Kamal’s screenplays of Hey Ram and Mahanadhi are out as a book, not in Tamil, but in Malayalam! Titled Kamalhaasanda Rendu Thirakadhagal, the release was done in DC International Book Fair and Cultural Fest at Thiruvananthapuram.

The Hindu earlier published an interview with Kamal on the occasion, where he talks about his evolution as a writer. Though not in his own words, Marmayogi receives some confirmation here. Check out a different edition for a nice photo and also a report from Behindwoods.

While a screenplay being published as a book is common in Hollywood and elsewhere, it is good to see such things happening in India too. Hopefully, it will happen in the language of Kamal’s writings too sometime soon.

[With input from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Editor’s Note: Another debutant — Kannan. He starts off on a rarely-discussed aspect of Kamal’s acting. Enjoy and participate in the Comments section!

While talking of Kamal the actor, critics have always portrayed him as someone who can make you laugh and cry like no one else. But there is another facet of the actor that is so often overlooked – the ability to frighten and horrify. Yessir, this post is about Kamal the baddie. There are a few scenes I will touch upon from Sigappu Rojakkal and Aboorva Sagodharargal.

The beauty of Sigappu Rojakkal is its enduring ability to strike fear in the viewer. Bharathiraaja’s second movie with Kamal couldn’t be more different from his first – 16 Vayadhinile. If Kamal’s histrionics in 16 Vayadhinile made you sit up and take notice, Sigappu Rojakkal would have you stand up and applaud his subtle genius. No other actor could have played characters as varied as Chappaani and Dileep back to back. “Audiences want an ordinary human being with failings” – Hitchcock’s words on the expectations of the modern audiences from their villains seems to be Kamal’s dictum here.

The very first scene establishes his character and sets up the viewer for what is in store. The gardener has just ‘fertilised’ the soil and the servant is bringing two cups of tea to his master’s room. Kamal looks up at his servant for few seconds, notices him glancing at the abandoned brassiere on his side and looks back at him again. He then replaces his cup back and says, rather nonchalantly, “Indha tea thevai illa“. That look and expression conveys more about him than could a thousand pages of dialogues. Does he care that the boy has found his truth out? You bet! He waits to see the boy’s expression after he finds the bed empty. A cold, calculating stare that tells us that he is probably weighing his options on his next move. When he sees that the boy is going to get inquisitive, he dismisses him offhandedly. All in the matter of a few seconds. And mind you that the cup obscures half his face!!

After the courtship and marriage to Sridevi come the defining moments of the movie. Driven to the end of sanity by the police investigations, he decides to take matters into his own hands (!) and heads to the bar to reason with the witness, Bhagyaraj. What starts as a routine confrontation soon spirals out of control into full-fledged arguments and as Illayaraja’s BGM (background music) crescendos to an orgasmic peak, Kamal slips his hands into his gloves (the glaring discrepancy of meticulous precautions in a public place!!) and silently emerges the winner. Show me any other actor that could have pulled off Dileep’s character and I will show you a peace loving American president.

Aboorva Sagodharargal pretty much set the standards for masala movies, not just in Tamil but in any Indian language. But, stripped of its songs, comedy track and gloss, the story is about a midget scorned. And we get to see his full fury. The small stature of Appu is not just a ploy to attract audience to the theatre. It also serves as a very important plot device. From ‘Delhi’ Ganesh standing casually in front of the contraption that would kill him to Nagesh who ridicules his abilities, all victims have one thing in common – taking him lightly. And they pay the price. Appu doesn’t go complaining to the law – because he knows that wouldn’t satisfy him. He craves blood and violence. One scene stands apart and establishes this trait. After his confrontation with Nasser, he sets upon his tiger and waits patiently for it to finish the job – having a little taste of vegetarianism himself from the grass patch beneath. We know it is all over when he stops chewing and gives a satisfactory grin – interlaced with a hint of anger. The climax scene could very well be one of the few instances in Tamil cinema where the hero, in spite of the opponent’s confession in front of a full house and police still goes ahead with his plan of public execution. He could have very well let the police take Nagesh away – but instead turns to his mother waiting for her approval to finish what he started. As Srividya nods her consent, we the audience join in, nodding our affirmation and appreciation of the genius actor that Kamal is.

The above examples seek to emphasise the important point that it is not just loud dialogues and shining of red light on the actor’s face that contribute to the expression of terror. There are some obvious movies I have left out to make the post short, but I am sure readers will join in and kick start an interesting discussion.

