ANI

Chennai, Jun 13: The much-awaited Tamil film 'Dasavathaaram' starring superstar Kamal Hassan was released today after a long legal battle.

'Dasavathaaram', made on a whopping budget of Rs.1.3 billion, has roused much expectation as the superstar portrays ten avatars or roles.

City theatres have already sold out two million tickets and there is no current ticket booking for the next 20 days.

Sathyam cinemas have even mounted a show at an unearthly early morning hour.

"There has been a very good response to the film and we sold out the first five days. The first show starts at 7:30 a.m., " said Supriya, spokesperson for Sathyam cinemas.

"It is only after 15 days, I can get tickets, but really I missed it. I wanted to see the movie on the first day itself," said Suwatha, a movie buff.

About 1,000 prints of the film in Tamil and Telugu are being released.

The apex court recently paved the way for the film's release, having dismissed a plea by a Hindu sect that it would hurt the religious sentiments of some.

K.S. Ravikumar has directed the movie that has been in the making for the last two years.

The film is Kamal Hassan's most ambitious project so far. Besides acting in the film, he also wrote the story, screenplay and the dialogues.

The film sees Kamal Hassan don ten different roles from a Vaishnav priest to President George Bush and also stars actress Mallika Sherawat.

Bollywood composer-turned-actor Himesh Reshammiya has scored the music for the film, his first ever for a Tamil production.

In April, Hollywood action superstar Jackie Chan was especially flown to India for the film's music release.