Analysis of Dasavatharam Movie – Part II

Vamana avatar – Kalifulla khan 

Remember in vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant kalifulla here symbolises vamana avatar.

Parasurama avatar – Christian Fletcher

 

Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the real KILLER… Guess what that’s what our Fletcher is! He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and kills everyone around.

Narasimha avatar – Shingen Narahashi 

First 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?

Rama avatar – Avatar Singh 

Lord 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.

Kalki avatar – Govindaraj Ramasamy 

As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!

Koorma avatar – Bush 

This 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. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras. Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom… May be Kamal also indicates that this avatar is a bit dumb like the tortoise…

 

Dasavatharam is a brilliant and bold effort which talks about the physics of Karma,Chaos theory and cycle of life. I came across across Dr.Kamal Hassan’s words about Dasa on the internet:

“This theory is under the skin of the film and you will find little veins, tissues and muscles, every layer of it. One is the chaos theory — we are all connected to everyone in the world. None of our acts will be without effects. One act will collide with another. It is like what you learnt in physics — where one object crashes into another object and produces something else. This is basically our sensibilities, insensibilities, crime, disregard for society and good deeds.In religion, it is called good karma. It all comes around because there is some physics to it but we are not talking about it in bombastic terms as people will come for entertainment and will understand it in the process”.

 Dasa talks about this chaos theory by showing how different characters are responsible for the change in life patern of scientist Govind and goes a step further by showing how Govind is reponsible for the change in life patterns of these characters (For instance Avtaar singh is cured of cancer because of Fletcher who comes into picture because of govind.If not for them, he would have undergone the operation and would have never been able to sing for the rest of his life. Similarly Khalifulla khan and the other 200 people wouldnt have been alive if they were not asked to stay in the mosque for investigation regarding govind’s case). All this has been beautifully captured in the movie.So there is no question of unwanted extra roles or anything of that sort.All the 10 characters are well etched and very important!!

Next, Dasa also talks about the physics of Karma.

Dasavatharam deals with this brilliantly.

Assuming Govind is the rebirth of Nambi, they are totally the opposites. Nambi dies having faith in god,but Govind is an atheist. So it balances the so called Karma equation. This also applies to asin(though the other way round) 12th century asin is ready to give up her belief in Lord Vishnu for the sake of her husband. But andal is a stonch believer in god who always tries to safeguard the statue.

 The Tsunami can be thought of as the butterfly effect of the statue that was drowned in the 12th century or a natural occurence that resulted in a miracle by saving millions of lives or whatever. But it also imples that it made govind and andal reunite in front of the same statue where they were seperated 800 years back!!

Finally, Dasavatharam says life is nothing but a cycle.You are bound to experience the effects of your actions either now, or in the future,or in your next birth. You are provided with the free will to do what you want with your current life. But your actions will not only affect you but also the peolpe around you resulting in a buttefly effect which might lead to unbelievable consequences in some part of the world. You have to experience the effects for what you have caused. Until then life keeps repeating like a cycle.

The movie clearly states about Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect [Kamal says it in his Speech in the Movie]. 

The concept of “CHAOS THEORY” and “BUTTERFLY EFFECT”, by itself is a complex concept, which mainly highlights the happening of huge unimaginable things because of least probable things…!!!!

In essence,Dasa talks about 10 characters who are inconsequential as such,but are integrated in a larger picture.Without Bush,the plane would have been called back.Without Shinghen, Govind would be dead.Without the tsunami,the world would have been destroyed.Even Krishnaveni Patti plays a very important role.If she had not put the vial in the idol,maybe Govind would have recovered it then and there and a powerful weapon would have been unleashed.The very fact that it went into the idol meant that it was being accelerated to its destiny.Without Kaifulla Khan, Govind would have never escaped;the list simply goes on.

Check this link for a clear and complete explanation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

 In the above links u can see that butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. So in dasavatharam that idol thrown into sea in 12th century is the cause for tsunami…. so everything is interlinked .The wiki entry also says that chaos could play an important role in plate techtonics. Which means even the 12th century incident is connected.

 The 1st scene is perfectly connected to the climax, remember what Kamal says in the 1st scene, that he will not say “Om Nama Shivaya” , but Asin tells him to chant it , but still Kamal refuses , ( in this kamal in his story tries to tell that ) Nambi believes in his god more than anything, but Asin feels “Its ok if we change the god or chant other god’s name, its life thats most important.” Now if u see the climax its JUST OPPOSITE…. Kamal doesn’t believe in god much and values lives of people the most…. but Asin deeply believes in god and that too this dialogue comes when both Asin and Kamal’s hand is on the god which came from the sea , and it also means that they are getting united from the place they departed hundreds of years back ( Kamal and Asin).The connection between the 1st scene and the climax in the movie shows the generation circle combined with supernatural powers of GOD and destiny…..!!!