Editor’s Note: While it may not be a good idea to have the Hindi re-make follow the Tamil original, we hope that readers will understand that we are handicapped by the limited number of movies available for ‘C’. Anyone ready to do Chanakyan?

Kamal does not really favour re-makes though he has featured in quite a few on either side of the Vindhyas. Unlike many of his other movies, he quickly took Avvai Shanmughi Northwards. After a public spat with the designated director, Shantanu Sheorey, he took over the reins hesitantly, as he had planned a grand launch for himself with Hey Ram. Unlike his other recent ventures, he struck gold with Chachi 420. With back-to-back successes of Hindustani (dubbed from Indian) and this one, “Kamal Hassan” had returned to Bollywood. The movie endured other controversies too including its earlier names “Chikni Chachi” and “Stree 420“.

When I caught the movie on one of the Zee channels, I was a curious Tamilian who wanted to know what Kamal had done with the hit movie when it was ‘translated’ into Hindi. Overall, the movie managed to retain the commercial essence of the original. Crazy Mohan’s witty dialogues were too native and original to emulate though; they came up with stuff much above average. Also, to cater to a wide market, it took on a tinge of vulgarity with a few close-ups of the old lady’s bosom and a bedroom sequence involving the lead pair.

The more obvious difference was the actors. Kamal, of course, reprised his role, now in the avatar of a Marathi brahmin lady, Lakshmi Godbole. He went through his rigorous prosthetic make-up yet again to surprise the new set of audience with his drag act, while managing to do a Bihari with Jaiprakash Paswan. Moving onto other actors, Tabu played the role of Janki — a cake-walk for an actress of her calibre. She provided her own touch to the character, transitioning from a lover to a separated wife. For the key role played by veteran Gemini Ganesan, Kamal went for Amrish Puri. He fared better than he did in Viraasat (re-make of Thevar Magan), but the comic and romantic angle of Gemini was missing. Om Puri played Delhi Ganesh’s role in his own way and came out trumps. Paresh Rawal played the small role of a landlord, showing a glimpse of what he would unleash in several movies in the future. Nasser repeated his role in Hindi and was just okay. A different girl played the kid adequately while Ayesha Jhulka was nothing much to write about. The real piece of brilliance was bringing Johnny Walker out of retirement. He underplayed the role superbly and brought us back old memories.

The hit combination of Gulzar and Vishal Bharadwaj provided a different kind of music, while maintaining the light nature of the soundtrack. Kamal dared to sing Chachi’s number (”Jaago gori…“)  himself and did well, in the company of Asha Bhonsle. Gulzar also took care of the dialogues.

Looking back, Kamal provided Bollywood a taste of good comedies, which they are still bad at replicating.

Editor’s Note:
After giving “outside support” for a very long time, HAL debuts as an author on AllThingsKamal.info. A different kind of post — hope all of you enjoy. In the Kamal A2Z series, we move onto ‘C’ in a couple of days…

Avvai Shanmughi is one of the underrated comedies from Crazy-Kamal combo. K.S. Ravikumar’s first with Kamal. Which was to be followed by Thenali, a more slapstick humour and successful film, then Panchathanthiram with a taut script of events laced with verbal humour, and the much anticipated magnum opus, Dasavatharam.

Avvai Shammughi has an interesting premise, inspired by Mrs. Doubtfire, garnished and served in Indian platter. Not to sound hyperbolic — frankly the narrative is chalk and cheese, and the execution is much better in Tamil version. The film opens with Kamal’s monologue “Avvai T.K. Shanmugham avargal-ku idhu paadhai kaanikai“, the film is dedicated to T.K. Shanmugham (Kappalotiya Thamizhan, Ratha Paasam), Kamal’s mentor who was a famous theatre artist. The film is a tribute to Shamugham’s various female performances on stage.

It would suffice to say that his mentor Shamugham would have been proud with Kamal’s near-perfect portrayal of a pseudo-Maami, Pandian’s disguised act as Avvai Shanmughi - a brahmin granny as a nanny. The body language, the dialect and the expressions here are top-notch, making one wonder how he does it through layers of make-up and get-up where likes of Eddie murphy just fail(ed), or just falls short of perfection like Robin Williams. Kamal treads a fine line of balance as Pandian himself wouldn’t be completely versed on Brahmin etiquettes and behaviour, the ‘caricature’ effect that Pandian brings as Shanmughi is justified and perfect.

