An Insatiable Actor, Kamal Haasan!!

Kamal Haasan! The name has become synonym with cinema. Kamal is cinema and cinema is Kamal. Such is his life. Kamal lived on films and films thrived on Kamal Haasan. Since he started walking as a kid he straight away walked onto the celluloid at the age of five. Ever since, there was no turning back for him. He has been entertaining the world of audiences for the last 55 years and is still on the scene going as strong as ever giving a tough competition to his youngsters and inspiring them.

Kamal Haasan is not just an actor. He is a producer, director, screenwriter, singer, lyricist all rolled into one. Above all, he is perfectionist to the core. Whatever he does he does it in style and with elegance taking care of even the minutest details. Especially his obsession for makeup to transform himself into roles is well known. His infinite patience to sit on the makeup table for hours together is just amazing. But for others Kamal looks maverick and out of place in Indian cinema. His obsession with films has made him don different kind of roles that warrants complete change in physical form via makeup that nobody dared experiment like Kamal Haasan did. 

He played the role of a lame guy in 16 Vayathinile in 1977, a blind man in Raja Paarvai in 1981, a dwarf in Apoorva agodharargal in 1989, a potbellied buck-teethed middle-aged guy in Indrudu Chandrudu in 1989, four unique different roles in Michael Madana Kama Rajan in 1990, an utterly looking ugly man in Guna in 1991, a woman in  Avvai Shanmugi in 1996, a 70-year old man with wrinkles writ large all over in the movie Indian in 1996, and above all his portrayal of ten different roles in Dashavatharam has become a crowning feather in his cap. Looking at the way Kamal metamorphoses into roles via makeup is extra-ordinary and unmatched in the film industry. Taking cue from him several actors today have been going in for metamorphic roles via makeup.

Well, to describe his histrionic talents one has to invent superlatives and adjectives. There are no superlatives left in English or for that matter in any language to eulogize Kamal's acting talents. One has to watch his movies with mouths agape in awe and amazement. Look at his amazing performances; a dreaded psychopath killer in Bharathiraja's Sigappu Rojakkal in 1978, a notorious smuggler in Nayakan in 1987, a dumb guy in Pushpaka Vimana in 1987, his role as a pot-bellied mayor in Indran Chandran in 1990, his role of a blind guy in Raja Paarvai in 1981, a dwarf in Apoorva agodharargal in 1989, entirely four different roles in Michael Madana Kama Rajan in 1990, an ugly innocent man in Guna in 1991, a woman in Avvai Shanmugi in 1996, a 70 year-old wrinkled man in Indian in 1996, and 10 different characters when coming face to face in Dasavathaaram in 2008 really makes you feel they are different and not a one-man donned roles. His sterling performance in Nayakan in 1987 has been acclaimed and applauded worldwide. And the movie has been included by the TIME magazine in its list of "All-Time 100 Best Films".

Kamal Haasan is not only an actor but a promoter of arts in movies. He has also promoted arts showcasing them beautifully in his movies. In 'Anbe Sivam' he showcased street theatre, in 'Dasavatharam' he promoted shadow-puppetry, and now his 'Uthama Villain' showcases Villu Pattu, Kalari, Koothu, and Theyyam, Bharata Natyam and other classical dances in Sagara Sangamam, bamboo-stick fighting in Thevar Magan and leather puppetry in 'Indian'.

Kamal Haasan has received the President's Gold Medal for Best Child Actor for his debut film, Kalathur Kannamma in 1961; Kalaimamani Award from the government of Tamil Nadu in 1979. Padma Shri in 1990; a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for producing the 1992 Tamil film, Thevar Magan; Best Asian film award in 2004 for Virumaandi; Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema in 2006; a honorary doctorate in 2005; Living Legend Award in 2007 from FICCI; four awards for his performance in Dasavathaaram in 2010; Padma Bhushan in 2014 for his contribution to Indian Cinema; 19 Filmfare Awards in five language movies; Kerala Government honouring him for his 50 years in Indian cinema; Other honours include Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Nandi Awards, Screen and Vijay Awards and several more.

Besides awards and honours, Kamal Haasan's histrionic talents have won worldwide appreciation. Yet his insatiableness for perfection in his work is still burning within him. He is not satisfied and sitting complacent. He says in one of his interviews, "I want to give everything I have to this medium."

Yes Kamal Haasan is capable of giving everything to Indian Cinema; 'cause Kamal Haasan has many more years of life ahead of him and he has to carve several milestones in his cinematic career.

I Wish this Greatest Indian Actor a Glorious Super Duper Birthday !!

What Is Good Cinema ?

  What is Art Cinema? What is Commercial Cinema? How do movies influence people? Are movies worth watching today? 

  Today, the tinsel world of cinema is in deplorable condition. It can be likened to that of Samson, the Biblical legendary who, while bringing down his own death killed thousands of spectators pulling down the pillars on to them to which he was tied with his enormous God-given strength.

  Unmindful of its own moral collapse the cine media is swaying the millions of youth towards perversion in the name of entertainment.

  If one sees and reads between the lines one can understand what is what – the difference between formula and art movies. In order to promote the concept… the concept of art cinema, I lectured my friends and acquaintances on art movies and suggested them to see a movie which was then released, that depicts the life of a woman in the gutter.

  They listened to me, some with interest and some disdainfully.

  Finally when the saw the movie, I asked how they felt. They simply shrugged and wrote me off as a critic. However, one person who saw the movie said, it was good and captivating and promised to see it again as he seem to have missed something. I wondered at his missing ‘something’

  He saw it a second time and I questioned him with a smile. He said that he missed the same ‘something’. In his relentless pursuit of discovering the missing phenomena he kept repeating his goings to that movie.

  After performing the feat for the nth time, he gave up and sought me out. He decided to confide in me the feelings that kept lurking in his mind. He said, “You see, there is one scene…” He plunged into narration keeping me on tenterhooks, “...a railway track, at the backdrop a beautiful landscape, a mountain and at the foot of it there are trees and huts scattered like stars across the lake…’

  I was at a loss as to understand what he was driving at. And I did not interrupt him lest I miss a point here or a point there.

  He continued, “And in the lake to a lilting song in the background the heroine with no clothes on bathes enjoying the nature’s beauty.”

  I wondered what seventh heaven lay in there!

  He continued, “While the heroine swims in the lake to the lilting tunes in the background, suddenly a train from nowhere appears and moves synchronizing the bathing scene literally hiding the heroine,”

  “So what’s unusual in it?” I cut in.

  He said, “Look, don’t you know that our trains are notorious for inordinate delays?”

  “So what”, I exclaimed.

  “Nothing, I am hoping against hope that this train too will come late some day or the other as is customary with Indian Railways”

 

  “Then?”  I said.

  “Then, what then?” He said and stared at me quizzically.

  For a fraction of a second I did not understand. But when the sense dawned on me… his concept of art cinema, I was taken aback and torn asunder whether I had selected the right one for my promotional campaign of art cinema.

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