the album was "a mediocre listening experience." Release Theatrical The film was delayed for multiple times when scheduled for a release in 2007 and also in Pongal 2008, due to extensive post-production works and in February 2008, Venu Ravichandran announced that Dasavaatharam will be released worldwide on 10 April 2008 in the eve of Tamil New Year weekend. But due to the success of inaugural Indian Premier League season, the release of the film along with Suriya's Vaaranam Aayiram, scheduled for May 2008 release, was put on hold till 1 June 2008, the date when the tournament is concluded. In late May 2008, the makers announced the release date as 13 June 2008. The film was shown subsequently to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, by the request of the producer on 8 June 2008. Pre-release record Two days prior to the release, the film was shown to film personalities of Indian cinema at Four Films Cinema in Chennai, with the film receiving praise. The film earned a total pre-release revenue of 500 million from selling all its rights. Distribution Sony Pictures India distributed the film in North India, whilst Ayngaran International sold the film to cinema halls in the United Kingdom, Singapore and the Gulf. Canadian rights for the film were bought by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, becoming the first distributional venture of an Indian film by the production house. Narmadha Travels acquired the rights from Aascar Films to distribute the film in the United States of America. Besides Tamil, the film was also dubbed and released in different languages including Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and Bhojpuri versions with the Hindi version titled Dashavtar. The Indian censor board certified the film on 24 April 2008, giving it a "U" (universal) rating, after 9 cuts were made and letting the film run for 166 minutes. The film released worldwide with 1,300 prints in all the respective languages. Tamil Nadu had 275 prints, and Karnataka had 80, with 190 prints released overseas. The Hindi version Dashavtar had an unusually high 410 prints in North India. The Telugu version had 260 prints in Andhra Pradesh including 45 prints in Nizam region. The film opened in 25 screens in Hyderabad. The Malayalam version had 85 prints in Kerala. Marketing The film's theatrical trailer was released publicly on 23 April 2008, a day after it was shown to special guests, which