While Virumandi deals on the nihilism of marriage in a darker realistic paradigm, Mouli’s Pammal K Sambandham is all about ‘marriage’ in a more banter-like narrative, KSR’s Panchathanthiram is a roller-coaster ride of ‘marriage’ and Sathi Leelavathy is about adultery and a disrupted relationship, with the protagonist giving her best to save the marriage. Here we have two people who love and marry, but then arises the misfit of the classes, the rich Janaki (played by Meena) who could not lead a bourgeois married life with an assistant dance master (as she says, a “koothaadi” — Kamal cuts back with statements like “Natrajar” is a koothadi, the lawyer is a vaayaadi)..

Unlike PKS where Kamal plays an innocent stuntman (his only other role of a direct worker in the industry), tricked by Simran’s scheme for a more selfish purpose and a different reason. It’s quite the opposite here, with Kamal pulling his ‘act’ to be with his daughter, named Bharathi, after the great poet himself. The deceit here arises out of loneliness and love for his family. Then starts the fable.

For its theme, the film maintains the humour with no homosexuality or no sexist remarks. That’s a remarkable achievement in itself.

What’s with a Kamal comedy without Chaplin reference, Deva’s score here heavily lifts from Chaplin’s theme. The memorable piece that we associate with Chaplin certainly lifts the mood of the scenes. With Chaplinesque collage moments, from the daily routine of Pandian to Shanmughi to Pandian again, or the quick snippets of Pandian/Shanmughi dressing or undressing. Kamal’s gestural sequences have always been an indirect tribute to Chaplin.

And assumed identity? Pandian-Shanmughi aside, there’s another inclusion in Pandian’s friend Bhai (played by Nasser), a chef becoming a mute Iyer cook (hence avoiding the ‘accent’ misfit). There is an hilarious moment when when he blabbers, and it’s assumed to be ‘gothra‘. (Kamal, as always, brings a slight dose of atheism at places, in a more subdued way here, of course.)

Mix-up of characters? Shanmughi has different husbands at different times. She creates a fictional one out of compulsion to escape from Vishwanathan Iyer’s crush (Ungalukku oru Chellamaa illaiya, adhu madhiri ennaku oru Chellappaa irukkaar). That is followed by a spoof of a yesteryear tragic song symbolizing ‘love-failure’ (with black an white transition in video), from an old Gemini Ganesan starrer, Kalyana Parisu. [The song soulfully rendered by A.M.Raaja is “Kaadhalile tholviyutraan“ — there is a female version too.] The once poignant nostalgic lines, “kaadhalilE tholvi yutraan kaaLai oruvan kadantha pinnE amaithi engu peruvaan”, used in a much similar context, offers a comical moment here.

Shanmughi’s husband is cyclic with instinctive lies from Pandian / Shanmughi: For Mudhaliyar (the landlord, played by Manivannan), it’s Sethuraman Iyer (Delhi Ganesh). In a well-conceived funny moment (reminiscent to Ganesh-Kamal-Lakshmi in MMKR), here we see Ganesh-Manivannan-Kamal:

Pandian: Shanmughi oda purushaen Sethuraman Iyer thirumba vandhutaaru...
Mudhaliyar: Ayyo nee anniku Vishwanathan iyer-nu thaane sonna…
Pandian: Oh adhayum sollitaenaa! Rendu pEr..
Mudhaliyar: Two purushanaa?
Pandian: Rendu pEr, Sethurama-Viswanatha Iyer-nu neelama vechutanga…
Mudhaliyar: Adha suruki, Sethuraman…neenga nambula parunga..irunga…(to Sethuraman iyer) Vishwanathan Iyer, Sethuraman Iyer..rendu perayum* ennaku theriyum illa?

* ‘pErayum‘ is cleverly used as a pun here, as this would mean a ‘name’ of person or as the person. In MMKR, Kamal and Delhi both use ‘adhu’, one referring the Bangalore trip, the other about intimate romance — not to forget the hilarious ‘Nadodi Mannan‘ reference.

Sethuraman Iyer: Unakku theriyaadadha Pandia..kalyanathuku appuram pirichu vechadhu thappu thaan. Adhulla enakku udanpaadu kedaiyadhu…
Pandian: Podhum podhum…kelvi ketta mattum thaan badhil sollanum…(to Mudhaliyar) Podhuma mudalyar?
[Deva uses the Mudhal Mariyaadhai ‘kuyil’ sound for Manivannan in a hilarious fashion.]

