Here are some more articles on Kamal and Dasavathaaram that appeared on Rediff.com.

The first one is an interview with Thota Tharani, one of the three art directors. He shares his experiences along with some drawings, including scenes in the Oval Office and involving the Tsunami. Below are a couple of his thoughts on Kamal. Enjoy the whole article!

I have done more than eight films with Kamal, and between us, we have won 5-6 major awards including national awards for Nayagan and Indian. We also won the state awards for Raja Parvai and Sagara Sangamam.

Kamal is unlike any other artiste I have seen. That is why I was asked to create a story board for Dasavathaaram. Though I am not a story board artiste, Kamal and I sat together and did this story board on the tsunami.

Then, we have an interview with yet another Kamal fan, Malayalam actor Jayasurya. One would remember that he did a small but effective role in Vasool Raja MBBS. Highlights:

He is, without a doubt one of the greatest actors we have in Indian cinema as well as the world.

He has born to be an actor, no doubt about that. He takes only seconds to become the character. He improvises the mannerisms and dialogues as the shots are being canned. In fact, I did ask him about this and was surprised when he said that it was one trait he learnt from Malayalam cinema.

Movies are important to him like the air we breathe. His passion for the medium is truly commendable, and perhaps that gives him the strength to try out new experiments. He has set a different standard for himself and is a league apart from almost every other actor in the business.

Finally, Rediff.com came up with a slideshow on Kamal’s interesting ‘avatars’, which though slipshod, is worth looking at.

[With inputs from A1]

Dasavathaaram has been getting quite a bit of publicity in all kinds of media. (The Hindi version, Dashavtar hasn’t had the same coverage though.) As part of it, we had two interviews recently, one with Kamal in Deccan Herald and another with Devisri Prasad on Rediff.com.

First, let’s hear it from Kamal:

Obviously this is what fuels all my passion for work. For a creative person, two factors act as fuel— the other being constructive criticism.

From Hollywood my favourites are Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers. From India, I am also a huge fan of Yusuf saab (Dilip Kumar). Sanjeev Kumar was another favourite. We worked together in Yaadgar and it was a great experience. We had another great common interest— food!

Knowledge should be acquired from anywhere in the world. Haven’t we taken the best in medicine and education from the West? The West has also taken a lot from us. We have been an international country now for 2000 years!

The standards of Hindi cinema have risen very highly in the last few years, especially in the matter of acting and technology. I keep telling our industry here that Hindi films are really beginning to give South Indian cinema a run for our money.

We have heard Devisri Prasad gush about working on Dasavathaaram before. Here’s more, where he also reveals that he did the background score for the trailer too:

One day I got a call from his office asking me for a meeting. We had a casual meeting at his office. I asked about his films. He asked me about my work — where I record and how. It was more of a general chat.

The producer said that Kamal Sir had seen a few films of mine and loved my style. He said he would really be happy if I did the background score so he asked me to find out. I fell off my chair when I heard it.

I went and we watched the film in the editing room. What was great about him was even though the voice work and other things were not done, like an assistant director he was prompting and telling me all the dialogues in sync with the scenes.

The greatest thing about him is, he always asks for our time. He doesn’t ask ‘would you come tomorrow?’ Rather he will say ‘are you free tomorrow?’

One day he called me to his office to show the promos. He took me around and showed me his conference room, his home theatre etc. He did not act like a star. At that moment he was just a simple man switching on the lights, fans and DVD player. I was shocked to see him take such pains to show me around.

I love him as a singer too and I want to make him sing a song soon. I hope he would do it for me. Kamal Sir has been a great inspiration for me.

In time for Dasavathaaram, Rediff.com provides continued focus on Kamal. Here, we cover a few recent pieces.

Madhavan declared himself a “hardcore Kamal fan”. Let’s have a few excerpts before you read the full interview.

After I started acting in television, people would call me for award functions. I accepted their invitations only to see Kamal Haasan in person. I would scream myself hoarse when he went to collect the awards.

That was when I met Kamal Sir for the first time in a hotel, where I was having dinner. He came over to me and said, ‘Madhavan, I have seen some of your work and they were good.’ You could have knocked me down with a feather, so great was my shock.

Working in the film was like studying in a university. Every minute I shot with him was pregnant with information. He was like a father figure to me on the sets.

What I learnt from him was that there is no shot in the world which is simple and can be taken lightly, and that you should give a hundred percent to every shot. It is amazing to see his dedication to each shot even after being in the industry for so many years. You see child-like enthusiasm, missionary zeal and extreme passion in each shot.

Then, we had a slideshow on some of Kamal’s movies in Kannada and Telugu. Check it out for some valuable information on unfamiliar movies like Kokila and Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu.

Finally, Rediff.com gives us an interesting look at his past heroines from Srividhya to Sridevi and Madhavi to Amala.

The last two pieces also feature some superb rare stills.

[With inputs from A1]

The music of Dasavathaaram is now out and reportedly making waves. But the reviews have been mixed. Check out opinions from Rediff.com, Behindwoods. and KollywoodToday.com.

Meanwhile, we have reports on the audio release function still pouring in. How about getting first-hand accounts? Jackie Chan and Amitabh Bachchan have blogged about the function and the portions of the movie they got to watch! Here are excerpts:

The movie, Dasavatharam, is truly a sight to behold. The story, directing, acting, camera work, special effects, everything about it is amazing. It really opened my eyes to modern Indian cinema. Of course I had seen Indian films before; I admire many of the actors, and really like the music and dancing. But this movie is really something else. Every element was amazing to me; and all the elements together just made a perfect and incredible movie! I won’t spoil anyone’s surprise by revealing the story now, since I think everyone should watch this movie. But I will say two things: watch for the environmental message, and all you directors in Hong Kong and China, watch this movie and start working harder than ever, because very soon now, Indian cinema will overtake us in the eyes of the international audience!

Its Kamal Hassan’s film ‘Dasavataram’ and its music release and he has asked me over to attend the function to commemorate the occasion. There’s Jackie Chan, and the Chief Minister of TamilNadu and several colleagues of Kamal. Its a warm friendly event. The few minutes of the promo seen looks awesome. He has played 10 different roles in the film, and all seem so difficult t identify !! Marvelous !!

Finally, here are some video reports.

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

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.