More from a different horse’s mouth — ‘Pop’ Shalini (aka Shalini Singh Balaje) opened up on Orkut and put up some comments regarding Dasavatharam. Here it is, verbatim:

Hey all,
After reading about how much interest you guys have on Dasa I thought I should let you guys know how I felt the music was since I have worked in it.I personally think that the songs are perfect commercial hits.My song is a commercial song which has Kamalji and Mallika SHerawat in it.I have seen the video too and I am totally excited!
It absolutely Rocks!!!
This man is talented!I couldnt believe it was him in that role.Im still in awe at the magnitude of perfection and pure cinema in Dasavatharam.
Dont think 10 times will be enough to watch this flick!

That Kamal enjoys widespread admiration among peers in his industry is a known fact. Let’s take a peek into the range of people who have been floored by him.

Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi had this to say:

When I saw Kamal Haasan’s performance in Swatimuthyam (directed by K. Vishwanath), I was so moved that the next day I felt ridiculous to utter the same old routine dialogues for one of my commercial blockbusters…

Going up North, we encounter another big star, Govinda:

Kamal Hassan and Amitabh Bachchan are the kings.

Ashutosh Rana, who displayed his acting prowess in Sangharsh and Dushman, mentions Kamal in an interview:

I really have a high regard for Dilip Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Hassan.

Continuing with the North, even a new singer like Zubeen isn’t spared by the charm.

I love Kamal Haasan, Naseeruddin Shah and Marlon Brando. But Charlie Chaplin is my favourite.

His reach extends quite far.

New York actor Tirlok Malik, who played a suspected serial killer in a cameo with Haasan, said, It was such an honor to act with one of the greatest actors of India. Malik found, while observing Kamal Haasan acting in the movie over many days in New York, that Mr. Haasan makes acting seem so natural. Because any actor would be in awe of Mr. Haasan’s talent and body of work, Malik asked the star what makes a good actor. Mr. Haasan replied, modestly: Script, script, script.

Back to Tamil movies, director-turned-actor Cheran had to counter accusations of aping Kamal recently. Defending himself, he also heaped praise on Kamal’s achievements.

Shweta, who entralled us in Kutty as a child, declares herself a fan.

I am a complete Kamal Haasan fan. I adore all his movies. I really like Anbe Sivam, Virumaandi, basically all his movies.

Rising star Bharath joins the bandwagon.

He says, “It is no doubt a difficult thing to get ready with the make-up for the role. However, I keep myself enthusiastic thinking about Kamal Haasan, who takes several pains to don different make-ups”.

He also says that he had seen Kamal Haasan’s Enakul Oruvan more than several times to study the body language and mannerisms of a Nepali.

“No doubt, I am inspired by Kamal Haasan. He is my role model”, he adds.

Ravivarman, who worked with Kamal in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu and Dasavatharam had an interesting anecdote.

Listening to Ravi hum the tune, composer Thaman suggested Ravi sing it himself. “The song and Vairamuthu’s lyrics for it fascinated me. So I went ahead. I made my mentor Kamal Haasan listen to it, without telling him that it was in my voice. But he guessed it, praised me and suggested a few corrections in my diction. I rehearsed thoroughly and went back and recorded the piece again,” he says.

Let’s end with Karan, once again, whose relationship with Kamal is well-known.

From that scene till the end, Kamal taught me how to go about acting. Any misgivings vanished with the way he greeted me warmly every morning, as he stepped out of the car, a Contessa in those days.

[With inputs from HAL]

Balakumaran is another literary personality with whom Kamal has colloborated. Though not as much as Sujatha, Balakumaran too has made significant contributions. The most notable among them is Nayakan. Then, there is Guna, where his spiritual / religious inclination would have come into play.

In Balakumaran Pesukirar, a blog dedicated to him, there was a piece recently on his impressions of his work in movies. He specifically talks about Rajnikanth, Kamal and Ajith. He starts off on Kamal with:

Kamal Haasan is a wonderful artiste. Any person who sees him at close quarters for 10 minutes will certainly be astonished.

He goes onto to narrate an experience during the making of Guna. He talks about how Kamal continued a story discussion of the previous day, right from the moment he arrived (stepping out of his car), to illustrate how engrossed Kamal is in his work.

It is about creativity every moment. It is about movies every moment. That’s how Mr. Kamal Haasan thinks. Working with him is a pleasurable thing to do.

He ends saying that Kamal has high expectations of people working with him. Kamal himself admitted that he gets angry at times when he is disappointed with co-workers.

I am not an angry person. I am just fast.

Speaking about Ajith, he describes an incident when he explained a scene and Ajith refused to do it that way, saying that it was reminiscent of Kamal.