For Sethuraman Iyer, it’s Mudhaliyar, who says, “Chellappaa Iyer thaane sonna?”, for which Pandian cooks up “Chellappaa Iyer thaan manam udanju, Mudhaliyar-a convert aytaaru“.

Then in jewellery shop, the drunkard Joseph (Nagesh) becomes Chellappa Iyer / Mudhaliyar, Shanmughi’s fictional husband to Gemini. The cycle ends with Pandian being Shanmughi’s another interest. Rip-roaring word-play to guide throughout…

Or simple gestural humour…

Or the improvisation when Shanmughi improvises a Tabu song “Ruk ruk ruk” (from Vijaypath), to Carnatic fusion, serving the purpose of the occasion, as well as lightening up his kid. Incidentally, Tabu plays Janaki in the remake, Chachi 420.

Like the famous Apoorva Sagodharargal complicated mechanism, here we have a setup to fool Mudhaliyar and Heera with a pedestal fan, pulley, hook and a mug, to simulate Shanmughi bathing inside the bathroom.

The other characters: Heera’s character, an assistant to Pandian, and in a formulaic way, has a crush on him. However, she isn’t distasteful so to speak of. I guess she is the Madras progressive lady here as against the traditional “iyer aathu ponnu” in Meena, one has to look at her short exchange with Mudhaliyar (”Yov, ‘na?“, LOL). Shanmughi also asks her in his first meet in disguise,

Sholay anybody? There is another shorter character (Kamal’s films often has memorable ones) in studio-worker Subburaj:

Pandian: Enna Subburaj-u, pillayar enga podhu?
Subburaj:Idhu ‘pullayar’* illa, ‘ganpathi’, Ezhaam number floor-la Indi padam sooting…
*(Madras variant of ‘pillayar’)
Pandian: Yaarudhu?
Subburaj: Adhu inna* pEru adhu? Maruti biscuit-a illa discuit-a, avangathaan…
*(not ‘enna’, this is Madras improvisation)
Pandian: Yov! Madhuri Dixit-ya, Maruti, Ambassador-nu..

Then there is a very funny physical fight in the market with Kanal Kannan.

And yeah…

While Kamal also shows the Tamil film industry, where the hero (Ramesh Arvind in a short cameo) romances with the heroine, while the dance masters simulate a step (much like the weak-hero spoof in PKS). Or, the touch-up to an artist by the make-up man. Kamal teaching the heroine to exaggerate her bosoms in a song. A satirical take on Tamil film’s dance-song routine…

Or the play of words (verbose)…

“Illai-nu sonna, naan sonnadhu nijam ayidum, nee sonnadhu poi ayidumE” — from Shanmughi to Janaki.
“Vishwanathan ponna kalyana pannadhunaala, yEn ponnu vishwanathan iyer pEthi aydichu, Vishwanathan pEthi, adhoda amma idhu”- - from Pandian to dance master.
“Avaru vandhu “joot” solvaru, apram thaan adikanum enna? Pechu vartha nadakum bodhu, vanmurai koodadhu…” — Sethuraman Iyer to the mob.

Finally the chase? The film ends with a ‘chase’, like other Kamal comedies. The husband (in disguise) chases the wife. It’s either a symbolic motif to represent the ‘chasing each other’ in a cultural / metaphorical sense, or just a recurrent tribute to The Circus. I would like to believe there is an implication here, from what we know of the filmmaker.

While we await Kamal-KSR’s Dasavatharam, here’s a film from their combo to liven up.

by Krish

Cast: Kamal Haasan as Madan, Rajnikanth as Rajni, ‘Cheapriya’, ‘Coconut’ Srinivasan and ‘Major-Blunder-Rajan’
Director: S.P. Muthuraman

This is a write-up on a not much reviewed multi-starrer. Aadu Puli Aattam is not the first movie that comes up in our mind, when we think of Kamal-Rajni starrers of late 70s. This is the aspect which made me sit and watch the movie (besides being a Kamal starrer) on Vijay TV, a week back. I don’t think the movie was commercially successful or critically acclaimed. It might have been an also-ran movie, as there were no big names involved, apart from the two superstars.

The director S.P. Muthuraman wasn’t really popular at that time. Nevertheless, it is not an avoidable one. I would say that APA is more watchable than Ninaithale Inikkum or Alauddinum Arpudha Vilakkum. The first 20 minutes are pretty interesting but the story takes some bizarre turns later and falters. Some parts of the movie are engaging.