If you watch it closely u can also find another actor who has done double action other than Asin and Kamal. Asin’s father Sahasranamam [12th Century], in the beginning he says to Nambi “Panchatchira manthirathai sollitu vaango mappillai” and at the End [After tsunami] he says “Avar enna jathiyo inga vaanga paati “.

Nambi explanation

 

Okay, this is slightly outside the chaotic system driving the film as a whole.From what I could gather he says that this story is about ideologies like God,the madness surrounding such ideologies and decides to tell the story of the Shaivite-Vaishnavite conflict to show how people go crazy in the name of God as an example.

 

As a loose end,it gets tied up in the end,when the Ranganathar idol is thrown out of the sea due to the tsunami which highlights the cyclic nature of life.Actually the Nambi character highlights both Chaos and Karma which I explained.That is the brilliance of this film,there is so much to see and understand.

 

Another explanation(and this is slightly far fetched— as explained earlier) is that Govind is in fact the reincarnation of Nambi. As Nambi he couldn’t protect God and died in the name of God.In order to fulfill his Karma,he is reincarnated as Govind Ramasamy who ultimately saves the world from destruction.The idol in the end somewhat hints to this theory; his story began with the idol and it ends with the idol.

As far as the connection with Nambi character and events in 12th Century goes…

The connection is based on the “Butterfly effect “.

When Govind and Andal goes to the bury the idol in the sands, Andal will stumble on a particular stone couple of times…This is the same stone as the one from 12th Century hen Kothai rips her Thaali and flings it at Kulothunga Chozan…it will end up hanging on the stone. So, the implied message here is Andal is Kothai reborn in the 21s century.

During the encounter with Santhana Bharathi in the sand quarry, it is repeat of the incident from 12th century. Instead of Kulothunga Chozhan, it is the Sand Mafia which tries to inflict damage on the land.

This movie is a brilliant juxtaposition of independent characters whose paths cross, if only briefly, which is stunning example of Chaos Theory.

The idol that is drowned in the sea along with Rangarajan in 12th century by Chozha king results in a fault being developed at the bottom of the ocean and creates tremors more than 800 years later. These tremors result in the Tsunami. This again is a classic case of Butterfly Effect wherein a seemingly inconsequential event (the drowning of the idol) saves Tamil Nadu from being wiped out off the face of the earth.

But actually Kamal has not left anything for our imagination… Explanation struck the right chord, Kamal does tell to Asin in a dialogue that idol which gets sunken back then gets struck between the tectonic plates under the sea and causes tsunami…

Many people missed this dialogue i guess. Kamal’s accent was so very perfect Tamil, that many people missed it…. Being perfect Is a Problem by Itself !!! 🙂

Although the explanation is a least possible theory, that is what “Chaos Theory” And “Butterfly Effect” are all about.

Its not just the statue that caused the tsunami, but it just started a large chain of effects which kept multiplying exponentially and finally lead to it after 800 years….!!

Why just say this concept is perfectly illogical… it is possible… thats what i have been explaining all the while !!!

The story line is that things going wrong are made to be right which involves many people and countries knowingly or unknowingly.

Knowingly:

Bush, Manmohan Singh, Govindh, Fletcher, Balaram Naidu, Mallika Sherawath.

 Unknowingly: 

• Nambi’s drowning to death with the heavy statue causes simple changes to the seabed that causes a devastating tsunami 800 years later [Acc. to Chaos theor it is possible…. although it is least probable… It is possible.. so nothing TOTALLY WRONG About it ]
• Poovaragan(actually saved kamal unknowingly—when poovaragan enters kamal and asin were caught by those manal kollayargal.There poovaragan distracts the gang helping kamal to escape),
• Avatar Singh(gave way to Fletcher to escape in the airport unknowingly),
• Japanese(saved govind from fletcher,he knows he is saving but he doesnt know about the play and was there only for revenge),
• Kallifulla and family(saved govind unknowingly)……..
• Vincent is a dalit leader of a lower caste( the so called ) but saved an Iyengar Girl ……and at the end becomes the con of the Iyengar Paati !!
• If Shingen Narahashi’s sister was not killed, Fletcher could have killed govind and used the virus for wrong purpose..

It is marvellous that Kamal has used such a device in Abhoorva Saghodhararghal, way back in 1989. To kill Delhi Ganesh, for those of you who do not remember… yet another Eg. of Chaos Theory And butterfly Effect !

 The plot concept of Dasavadhaaram is logically explained by a machine used by Him in His own screenplay back then too, before 20 Years!! Be it a coincidence, or He possibly had that in mind as an inspiration, it amazes me!!