Dasavathaaram

Dasavathaaram Movie Details:

Country	India
Language	Tamil
Genre	Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure
Release date	June 13, 2008
Running time	2hr 56min
Certificate	U
Starring	Kamal Haasan Asin Jaya Prada Mallika Sherawat K. R. Vijaya
Directed by	K. S. Ravikumar
Written by	Kamal Haasan
Produced by	V. Ravichandran
Cinematography by	Ravi Varman
Edited by	K. Thanigachalam
Music by	Songs: Himesh Reshammiya Score: Devi Sri Prasad
Production Company	Aascar Film Pvt. Ltd
Distributor	Sony Pictures India (North India) Ayngaran International (United Kingdom, Singapore & Gulf)

Dasavathaaram Movie Cast & Characters:

• Kamal Haasan in ten roles as:
  • Rangarajan Ramanuja Nambi, a 12th-century Vaishnavite priest who tries to prevent the destruction of the statue of his deity, Lord Vishnu, and was killed by Chola Emperor Kulothunga II (based on Matsya).
  • Govindarajan “Govind” Ramaswamy, an NRI bio-scientist at the United States, who discovered the bioweapon (based on Kalki).
  • Balram Naidu, a Telugu high-ranked police officer in India, who misbelieve Govind as a terrorist, later chases Fletcher to retrieve the vial (based on Balarama).
  • Avathar Singh, a famous Indian pop singer, who beloves his wife Ranjitha (based on Rama).
  • Shingen Narahazi, a martial artist from Japan who wants to take revenge on Fletcher for killing his sister Yuka and protects Govind from Fletcher (based on Narasimha).
  • Christian Fletcher, a rogue ex-CIA agent-turned-mercenary, who chases Govind on the orders of his boss to retrieve the vial (based on Parashurama).
  • George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States (based on Kurma).
  • Krishnaveni, Andal’s grandmother and a religious woman at Chidambaram (based on Varaha).
  • Vincent Poovaraghan, a Nagercoil-based social activist who is against a politically backed sand mafia (based on Krishna).
  • Khalifullah Khan Mukhtar, a 7-feet-tall Tamil Muslim Tailor with gigantism, who helps Govind and Andal (based on Vamana).
• Asin in a dual role as:
  • Kodhai, Nambi’s wife
  • Andal, Govind’s fiancee, and Krishnaveni’s granddaughter
• Jaya Prada as Ranjita Kaur, Singh’s wife
• Mallika Sherawat as Jasmine, Fletcher’s wife
• Rekha as Meenakshi, Ragavendra’s wife
• K. R. Vijaya as Begum, Mukhtaar’s wife, and Khalifullah’s mother
• Napoleon as Kulothunga Chola II
• Raghuram as Appa Rao, Naidu’s assistant
• Nagesh as Sheikh Mukhtaar, Khalifullah’s father
• Chakri Toleti as Sairam, Govind’s friend
• Shammu as Assistant Biotechnologist Dinesh

Storyline:

After realizing the danger of a bio-weapon, a scientist wants to protect it from being misused. The vial accidentally reaches India, and he must race against time to prevent a potential disaster.

Dasavathaaram Movie Budget & Box Office Collection:

Budget	₹60 crore
Worldwide Collection	₹200 crore

About Dasavathaaram Movie:

Dasavathaaram is a Tamil science fiction action adventure film directed by K. S. Ravikumar and produced by V. Ravichandran under the banner of Aascar Film Pvt. Ltd. The film stars Kamal Haasan in ten distinct roles and he also serves as the writer.

The cast also includes Asin, Jaya Prada, Mallika Sherawat, K. R. Vijaya, Rekha Harris, Nagesh, P. Vasu, Raghuram, Napoleon and M. S. Bhaskar. This marks the last film of Nagesh before his death on January 31, 2009.

Kamal Haasan created an original storyline and approached several directors, including Gautham Vasudev Menon, before K. S. Ravikumar accepted the offer to direct.

Vidya Balan was initially signed to make her Tamil film debut, but she opted out due to delays and date clashes with her Bollywood projects. Following her departure, it was reported that each of the ten characters portrayed by Kamal Haasan in the film would have a female lead opposite them.

Filming began on August 3, 2006, at Mahabalipuram in Chennai and concluded on October 8, 2007, at Uthandi, a coastal village. Major portions of the film were shot in overseas locations, including the US, Tokyo, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Kamal Haasan broke the record of playing 10 characters onscreen. The record was set by Jet Li, who played 9 characters onscreen in the film The One (2001). He was also dubbed for the Hindi version himself.

Dasavathaaram was released on June 13, 2008, in around 1300 prints worldwide and received positive reviews from critics. Though its Hindi version was an average success, the film was a massive success at the box office. The film completed a 175-day run at the box office.

Besides Tamil, the film was also dubbed and released in different languages including Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, and Bhojpuri versions with the Hindi version titled Dashavtar. Dasavathaaram grossed ₹200 crore (US$45.97 million) worldwide and is currently one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of all time.

The satellite rights of the Tamil version of the film were sold to Kalaignar TV for ₹ 45 million.