Editor’s Note:
Please welcome a new author, who calls himself Vadakkupatti Ramasaamy! He starts off with a fresh idea.

Kamal always features in Vivek’s comedy scripts!!! (I am not sure if they ever shared screen space together.)

Vivek’s comedy skills are very well known and so are his mimicry skills. This is entirely my observation. In every movie Vivek refers to Kamal either by dialogues or in some other form .There could be many reasons, they both had the same mentor when they started (K.B.), it could also mean Vivek’s admiration for Ulaga Naayagan. No matter what it means, his hit comedies always had something to do with Kamal. I have tried to list instances supporting my view.

1. Vivek refers to Kamal in Anniyan (in the train, where he advices Ambi “Kiss panradhukku enna Kamal sir-aya koottindu vara mudiyum?” )
2. In 12B, his auto garage is called “Aalavandhaan Auto Works”.
3. In Thiruttu Payale, in Australia, the minute he meets Jeevan’s gang Vivek inquires “Dasavathaaram eppo varum?”.
4. In Kireedam, he answers the phone by mimicking Kamal from VV as “Illa idhu SP Raghavan veedu”.
5. In the movie Viswanathan Ramamoorthy, he uses the Thenaali ‘bayam‘ sequence.
6. In Dhool, he uses the Aalavandhaan dialogue “Vilanga mudiyaa kavidhai naan” twice.
7. In the movie “Ullam Kollai Poguthey“, he enacts the Guna hospital sequence.
8. Even in a Vijay TV special programme where he dressed up as Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, he has someone saying “Idhu Dasavathaaram getup-aa, kiss scene undaa?“.
9. In the movie Parthiban Kanavu, he makes references to the movie Ek Duuje Ki Liye and also mimics a dialogue.
10. Everytime he is made to talk about Kovai Sarala, he definitely remarks “She was the heroine to Kamal Haasan” in many functions and interviews, including Vijay TV awards where he shared an award with Kovai Sarala.
11. Even in the recently released movie Singakutty, he enacts Punnagai Mannan suicide scene (featuring Kamal and Rekha), with Malavika. Kissing Malavika like Kamal did evoked chuckles in the theatres.

Though the instances may be just my view, yet they are the hit comedies by actor Vivek. Many of the instances may be rubbing Kalaignani in a wrong way (referring to kiss!!); yet he is always a part of Vivek’s comedy script, but in my personal opinion it shows Vivek’s keen observation of whatever Haasan depicts on screen. Maybe, someday they may share screen space together in a comedy and make it rib-tickling fun.

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!

Here’s a very old piece from Rediff.com — a chat Kamal had with readers around the time of Hey Ram. Here goes Kamal, “at his wittiest best”:

…Have you ever considered making English movies? What would be your dream role?
Marudanaayagam.

Did you fear about the future when you are waiting for a breakthrough in filmdom during your adoloscence? And what would you have been now if had not been that lucky?
I never fear the unknown, if I hadn’t been that lucky I would have been a film buff.

Kamalji, how did you feel when you lost the address slip from Amala in Pushpak (last scene)?
That was not Amala’s address, don’t worry I know her address

How long do you think you can act in movies? Acting in one movie in a year, how many movies (like Hey! Ram) do you think you can give in your lifetime? Have you ever thought about this kind of planning ?
Yes, when you can think about it, you bet on your computer I would have thought about it a thousand times.

After Hey! Ram, what characters do you look forward to playing or enjoy acting?
One that gets the most applause:-)

How I wished you, the Indian/Hindustani/Bharatheeyudu, were there at KANDAHAR on IC 814, to ploy that martial art, one twist of the hijackers’ nerves, and they would have dropped dead!….No?
You are watching too many movies. NO?

Kamal, why do you make a point of having kissing scenes in your films lately??
You don’t ask that of songs? Do you like music so much? Or is it that you hate sucking face?

How I cried, watching you in Saagara Sangamam, especially when you sob holding Jaya Prada’s hand for getting a chance to perform at a cultural festival. What is it in you that makes viewers cry?
I hope it’s not my bad acting;-)

You had told that you had the habit of going through Karl Marx’s Das Capital every night before going to bed. What is the speciality of that book that attracted you?
Assured sound sleep within a few pages, I’m yet to complete it. I’m sure I’ll have company in many modern communists.

Thanks, I enjoyed it, but if I yawn, you’ll think I didn’t:-) I am because I got up at 5 and have to do that again tomorrow. *yawn* I loved it. Thank you *yawn* sorry all. Goodnight*yawn* Will be back sometime when I’m not this sleepy good *yawn* sorry night.

Enjoy the whole chat.

The power of Internet has been used to exploit the curiosity around Dasavatharam. The most visible aspect of it are the images claiming to be Kamal’s ‘avatars’ cropping up. Behindwoods chose to round it off nicely. First, they published a set of real and fake images. Then, they invited readers to produce their own fake ones, using their imagination. Some of them were quite good, while it quickly descended into mediocrity. Take a look nevertheless and have fun till the real ones turn up.

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]