T S Sudhir of NDTV wrote, "Dasavathaaram, unfortunately, remains just a film wit h its USP of 10 Kamals.

This Kamal does not blossom the way he did in Indian or Nayakan, Appu Raja, Maha nadi, Avvai Shanmughi or in Thevar Magan" and further stated, "One of the best in the business falters with the film's story and screenplay."[54] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India rated the film 2.5 out of 5 and said, "EXPERIMENTS aren't always successful. Like Dasavatharam , Kamal Haasan's ambitious venture which sees him playing ten roles which include a take on George Bush too . Daring, we'd like to insist; only the make-up and the fake appearance borders more on the comic."[55] The Deccan Herald said, "The ten role s are awfully disparate: they are more like pantomime characters. Kamal appears too flabby and jaded. Sorry, Appu Raja (or shall we say Michael, M adana, Kamarajan) it s time you start being your age. From start to finish there is a severe decibel assault aided and abetted by Himesh Reshammiya. "[56] OneIndia said, "After watching Dasavatharam- the so called magnum opus of the year- an ardent fan of Kamal Hassan will ask why indee d it is called a magnum opus in the first place. Why was all the hype, tension, cases, expectations and unnecessary expenses wasted on this a verage film. Once again, Kamal fails to attract Tamil audiences with his own script." and gave the verdict, "Not up to expectations!"[57] Malath i Rangarajan of The Hindu said, "The film would have worked even better had the narrative been tauter and more purposive post-interval" but conc luded, "All in all, Dasavathaaram shows that Kamal Haasan has once again taken great pains to make his cinematic projects convincing. The effort ha s paid off.