Dasavathaaram

Dasavathaaram is a 2008 Tamil science fiction disaster film, co-written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It stars Kamal Haasan, who wrote the screenplay and story of the film, in ten distinct roles. Asin appears in a dual role and Mallika Sherawat plays a subsidiary role. The film, which had been under production for nearly three years, was produced and primarily distributed by Venu Ravichandran. Primary filming locations included the USA and the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The soundtrack to the film was composed by Himesh Reshammiya and the background score by Devi Sri Prasad. This high-budget production was an all-time blockbuster and completed a 175-day run at the box office. About 3 crore tickets were sold worldwide. It was also the first Tamil film to beat the record set by Sivaji a year later. However, this new record was beaten two years later by Enthiran.

The plot of the film revolves around bringing together the lives of several individuals beginning with the 12th century and ending with the 21st century; the main person being a research scientist who develops a bio-weapon and makes sure that it is not acquired by a group of terrorists. Several other people also get involved in the process and all their stories connect after the striking of a tsunami, thus bringing in philosophical views into the picture.

After delays in post-production, the film was released worldwide on June 13, 2008 with 1000 prints in Tamil as well as a dubbed version in Telugu. The aspects of the visual effects and the performance of the cast were appreciated while the music was unanimously criticized. Prior to and after release, the film had its share of controversies with regard to plagiarism, the portrayal of Hindus and Sherawat's attire at the audio launch. A Hindi dubbed version, Dashavatar was released almost a year later.