Dasavatharam

Dasavatharam is a forthcoming Tamil feature film currently being directed by K. S. Ravikumar, who with Dasavatharam, pairs up with Kamal Haasan for the fourth time. Haasan acts in ten different roles, breaking the record for an actor's portrayal of the most different characters whilst Asin Thottumkal in a dual role and Mallika Sherawat also play lead roles in the film. The film, which has been under production since mid-2005, has Himesh Reshammiya as the music composer and Oscar Ravichandran as the main producer. The film, made with a budget of 80 crore Indian rupees, is set to be released in the summer of 2008.

Development

Kamal Haasan was keen to break the record for an actor appearing in the most roles, so he came up with an original storyline and approached prominent directors, to direct it, when K. S. Ravikumar accepted the offer. Dasavatharam began soon after the announcement of another magnum opus, Sivaji: The Boss starring, the other major star of South India, Rajnikanth; the films, despite being released nearly a year apart, were built up to be rival projects. K. S. Ravikumar and Kamal Haasan came together for the fourth time following their three previous successful ventures, Avvai Shanmughi, Thenali and Panchathantiram. Haasan announced he was set to play different roles in the film, making it the first time that an actor has appeared in so many roles in world cinema. Oscar Ravichandran, who had a profitable 2006, signed up to produce the venture securing distribution rights in the process. Following nearly a year of post-production, deciding the cast and the locations, the film began its first schedule on September 11, 2006.

Casting

Between the announcement of the project and prior to the launch a year later, several heroines were signed up and then either removed or opted out from the project. The first being Vidya Balan, who was signed up and set to make her debut in the Tamil filmss, however due to the long inactivity of the film, Balan opted out citing date clashes with her Bollywood project. Following the removal of Balan, it was reported that each of the ten characters portrayed by Kamal Haasan in the movie, would have a female lead opposite them. Heroines who were reported to be a part of the film but failed to make the final shortlist were: Jyothika, Mumtaj, Kiran Rathod, Meena, Bhumika Chawla, Sameera Reddy, Nadhiya Moidu, Kamalinee Mukerji, Nithya Das, Meera Jasmine, Simran Bagga and Vasundhara Das. Moreover, few heroines, who were selected, opted out due to date clashes like Balan, Trisha Krishnan and Nayantara. Furthermore, Shriya Saran was forced to opt out of the project by the producers of her other Sivaji: The Boss, a film built up as the rival to Dasavatharam at the box-office. Finally, the major female lead role was given to Asin Thottumkal, who was later assigned two distinct roles in the project. The second lead female role in the film, went to Mallika Sherawat, for whom Dasavatharam is her first Tamil language film. Over the course, of the production more supporting actors were added to the film, the first being Napolean, who was signed up to portray a king in the film. Other veteran actors, Jayaprada, Nagesh, P. Vasu, K. R. Vijaya and M. S. Baskar were roped into essay other small roles in the film, as well as a bevy of American supporting actors. Actors, Jayaram and Vadivelu opted out of the film during the production of the project, citing date problems. The film was originally announced with A. R. Rahman as the music director of the film, however like Shriya Saran was removed from the project as per the request of the producers of Sivaji: The Boss. He was replaced by Himesh Reshammiya, for whom Dasavatharam becomes his first Tamil venture as a music composer. Due to inconsistency of dates for Reshmaiyya, Devi Sri Prasad was roped into record the background music despite indications that Rahman would re-join the project to do so. Ashmith Kunder was signed up to edit the film, despite early indications that A. Sreekar Prasad would have landed the offer. The director, K. S. Ravikumar also wrote the script for the film following negotiations with the late Sujatha, who died before the release of the movie and Crazy Mohan. Another technician who died during the process of the movie was Jeeva, who was posthumously replaced by Ravi Varman.

Filming

The filming of Dasavatharam began on August 3, 2006 at Mahabalipuram in Chennai, where a song was picturised on a set created by Sameer Chandra, an art director. The set resembled the Airavatheeswarar temple at Darasuram in Kumbakonam and scenes with Kamal Haasan in an Iyengar get-up and accompanied by over 750 extras were recorded. Asin Thottumkal joined the team on September 11, 2006 for a shoot in Uthandi. However in late September 2006, Sameer Chanda was sacked from the project due to his tendency to employ only workers from Mumbai and not Tamilians, prompting Haasan and Ravikumar to remove him from the project, with his role being entrusted to Prabhakar of Virumaandi fame. Shootings were held at Chennai Airport in November 2006, which cost the producer two crores. Another team member was sacked in Chengelpet, when a stunt sequence was being captured by the camera, stunt master Kanal Kannan was reported to have used unparliamentary words at the workers and that too over the public address system. Angered and humiliated by such remarks, the workers walked out of the sets refusing to work any more. Finally they all resumed duty only after the elimination of Kanal Kannan. A new stunt master, Thyagarajan was given the opportunity to take over following the controversy caused by Kannan, who had a similar problem whilst shooting for Sivaji. Major portions of the films were shot extensively in overseas locations which included America, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. A role of a foreigner, played by Haasan, was shot for in casinos in and around Las Vegas and Orlando. A song involving Kamal Haasan and Mallika Sherawat that was to be shot in US was moved to Malaysia due to problems with Sherawat's visa deeming she could not join the crew. So the crew instead decided to shift the shooting to another destination in Malaysia and the song was shot in posh night clubs; furthermore scenes were shot at a lobby of a prominent Malaysian airport. A humongous was has been erected at the Taramani Film City in India which was a Replica of the White House, with Haasan’s makeup for the role lasting six whole hours to obtain the desired outcome. For the climax scenes of the film, a tsunami effect was created in Mahabalipuram. The scene was shot recently at a 50,000 sq. ft. area land in which a 100-ft. wall was created near Muttukadu. Six machines, which generated 20 ft. high waves, had imported from the US, for a total cost of 3.5 crore rupees. For the climax, another scene was shot dramatically above the Nehru Stadium with the permission of the chief minister, Karunanidhi. The film’s final shoot occurred on October 8, 2007 at Uthandi at a coastal village.

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