The avowed 'non-believer' that he is, super star-actor Kamal Hassan may not admit to it, but his 'stars' are looking up, more than a year after he has had a box-office hit worth mentoning.

Starring in comedies after his much acclaimed "Virumandi" in the New Year of 2004, including the remake of Bollywood hit "Munnabhai MBBS", the much acclaimed actor's comedy flick last year "Mumbai X-Press", fell flat at the box office.

Kamal then ran into bad luck with his new film, "Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu" , as the release of this slick action film seemed to be in doubt with the financier running into trouble.

But, all that has changed now, for the better for the actor: "Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu", in which he plays a tough cop is all set for release by the end of this month.

What's more the actor, known for his great pencheant for doing something different, will be back with a bang playing as many as ten roles in another new film which he has titled 'Dasavatharam', a social albeit the title sounding mythological referring to the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu in the Hindu pantheon of Gods.

Like a few of his previous ventures, in which Kamal emulated Hollywood greats like Dustin Hoffman and Robert Deniro, in 'Dasavatharam', he will be emulating his idol late thespian Sivaji Ganesan by playing one role more than the nine Sivaji had played in a film of the 60s "Navarathri".

Then, there is more to come for Kamal fans. Another of his earlier launches "Marudanayakam", the saga of a freedom fighter, which he was forced to abandon after shooting 11 minutes of the film about six years ago, may see the light of day finally.

According to sources close to Kamal, 'talks' are on with a financier in Los Angeles but things are yet to be finalised. Kamal had launched this film with great fanfare with Queen Elizabeth switching on the camera during her visit to Chennai then.

After 'Dasavatharam', Kamal has signed a new film with Producer-Director Cheran, who directed hits like "Bharathi Kannamma" and national award winner "Autograph" in 2004.