With randramble

Birthday reflections are far from peaceful preoccupations. Even if he has lived an eventful 53 years and has a cap cluttered with feathers, contentment seems a far cry for Kamal. Every interview smacks of a Schindlerian “I could have done more”, which works out just fine for the greedy viewer.

Attention grabbing. That is what artists do for a living. But the blink-and-you-miss moments — which is a sort of Kamal signature — make meeting-the-artist midway quite a task. And of course the rewards are great. So, how about sharing the rewards then, just like we did last year?

All ye, who have seen MMKR, would recall the short-lived giggle that Kameswaran lets go, when ChakkubAi plonks herself on him and just before reigning himself when Tiruppu shoots a scorching look. With all due respect to Crazy here, it was one of those several Kamal-Singeetham moments. One can actually trace the idea back to a few passing frames in Aboorva SahOdarargaL.

This in the famous driving lesson, that has screamers like “nice-A vandhittEn”. The car is stuck in the middle of the road and Raja and Janaki have to exchange seats. Kamal steals a wickedly funny moment here. No lines, no stopping the viewer to direct his attention to the moment — just an ingenious expression that send the observant viewer rolling. Here it is in a thousand words:

Now, this is becoming a Singeetham special too. In the path-breaking movie that was Pushpak aka Pesum Padam, acting is restrained by the lack of dialogues. From balcony to balcony, he speaks with the girl he likes. After telling him about her parents, she asks him about his. Talking cheerfully till then, he becomes sad. He recovers quickly, puts out his tongue to indicate that they are dead. She empathasises and melancholy sets in, with the violin background of L Vaidhyanathan.

Moving onto little bit more serious stuff, Nandhu of Aalavandhaan (Abhay) is in one of his hallucinations and the doctor asks him where he picked up so much violence from. Combining the innocence of the character and the mischief of the writer, he replies that he learnt it by watching cartoons.

That’s it from us. What’s your “Kamal moment”? Let’s have a better show this year in the Comments section.

Kamal’s birthday is a big day for fans. The social service activities reach their peak on this day. This time around, we have quite a bit of celebration on TV too.

The fans’ association, Kamal Haasan Narpani Iyakkam, is organising a massive blood donation drive, designating November as “Life Saver Month”. 15000 fans will donate blood all over Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, Vijay TV, which has always displayed a fondness for Kamal, is coming up with a slew of programmes. One of them is Kamal Kaviyarangam, a literary event featuring poets. It will be conducted by Professor Gnanasambandhan, who is a friend of Kamal. The actual event, which allows free entry, will be held on Sunday, November 4, while the recorded version will be telecast on the birthday.

While it is appreciable to recognise Kamal for what he is, a literary event singing paeans seems to be going a bit overboard. Anyway, fans will have a field day.

[With input from Ananth]

More photos are here, this time from a big fan. Karthikeyan, who is involved in the Orkut group among other things, has a Flickr album dedicated to Kamal. This includes photos of events that Kamal took part in, of posters, fans’ activities and what not. Sample a few….

Kamal and Tushar Gandhi at the release function of the latter’s book

Birthday poster, 2006

The man himself, standing in front of a Dasavatharam launch poster

These long-overdue photos were taken during Kamal’s meeting with fans on 4 February. The first one features Kamal kneeling down to pose with a physically disabled fan. The photo at the bottom is a regular one (courtesy: ‘Kamal’ Karthikeyan).

Kamal had a practice of celebrating his birthday with his fans. Each year, a function was organised featuring some Tamil literary people, holding a few competitions and also involved some donations. Last year, he was shooting for Vaettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu in New York. This year, it was Dasavatharam. Is Kamal moving away from celebrations?

Anyway, some Kamal fans, part of the Narpani Mandram, continued the tradition this year. They donated computer-related stuff to Thai Thamizh school (backed by lyricist Thamarai). Some photos too are available. Kamal himself had donated 50,000 Rupees to the same school earlier.

People around the world may talk about 9/11, 7/7 or 7/11 (11/7). But the 7/11 we all remember is the 7th of November, Kamal’s birthday.

Surpringly, this time, there are many doing similar posts. SathyaPriyan (in Tamil) came up with a list of best movies a while ago. Today, it’s Raju’s turn. But do you want to know what Kamal himself thinks? Here’s a slightly outdated list.

Today, Kamal turns 52 and I wanted to celebrate his birthday in some form. Here are some of my favourite moments from Kamal movies over the years. These are mostly limited to acting.

Aval Appadithaan: He played the soft-spoken documentary film-maker in this art-house movie focussed on the abrasive heroine. Arun is the person who understands her most. But she pushes him away repeatedly. In this scene, he realises he cannot do much and leaves with a mildly sad and disappointed face.

Moondraam Pirai (Sadma): No prizes for guessing the scene! It is The Scene, which fetched him his first National Award for Best Actor. As the girl whom he took care of leaves without recognising him (after recovering from mental illness), he runs with the train helplessly. He acts out scenes from their past and one of them is the monkey act. With his mouth mimicking a monkey, sadness pours out uncontrollably in the form of tears.

Saagara Sangamam (Salangai Oli): Amongst all the entralling moments of this movie, this one touched me most. Balakrishna is thrilled to know that he is scheduled to perform at an all-India dance festival. Madhavi gives him the booklet without revealing the news. He flips page by page and is shocked on seeing his photo and name. She watches all along with a smile and some mischief. On realising what she has done for him, he quickly bursts into tears and thanks her. The look on the face is simply unforgettable.

Nayakan: Another much talked about scene is when Velu’s son lies dead. It was particularly criticised for the ‘funny’ style of crying. Forget the crying; for me, it’s the shocked and helpless look on the face. He looks at others nearby who are trying to console him, with one hand on the hips and another pointing downwards.

Sathya: The unemployed youngster becomes a henchman for a politician. Caught in the double-game, he finally seeks violent revenge. Mission accomplished, he sits tired and injured, but almost content like a saint.

Michael Madana Kama Rajan: Let me just say that it is possibly the second best Tamil comedy movie of all time (after Kaadhalikka Naeramillai) and leave it at that. But what I am going to describe isn’t really so funny. Madan meets Raju and the latter is being set up to impersonate him. Madan is sitting without his specs and he tries to place the tumbler on the cardboard framework (wall) behind him. It slips since he isn’t able to see properly — “I must get my glasses, you see”!

Thevar Magan: Sakthi is talking to his father with hesitation and fear. In between, he wants to counter-argue; he emerges partially from behind the pillar and softly puts forward his view.

Mahanadhi: Innocence is the hallmark of Krishna in the first part of the movie. He is duped and realises it only when his finance company goes bust. Angry customers storm the office and manhandle him; he floats above the sea of people helplessly.

Kurudhippunal: Though considered to be excessive violence, the climax still remains etched in memory. The mauled-up face seems to have no more strength left; he looks like a vegetable. Yet, Aadhi wants to redeem himself and defies the villain with his mumbled words.

Hey Ram: Saket tries to move onto a settled life with his new wife. But the ghosts of his past haunt him, depicted on screen using special effects. He is terrorised by them and pours water on himself, not knowing what to do. Things do not improve still and he clings onto the washing-stone and trembles.

There are more moments in my head, but I stop here to limit it to a memorable ten. This piece was inspired by this post on rkvision blog.

What’s your favourite Kamal moment? Chip in with your choice in the Comments section! I could publish a compilation of the best ones as a separate post.