Nuances and Fine details in the film I noticed.
In the climax, when the japanese character sees the tsunami, he immediately runs for the boat. He seems to know what he is doing unlike Govind and Asin who were in the state of panic. This could be attributed to the fact that Japan is the most tsunami-and-earthquake hit country in the world and people there are educated from schools as to what to do in such situations.
Read in another forum: When Govind gets hurt in his forehead in the first half, the japanese girl puts a bandage on the wound. Watch the way the + sign is placed on his forehead. The horizontal slightly lower than the vertical's centre and tilted at an angle. This is the insignia of the anti-christ in the Bible. Weather this was intentional or not is debatable.
Hiding the gun in parts inside the camera. Though this cannot be done now, it was the most popular way for illegally smuggling arms through airports in the 80s. The gun is dismantled into pieces and snugged in the crevices of the video camera. The bullets are concealed inside the tape. The X-rays used in airports those days had some problem with the magnetic coating on the tapes thereby leaving the bullets undetected.
Hindu Mythological bird "Garuda" which is said to accompany Vishnu in his travels depicted with a falcon in the opening sequence when the idol was being taken to the seas.
Caustic corrosion of steel implied on the chains in the idol when it is swept to the shore after the tsunami. This type of corrosive layer which forms on top of steel (made from ferrite soil rich in Phosphorous content found in Tanjore riverbeds) when submerged in sea water prevents the steel from getting totally eaten away through the years. This type of soil could also be found in and around parts of Southampton in England from where steel used to make the hull of Titanic was produced. This is the reason the hull of the Titanic was the least damaged while the rest of the ship was eaten away by corrosion.
The name of the Science firm Govind Works in - Beagle.
Dog with most developed sense of SMELL - Beagle (along with bloodhound)
Dog used to "smell" ILLNESS among passengers coming into Australian airports - Beagle.
The dog that is most used for testing of Experimental drugs on animals - Beagle.
During the final showdown between the japanese character and fletcher, watch the japanese character's hands. Whenever he points at Fletcher (like when he says "you die" or other instances when he gives dat baashan before fletcher asks 'u talkin to me?'), he does not point his finger like we normally do. He points his hand in such a way that the index finger is half folded. This is because it is highly impolite in Japan and China and other South east asian countries to point your finger at people. They are raised in such a way that even small children in these countries are taught to 'point at someone with all the fingers looking at you'. This is also evident in some traditional jackie chan and jet li movies (not the hollywood ones).
Look at the way japanese kamal receives that piece of paper. Elbow folded at right angles and with both hands. Even now when you go to mainland china or japan and give someone your visiting card, they will take it with both their hands, look at it (even though they might not understand) and put it in their pocket right before your eyes, unlike us who just take the card and throw it somewhere.
Just like many of the theological ideas put forward in the film, the type of martial arts which kamal chose to perform for the japanese character is also controversial. It is called Akido and it is one of the martial art which lost favor after WWII and was labelled ineffective and nonsensical. But the masters who believed in this art even died preserving it and made every effort to pass it on. A subtle connection can be made to Ramanujar, who believed in and spread vaishnavism even during the time it was dissuaded by Kulothunga Cholan.
The physical features of Kalifulla were anatomically correct. The hand to fore-arm ratio, the hip-foot length to knee-foot length ratio all correspond to Phi. For those who don't know what Phi is, it is called the golden ratio of God's creation. Its numerical value is 1:1.618. It was popularized in the Da vinci code. The same ratio is followed when depicting the 7 foot giant. Even you can take a scale and measure your own arm, it will fall under the same ratio. How kamal made his arm longer, God only knows.
According to a book called "Kulothunga Chola Ula" and the ancient "Thirupugazh" (both available in book stores even now), Kulothunga Chola II was obsessed with elephants. It is said that he was one of the few kings who preferred an "asana" on top of an elephant to a horse-pulled chariot. Another historically accurate fact depicted in the film.
When Nambhi is being tortured, even some shaivites will express their concern. Its Kamal's way of saying, humanism wins over religious fanaticism. Even though they were saivites, they felt sorry for this fellow human who is being tortured.The same idea was put forward by Mel Gibson in 2004 in his movie "Passion of the Christ". In one of the scenes when Jesus of Nazareth is bound to a stone and is beaten brutally in his back with a whip by the romans, even some of the Romans will feel sorry for him which eventually led to the mock trial and the final crucifixion.