Braj Mohan Chaturvedi: Dasavatharam: India's most ambitious film

The release of Kamal Haasan’s magnum opus Dasavatharam was probably the most awaited event after Rajinikanth's Sivaji – The Boss. The release is also important as Kamal Haasan has no release since August 2006. Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, Haasan’s last released in August 2006 was a huge hit.

Dasavatharam is India’s most ambitious film in terms of budget and scrip. The film was released on June 13 2008. Ravichandran decided on the project in 1996. It took a lot of time to get the film together. Almost after twelve years it was released world-wide on June 13, 2008 in the Tamil language, with a simultaneous dubbed version released in Telugu. The film is set to be dubbed into Hindi and released later in the year.

Role

In the movie Haasan appears in ten different roles, breaking the record for an actor's portrayal of the most different characters. The movie also has Asin in a dual role and Mallika Sherawat, who plays lead role. Kamal Haasan has played ten different roles in Dashavatharam - US President George Bush, Balaraman, a brahmin, a tall Afghan, a Lankan Tamil, an old lady, a doctor, a police officer, a Japanese, and a Daler Mehndi look-alike.

Music

Himesh Reshammiya has composed the film's soundtrack, and Devi Sri Prasad has given the background score. The soundtrack to Dasavathaaram was released on April 25, 2008, which became the largest audio launch for a film in the world. Prominent film personalities across the world including Jackie Chan, Amitabh Bachchan, Mammooty, Vijay and Madhavan attended the function

Distribution

In the recent past, most big-budget films be it Hindi, or any other regional film, producers have adopted a revenue model where the investments are typically recovered before the release of the film. The producer of the movie, Ravichandran, took the different route and decided to distribute the film himself. He has ensured that the film is released in as many screens as possible. The film overall will have 1,300 prints which will include the Hindi version as well. Tamil Nadu alone had 275 prints with Kerala and Karnataka accounting for 85 and 80 prints respectively. The Telugu version of Dasavatharam had as many as 260 prints. Around 1,100 prints will be released domestically while the rest will go abroad in countries like UK, US, Europe and Singapore.

Revenue
In terms of money that came Ravichandran's way before the release of the film, it was Rs 2 crore from Sony-BMG for selling the music rights and another Rs 4.5 crore for Kalaignar TV for the satellite rights. That adds up to just Rs 6.5 crore. The Ravichandran has distributed movie himself and is confident that the movie will do business worth Rs. 300 crores.
Reviews

Dasavatharam has been declared as the Blockbuster of the year due to its huge and mega opening worldwide in Indian film history. The film is anticipated to rake in close to Rs. 100 crore as its theatrical revenue at the end of this week, as Chennai theatre owners state that the bookings for the next 10 days are house-full. If compared to Rajnikant’s Sivaji the film grossed over 25 crore in its first one week. Given the current figures, Kamal Hassan is currently one up.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com, www.dasavatharam.info, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Katyayana

This Blog is dedicated to all the Management Professionals who want to challenge the set pattern, who are practical in their approach and dont think in thin air; who believe that strategy is all about making things simple; who strongly advocate the “Rule of Simple” and who believe that impossible is nothing. - Just like Katyayana. Katyayana was a disciple of Gautama Buddha. He is also known as Kaccana or Kaccayana, Mahakatyayana, Mahakaccana and in Japanese as Kasennen. Katyayana is one of the “Ten Disciples of the Buddha”. Mahakashyapa, Ananda, Shariputra, Subhuti, Purna, Mahamaudgalyayana, Katyayana, Aniruddha, Upali and Rahula. He was foremost in explaining Dharma. He was born in a brahmin family at Ujjayini (Ujjain) and received a classical Brahminical education studying the Vedas. Katyayana was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India, around the time of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. He is known for two works:- The Varttika, an elaboration on Panini’s grammar. Along with the Maha-bhasya of Patanjali, this text became a core part of the vyakarana (grammar) canon. This was one of the six Vedangas, and constituted compulsory education for Brahman students in the following twelve centuries.- He also composed one of the later Sulba Sutras, a series of nine texts on the geometry of altar constructions, dealing with rectangles, right-sided triangles, rhombuses, etc. Katyayana certainly have been a man of very considerable learning but probably not interested in mathematics for its own sake, merely interested in using it for religious purposes.He wrote the Sulbasutra to provide rules for religious rites and to improve and expand on the rules which had been given by his predecessors. Katyayana would have been a priest instructing the people in the ways of conducting the religious rites he describes. Authorship: Nettipakarana, a work of grammar, and Petakopadesa, a treatise on exegetical methodology, sulvasutras dealt with geometry.

Dasavatharam: India's most ambitious film

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