Unlike the other films these two acted together, this one is neither a family drama nor a romantic movie. The story seems like it is tailor-made for MGR & Nambiar as there are quite a few stunts scenes, two-timing and some punch dialogues too.

Aadu Puli Aattam (translated in English, ‘The Goat and Tiger Game’) refers to an old chess-like board game played in Tamil Nadu using pebbles. The movie starts with Kamal and Rajini, close associates, playing this game in a bar. When the game is finished, the couple, along with their gang ransack the bar and loot the money.

In brief, this is the story of a young man who dreams of becoming a policeman, but decides to go against the police due to circumstances and heads a gang of thieves. When he comes to know that his associates are much worser than thieves, he joins the police and nabs the criminals.

There are some notable scenes. A prisoner called ‘Bhai’ who is to be hung soon has a blind son. After Bhai is executed, Kamal who does not want the kid to know the truth & tries to act as Bhai by mimicking his voice. Though not a great scene, it must have been new to Tamil cinema during those days. More recently, a Prabhudeva-Karthik movie was entirely based on this concept. Later Kamal tricking one of Rajni’s associates by ‘capturing’ Major turns out to be a nice scene. I especially liked Kamal’s expression when he comes back to Major and unties him.

The bike-car chase between Kamal and Major is also well-shot. Just note the scene when he is shot in his leg. The way he limps is just too natural. No other actor bothers to display the pain and feelings as much as this man. The Sardarji make-up and North Indian accent is a good attempt too. Similarly the climax stunt scene is a well made one featuring Kamal and Rajni in a long drawn fight on a roof top. It is a well picturised stunt scene with very few camera tricks, thanks to Kamal’s agility. He is extremely quick, energetic and dedicated. I could not spot a single shot in which he uses a double (’dupe’). But the same can not be said about Rajnikanth. This whole fight sequence was shot with Rajnikanth’s double and Kamal Haasan. Yes, even in close-up shots you can see Rajni’s double trying hard to cover his face with his palms.

In the second half of the movie, Kamal gets an opportunity to work for the Crime Branch. Kamal, as usual is at ease in these roles. In the investigation scenes I felt, he could have avoided starting all sentences with a ‘Well…’. [In fact all wannabe-Kamals appearing in mimicry shows, never fail to copy this.] From here on, Kamal’s role becomes more James Bond-like working for the police, two-timing Rajni’s associates and finding his hide-outs. In the end, Kamal pushes Rajni from the top of a building, Rajini falls on a bush and loses his eyesight. As expected, the villian mouths the most common dialogue used in a climax…”Naan thirundhitten” (I have turned a new leaf).

The movie has a good number of cliched scenes. The director follows the age-old practice of placing an odd-looking wig on the hero’s head in the flashback (to show him as an ‘innocent’ man!). The flashback scenes are pretty much avoidable (especially Kamal dreaming of his ex-lover, who chases a train in ’slow-motion’ is funny). Thankfully there are only two songs and there isn’t much romance. I guess the Bhai and his son were straight out of some drama troupe as their acting reminded me of early-80s Doordarshan plays (’naadagams‘).

Major Sunderrajan is asked to wear the khaki uniform yet another time. I can imagine the outrageous response he would have received from the audience when he mouthed his famous two-liner, “Naan kandippa seyyaren. I will certainly do it!”…;-) There are some good one-liners for Rajinikanth. Especially “Idhu Rajni style” is stylish, indeed. But the way he says ‘dost’ everytime he meets Kamal is funny. It sounds more like Sivaji Ganesan’s ‘Thambeeeee‘, ‘Ammaaaaa‘…:-). Thengai Sreenivasan gets introduced in a grand manner, as a pipe-smoking Brahmin CID with a double barrel gun. But his role is disappointing. This movie doesn’t have any comedy track, either.

Kamal Haasan is the heart of Aadu Puli Aattam. The entire story is about him — his early life, his lover, shattered dreams, gang of thugs, enlightenment and revenge. For most part of the film, he appears in the hippie-style, which was hugely popular in the late 70s. He looks dashing in the intro scene where he rides a bullet. This role is a cakewalk for this extremely skilled actor and he doesn’t get a chance to showcase his abundant talents in APA.