Enjoy the full post (if you can read Tamil).

[Via Ananth]

Last week, The Hindu carried a couple of articles featuring Nasser and Gautham Menon.

Nasser talks about his first break, Nayakan and how Kamal contributed to his career. To quote him:

Kamal Haasan came as a godsend. He cast me in a variety of roles and here I am.

Read the whole piece.

Gautham talks about Nayakan and Thevar Magan. The former inspired him to become a director! Some excerpts from the article:

Yes, they did say that it was inspired by The Godfather, especially, the killing of the rival gang leaders when the funeral is taking place. I have seen The Godfather also, but I think this was a brilliant film in all departments.

When I went for the first day, first show and saw that the story and screenplay was by Kamal Haasan it was a surprise. It totally moved me the way it was made and put together.

Many South Indian actors have friendships that date back a long time. We come to hear about it after ever so many years. One such instance that I came across recently is Vishnuvardhan and Kamal. In an interview where he talks about various things, the Kannada movie superstar mentions Kamal a couple of times. He also comes up with the hitherto-unknown fact (atleast to me!) that he featured in Marudhanayagam! Excerpts:

It was the era of Bruce Lee. The only two artistes who learnt martial arts were Kamal Hasan and myself. The stunt masters utilised our talent. The audiences lapped it up.

You did do a cameo in the shelved “Marudhanayakam” directed by Kamal.
I played Wajid Khan. It was a pleasure because we entered the industry together. He respects me and his passion for cinema is amazing.

Check out the wonderful interview by S Shivakumar.

On hearing Nagesh glorify Kamal recently, thoughts went back to MGR. Kamal and he are believed to shared a great rapport spanning several years. It started from Anandha Jothi in the early 60s and lasted till Kamal’s peak with Nayagan in 1987, shortly after which MGR passed away. In a piece (in Tamil) by ‘AVM’ Saravanan (who himself has a long association with Kamal), he recollects MGR’s thoughts about Kamal in the early 80s.

MGR had inquired about Kamal’s ‘market’. He praised Kamal saying that he was the greatest actor in India after Sivaji Ganesan. He lamented that Kamal had not yet achieved a place commensurate with his talent and wished that he reach greater heights. Kamal, of course, shares a passion with MGR — that of maintaining one’s body. In fact, the latter is an inspiration. Read more.

Back to Nagesh in The Hindu:

Who does he rate as the best actor? He raises his finger solemnly and exclaims, “There’s only one artiste in the whole Universe (!). It’s Kamal Hassan. Without him there’s no cinema. Have you watched ‘Anbe Sivam’?” Nagesh will next be seen in ‘Dasavatharam’ with Kamal. The admiration is mutual. Kamal never misses a chance to use Nagesh in his projects.

Completing the line-up for this post is Kovai Sarala. Though she can’t be compared with the above two stalwarts, she memorably paired with Kamal in Sathi Leelavathi. She had this to say:

Acting alongside Kamal Haasan in “Sathileelavathi” was an unforgettable experience. I was jittery on the sets before Kamal put me at ease. He is gifted artist with a wonderful sense of timing.

Today, they are remaking and recycling material of yesteryear. Look at films like “Nan Avanillai” and “Billa”. I wonder for a moment who would play the lead role if “Thillana Mohanambal” were to be remade. I cannot think of anyone else but Kamal Haasan in the role of Sivaji Ganesan.

Himesh Reshammiya recently spoke to Hindustan Times, about Dasavatharam and Kamal among other things. Here’s what he had to say:

…Kamalji is such a legend. He is the only reason why I have chosen to go southwards at a time when I have so much on my plate in Bollywood. A film featuring Kamal Haasan can’t be dubbed a regional film

With his new movie out, Karan is doing the usual media rounds. Significantly, he has repeatedly mentioned Kamal, who co-starred in his first movie, Nammavar. In a video interview to Behindwoods, he calls Kamal his guru. He attributes his confidence and present status to Kamal.

In an interview to The New Indian Express, he talks in the same vein. Excerpts:

If there is any one person you feel indebted to, who would that be?

Undoubtedly Kamal Haasan! When I was struggling to get a foothold in films years ago, no one took me seriously. No one believed in me, encouraged me or offered me roles. It was only Kamal who called me and offered me a crucial role in Nammavar. I consider him my guru, my mentor. It was he who gave me the name Karan, saying, that name would take me a long way. And it has!

