 'Narayana' and lights flash revealing Vincent Poovaraghan along with press reporters. Again, religious people would take it to be an intervention of God while rationalists would argue and say that it was just the right person being at the right place at the right time i.e co-incidence/luck etc.

Prem Panicker at his blog had said that people would get lost if they viewed the characters as the Dasavathar's of the modern age. But if you carefully see, the 10 roles can be compared to the 10 avataars taken by Lord Vishnu.

1. Krishna avatar - Vincent PoovaraghavanLord krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned [shyamalam]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated and he was the actual diplomat in mahabharatham. Lord krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look at how vincent was introduced.. he appears when asin is about to be molested and he saves her like draupadi. Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his leg. Oh even five of vincent's men are drugged at P. Vasu's.. sounds familiar???
2. Balarama avatar - Balarama naiduThis is an easy given. as the name suggests and the role personifies you can easily get it.
3. Mathsya avatar - Ranagaraja nambinambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save lord from being thrown into sea, though vainly.
4. Varaha avatar - Krishnaveni paattiDuring the mukunda song, krishnaveni paatti does varaha avatar in the shadow puppetry. The frame freezes on it for a second. there is the clue. Moreover, in varaha avatar lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here too krishnaveni hides the germs - life form inside the statue so as to protect.
5. Vamana avatar - Kalifulla khanremember in vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant kalifulla here symbolises vamana avatar.
6. Parasurama avatar - Christian FletcherParasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the real KILLER... Guess what thats what our Fletcher is! He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and kills everyone around. But does he kill 21 people?????
7. Narasimha avatar - Shingen Narahashifirst of all the name itself is a play on the words singam [means lion in tamil] and narasimha [the avatar being symbolised]. Lord Narasimha manifests himelf to kill the bad guy and he also teaches prahaladha. In the movie, he shows up to kill the killer fletcher! and is also a teacher.. Lord Narasimha had to kill the asura with bare hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.. get it?
8. Rama avatar - Avatar SinghLord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of symbolising true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.
9. Kalki avatar - Govindaraj RamasamyAs you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!
10. Koorma avatar - BushThis is the most loose adaptation I couldn't clearly comprehend. But if you look at the real koorma avatar, the lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth (divine nectar). This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras. Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom.

A few say that the character 'Vincent Poovaraghan' uses false eyes. This may have been done to show the intensity in the expressions. But to confirm this I have to see the movie again :-)

Dasavathaaram, I would say is packaged in such a way that audience can pick and choose what they want. Yes, I do agree that the symbolisms and dialogues indicate implicit messages. But after all they also add to the mystery and thrill.

But I think the marketing for this film could have been better. I fell the real hero is the script and that should have been hyped instead of the 10 roles. But that is another debate.

I know that I have just included only very few details regarding the symbolisms and inner meanings. If you have seen the movie and deciphered/understood more , then you are ever welcome to share them here.