The scene in which he goes to Rajni’s den and gets a cold welcome is good. Rajni throws a garland on Kamal and calls him an ‘Aadu‘. In turn, Kamal turns back and throws the same garland on air which falls right on Rajni’s neck, and says, “Idhu nanbanukku poatta malai illa“, implying that he is the tiger and Rajini, the goat. Like this there are few promising sequences, but overall, the movie is just average. Music is disappointing (neither MSV not Illayaraja) but photography was pretty good, especially in the opening scene. By the way, this is a black & white movie.

When I watched it, I could relate it to several other films which came later. Kamal’s own Khaki Chattai, a much bigger success and a better entertainer, can be called a remake of APA. More recently, Kireedom and Pokkiri have some scenes resembling this movie.

Editor’s Note:
Krish does a good job of letting us know about a not-so-familiar movie. We have more of ‘A’ since ‘B’ is pretty much done. Next week, we move onto ‘C’. Very few movies, but a couple of popular ones. Send in your entries!

Here are some pictures from the Tamil Nadu State Awards function.

Check out another nice picture of Kamal and Rajni.

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Dinathanthi yet again published miscellaneous tidbits about Dasavatharam, this time on the occasion of the shooting being wrapped up. Pegging the budget at 60 crores of Rupees and the length of shooting at 230 days, the article also mentioned that a song by itself consumed 2 crores. To top it all, the report claimed that Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, makes an appearance in the movie! Behindwoods too talked about it, while also saying that Kamal had thanked him and got him to preside over the audio release.

Meanwhile, as we eagerly await the movie, the irritants don’t seem to be done yet. Senthilkumar is back, now claiming that Kamal and his staff are behind an attack on him. Read this Behindwoods report for more details. As with life, Dasavatharam too seems to have its good and bad times.

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Sify.com reports that the shooting of Dasavatharam has been completed, in the same place where it had started, Uthandi near Chennai. Asin speaks enthusiastically about her time over the past 13 months.

Meanwhile, it seems more or less confirmed that the movie will release only for Pongal. Another report says that Kamal mentioned so at the side-lines of a function to honour a legendary cameraman of Malayalam cinema.

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Such little information is available on this movie that I’m just going to put down whatever I know and found out. I tried in vain to rent the DVD too. [But it’s not available here in the Bay Area. Maybe, I’d have had better luck in Bangalore.]

Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu (the flower that bloomed in fire) still remains one of Kamal’s popular ventures into Kannada cinema. It is the remake of Aval Oru Thodarkathai starring Sujatha, which had Kamal in a supporting role. He acted in the Bengali remake Kabita too.

This 1983 Kannada movie had his real-world niece Suhasini in the lead role, being the only movie in which they acted together. Kamal plays the role of a bus conductor, not the same part he played in the Tamil original. The “Mundhe Banni…” song (with playback by SPB) is still an old favourite.

Anyone knows more? Give us all some details in the Comments section.

Editor’s Note:
Unfortunately, this seems to be the only movie for ‘B’. Or does anyone know some other movie Kamal was atleast associated with and not necessarily acted in? Otherwise, let’s continue with more movies starting with ‘A’ for this fortnight. Send in your entries!

Apoorva Raagangal (more commonly pronounced as ‘Aboorva Raagangal’) was part of the second innings of K Balachander, one among the ’shock-and-shake-up-the-audience’ series of movies (the others being Arangetram, Aval Oru Thodarkathai and Avargal). Kamal featured in all of those, but got possibly his first opportunity as leading man in Tamil with this movie released in 1975.

Barely in his twenties, he stuns the audience with his fearless and mature performance. When one thinks back now, it seems like Balachander actually tapped the rebellious streak and raw energy in Kamal for the role of Prasanna. The intelligence, interest in arts and indifference to societal rules all seem to match with his real-life self. In that sense, Balachander and Kamal were working off each other.

This movie is also known for the debut of Rajnikanth. In the few scenes they have together, Kamal and Rajni are in a way pitted against each other, both being interested in the same woman. Again looking back, the slowly maturing relationship between the two seems to reflect their personal equation in the future superstar era.

But the image of the movie really is from the popular “Adhisaya raagam…” song — Kamal singing away and Srividya looking at him in wonder. Yesudas’s classical voice and Kannadasan’s simple yet meaning-laden lyrics add beauty.

Get more details about the movie from the entries on IMDb and Wikipedia. Kamal reprised this role 9 years later in the Hindi remake, Ek Nai Paheli, with Hema Malini and Raaj Kumar.