Slated for a `Pongal' release on January 15, the movie has dragged well beyond the schedule.

"The post-production work is still on and it may take some time... the film is expected to be released on April 10," (three days ahead of the Tamil New Year), sources in the film unit said.

The actor, who also speaks ten different dictions in the film, has decided to keep away from the media till the release of the film, the sources added.

He has penned the screenplay and dialogue too.

The Tamil audience should also wait to see Bollywood damsel, Mallika Sherawat, who is playing a role in this film.

Though she had earlier done an item number in Maniratnam's Guru, it was only a dubbed version, and Dasavatharam could well mark her first direct entry into Kollywood.

The film is being directed by K S Ravikumar, a man who knows the art of delivering hit movies. In fact, he had earlier directed Kamal in the rib-tickler, Panchathanthiram.

Dasavatharam, meaning the ten incarnations of Lord Mahavishnu, also marks the Kollywood debut of Himesh Reshammiah, the man whose tunes Bollywood has been swinging for the past few years.

A stickler to the saying "variety is the spice of life," Kamal, as he is fondly called, has tried many an experiment with the looks of his characters, especially the old man in Indian (Hindustani in Hindi) the old woman in Avvai Shanmugi (Chachi 420 in Hindi) and the "I-met-with an accident" face in his critically acclaimed Anbe Sivam, directed by Sundar C.

A top hero who never shies away from experimenting, both with the script and looks, Kamal had did the same thing with Virumaandi, his home production, which also ran into some controversy with a political party claiming that the original title, Sandiyar, would inspire the youth in villages to openly wield the traditional weapons in the name of chivalry.