Here are the few pre-shoot stills of Marudhanayagam stills that made their way to the Net today! We can immediately relate it to the famous trailer that came out quite a while ago. Enjoy!

In time for Dasavathaaram, Rediff.com provides continued focus on Kamal. Here, we cover a few recent pieces.

Madhavan declared himself a “hardcore Kamal fan”. Let’s have a few excerpts before you read the full interview.

After I started acting in television, people would call me for award functions. I accepted their invitations only to see Kamal Haasan in person. I would scream myself hoarse when he went to collect the awards.

That was when I met Kamal Sir for the first time in a hotel, where I was having dinner. He came over to me and said, ‘Madhavan, I have seen some of your work and they were good.’ You could have knocked me down with a feather, so great was my shock.

Working in the film was like studying in a university. Every minute I shot with him was pregnant with information. He was like a father figure to me on the sets.

What I learnt from him was that there is no shot in the world which is simple and can be taken lightly, and that you should give a hundred percent to every shot. It is amazing to see his dedication to each shot even after being in the industry for so many years. You see child-like enthusiasm, missionary zeal and extreme passion in each shot.

Then, we had a slideshow on some of Kamal’s movies in Kannada and Telugu. Check it out for some valuable information on unfamiliar movies like Kokila and Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu.

Finally, Rediff.com gives us an interesting look at his past heroines from Srividhya to Sridevi and Madhavi to Amala.

The last two pieces also feature some superb rare stills.

[With inputs from A1]

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Okay, this is a bit late. But Dasavathaaram hasn’t yet released; so, it isn’t too late. Clever and patient folks have managed to ‘decode’ the 10 roles of Kamal from the trailer. The trailer did seem like a puzzle. Now it has been solved by fellow fans Directhit and Madhan.

Click for larger image

In this age of Internet and associated tools, it’s a surprise that the makers decided to embed all the 10 roles in the trailer and not leave it for the audience to discover it on the big screen.

Here are some new stills / posters of Dasavathaaram that came out in the past couple of days. Enjoy!

[With inputs from Ananth]

Just as a hero smashes obstacles and emerges victorious in movies, Kamal is used to doing that with controversies and cases in real life. The latest case, alleging anti-Hindu aspects in Dasavathaaram, was dismissed today, as expected. Read reports from The Hindu and Thatstamil. [Readers are encouraged to post more links regarding the same in the Comments section.]

Let’s hope that the movie will release on June 6 without any more delays and nuisances.

[With inputs from Ananth]

Here’s the whole load of Dasavathaaram info that has spread like wildfire, starting with the trailer. Then, we have the ‘making’ videos. We have one here and there’s more at Sify.com.

We have heard that the movie has been censored with a ‘U’ certificate and is 2 hours 45 minutes long. It is said to be releasing in the next few weeks. Read a report from Sify.com.

We have another interview of Asin, where she talks about her experiences. One piece talks about KS Ravikumar’s commitment to Dasavathaaram.

Behindwoods reported a few days ago that the Mayajaal multiplex in Chennai is planning 45 shows a day!

For more stills, check out Behindwoods, Sify.com and Galatta.com.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture / video courtesy: BehindWoods]

The audio launch of Dasavathaaram (note the change in spelling) is just about a day away and information has been flowing for the past several days. We start first with scanned images of the invitation, shown above and below. It clearly shows the time, venue and participants, confirming some earlier news and smashing several rumours.

Then, we have the scanned copy of the audio cassette’s cover. We can see the list of songs, along with credits. Again, we have several things cleared up.

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Finally, some more pieces of news:

• Amitabh Bachchan refused Oscar Ravichandran’s offer to take care of all expenses for his visit.
• Sify.com carried Asin’s interview on the occasion.
• The Hindu’s report on the audio launch, Karunanidhi being impressed, etc. See other reports from Times of India, MSN Tamil, Thatstamil, IndiaGlitz, CineSouth and Chennai365.

[With inputs from Ananth]

Here are some Dasavatharam stills released for music release publicity. Though we have heard about the Rangaraja Nambi character being drowned in the sea with the idol, this still surprises us with its grandeur.

As a bonus, we have a ticket used in the Avtaar Singh concert sequence, thanks to some fans (of Devi Kamal Fans Association) who participated in the shoot. Does the date on the ticket ring a bell?

Click ticket images for larger versions

Enjoy!

Dasavatharam got opened up further today, with a new still and Kamal’s interview in The Hindu. Here are some highlights:

“Dasavatharam has a lot of Al Gore in it, and also Ramanujar,” he says.

“For one, there are 10 characters, ranging in scope from a Ramanujar and a Galileo to a particle physicist. Computer graphics bring to life many of the scenes.”

“Amitabh Bachchan will also be here,” adds Kamal. “Chan is well known to the producer. So he decided to invite him. It will be a grand event,” he says with a smile.

“I enjoy telling stories so it was a wonderful experience. And it’s been a great team, together with an understanding producer (Oscar Ravichandran) and a competent director (K.S. Ravikumar) at the helm. It’s not as though there were no egos but the project sailed smoothly thanks to frank and creative exchanges,” Kamal adds.

“It’s rare for a composer from the north to create tunes that allow the lyricist here to lend words with equal ease. Himesh has pulled that off. You will find in Himesh’s song, the joy of an M.S.Viswanathan tune. Those in the unit were initially sceptical but they fell for his music,” says Kamal.

No conversation with Kamal is complete without a reference to his mentor Ananthu. “He would always say, ‘keep it simple.’ I’ve followed that,” says the veteran. The humour and fun of ‘Michael Madana Kamarajan,’ the sadness of ‘Mahanadhi,’ the sentimentality of ‘Thevar Magan’ and the emotions of ‘Hey!Ram!’ are all woven into a screenplay that is irreverent enough to defy pundit-driven formulas. Yet, ‘Dasavatharam’ will remain faithful to time-tested storytelling techniques, he says.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

With the release of this new still and the audio release pretty much confirmed for April 25, the Dasavatharam blitzkrieg seems to have begun. We have a new interview with KS Ravikumar in the Madras Plus section of Economic Times:

• He attributes the delay to the need for compressing huge amount of material to around 3 hours, including about two and half hours with computer graphics.
• He says that he has never before worked so hard on a movie.
• He clarifies that politicians have not really ‘acted’ in the movie, but that clippings featuring them have been used.
• He confirms that there are no duet songs between Asin and Kamal.

Various reports in MSN, Thatstamil, Galatta.com, Behindwoods and IndiaGlitz talk about the grand audio release function featuring a set resembling the Oscar awards ceremony. Surpassing all earlier estimates, it is also said that the number of prints that will get released may touch 1500!

The storm is arriving shortly at the coast.

[With inputs from Ananth]