Ashmit Kunder and his brother Shirish (Farah Khan’s husband) have been associated with Kamal in many movies. Currently, Ashmit is also editing Dasavatharam. In an interview to IndiaFM, he speaks about many things including Kamal and Dasavatharam. He reveals that the movie has a whole lot of special effects. More form the horse’s mouth:

What is Dasavatharam about? Tell us something about the film?
Dasavatharam is an edge of the seat roller coaster entertainer where Mr. Kamal Hassan essays 10 roles. The amount of special effects involved is humungous and never before has such magnitude of visual effects been attempted in any Indian film ever. And that makes my job a lot more arduous as well!The film boasts mostly of an international crew, with action directors, Special visual effect directors and makeup men from all over the world! With this film I feel I have gained such tremendous knowledge of special effects that I can take on any complex project.

Why does Kamal Hassan always go for you to edit his films?
He is very demanding; precision and quality is what he expects. I guess it’s because, I deliver the results he demands irrespective of whatever the adversities are! Apart from the fact that we share a terrific rapport, it has always been a matter of privilege and pride for me to work with him.

Thanx to Sridhar Sundaresan for passing on this article!

SS Music telecasted a programme on Tamil New Year’s day, about Kamal receiving the Living Legend award, with various people talking about him. I thought that now was a good time to brush up the past a bit, although in a different way.

Sripriya, who co-starred with Kamal in many movies:

My inspiration to learn Tamil came from many persons, such as Vaalee and Kamal Haasan…has not studied much but he writes poetry. So I thought when Kamal Haasan could do it why not I? I have read a lot of Kannadasan’s songs also.

Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth are my good friends. I learned a lot from them, particularly Kamal Haasan from whom I learnt dance.

Gautham, who directed in his last movie, Vaettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu:

I conceived the story after Kamal said we’d work together. He rejected my first script and that’s when I thought I’d make him a super cop stalking a serial killer. `Let’s do it,’ he said

I was jittery. Kamal is not only a super actor but also a director. You can’t play the fool with him. If I want an extra take from Kamal, I have to give him the right reason. I just can’t afford to be casual with someone of his stature.

K Balachander, his mentor, of course, has often praised Kamal. Here are a few things he said about Kamal and also Rajni:

Answering the million-dollar question as to if he would direct Kamal and Rajini in a movie, Balachander answered that he is open for the project if the two stars are ready to go for it. Besides, he, as it seems, has a script of sorts for the project as well. “I would not cast them in two opposite roles”. On the contrary, my movie would cast them as brothers who run into occasional prank fights, he replied.

Replying to another question, he stated, “Kamal requested me to open a college to support cinema and stage. However, I have no immediate plans for the same. But if I was asked to head a college I would happily agree for that”.

Finally, we have Santhanabharathi, his long-time friend and associate:

As far as Mahanadhi goes, Kamal has acted very well in this movie. Certain shots that he has given in this movie, I wouldn’t have expected even in my wildest dreams. Particularly the scene where his daughter comes to visit him in jail. He told me to continue to take till he gave the cue. Everybody knew the scene, but nobody knew how he was going to do it. The emotions of a father, his helplessness…. and at the same time the need to hide his feelings from his children was really moving. When the scene got finally over, I had tears in my eyes.

The character in Guna can be played only by Kamal Haasan and no one else.

If I have to talk about Kamal Haasan, I would say he’s an encyclopaedia. He’s a self-made person. I have known him from my school days, infact I have seen the way he has grown, from the time he first came into films. He would take the initiative to learn on his own by reading a lot of books, talking to people and by watching movies. If he speaks about something it wouldn’t be out of the hat, his arguments are supported by a lot of reading and learning. Even though he did not have much of a formal education, his knowledge is immmense.

When it comes to movies, he gets totally involved with his character. Whether he has to put on weight, shed weight, go bald, grow a beard or change his complexion he would do it. For Guna, he dieted and lost a lot of weight and throughout the movie we see a darker version of him. For the last scene in Guna where we show him falling down a steep slope, we could have used a rubber dummy, but he insisted that the dummy should look exactly like himself and we moulded a dummy…we went about moulding the dummy part by part, first the hand, then the head, then the neck and so on. For that, he had to sit through for very long hours. You need a lot of patience for all that. He’s very helpful and cooperative when it comes to that. That’s why Indian was such a great success. Once you put on the make-up, you can’t even eat till it’s taken off. He wouldn’t mind all that, because of the total involvement that he has.

Lots of people ask me…how come he fights with all other directors but not with you. Well the thing is, any product is a result of teamwork. If somebody gives a good suggestion, there is nothing wrong in taking it. Actors like Kamal Haasan will surely bring their inputs to the character and the movie. For them the movie is more important than anything else. You have to take it as teamwork rather than personally, otherwise nothing will get done.