This year, Kamal’s birthday received more coverage than earlier years, possibly as a result of the post-Dasavathaaram hype.

Express Buzz carried a piece with messages from a few actresses he has starred with — Sneha, Shobhana and Devayani. A sample from the first one:

He’s a pure genius when it comes to acting. But imagine the humility it takes to actually come to a new, young actress, and ask her not to get intimidated by other big actors in the scene!

The same Web-site also carried another tribute.

Sify.com published a slideshow of his performances which deserved the National Award but didn’t make it, along with his filmography.

Rediff.com featured Kamal’s birthday as part of entertainment history. Yahoo! India and Indiaglitz published birthday messages, heaping praise on Kamal. Behindwoods carried a slideshow of his phases over the years.

[With inputs from Ananth]

CV Sridhar, one of the directorial greats of Tamil movies, passed away on October 20. Kamal was among those who paid his last respects. Check out photos at IndiaGlitz and Behindwoods.

Sridhar directed Kamal, along with Rajnikanth, in the hit Illamai Oonjalaadugiradhu. He was also behind the nothing-great Naanum Oru Thozhilaali. Kamal recounted his experiences with the man, mentioning that, at 25, he was even offered to direct a movie for Sridhar’s production house, Chitralaya!

Also, Kamal’s close associate, Santhana Bharathi, apprenticed under Sridhar.

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Dasavathaaram has had a dream run, with collections estimated to have crossed 300 crores of Rupees. Above is a recap, thanks to the efforts of Karthick of the Kamal Haasan Orkut community. The 100th day poster deserves a separate viewing though. Here goes, with thanks due to Balaji.

Click for larger image

Sify.com carried a report on the occasion, including a interesting tidbit. Kokila too released on the same day as Dasavathaaram in 1980 and had a 100-day run in Chennai. Check out the article for its poster.

Here are a few photographs of Kamal at the star-studded wedding reception of Sibiraj and Revathy.

Sibiraj is, of course, the son of Sathyaraj who has had a long association with Kamal, starting with his first movie, Sattam En Kaiyil to Khakhi Chattai, Vikram, Kadamai Kanniyam Kattuppaadu and so on. Personally too, they share a close bond especially due to their atheistic beliefs. Also, Sibiraj is said to be a die-hard Kamal fan.

Check out more photos at Sify.com, Behindwoods and IndiaGlitz. Read reports from CineSouth and Adhikaalai.com.

Meanwhile, there is an interesting rumour that Sathyaraj is set to do a spoof of Dasavathaaram.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Virumaandi (Pothuraju in Telugu) is remembered as a movie that bridged art and commerce successfully. Of course, that’s apart from the ‘Sandiyar’ name controversy. Here, we look at a few blasts from the past related to it.

ChennaiOnline had a long article revealing several behind-the-scenes details including apects like the bull-fight (jallikkattu) scene, art direction, editing, stunts and editing. Have a patient read and get to know some of the information that you may not know.

Kamal is always at the forefront of the movie medium and also possesses great foresight. Here’s an article where he talks about DVDs and distribution.

Virumaandi famously won an award at the PiFan film festival in Korea. After that, he expressed his happiness to The Hindu. Kamal also talked about a retrospective at the Rotterdam Film Festival earlier. Here are some excerpts:

“I see it as a kind of peer acceptance and that makes the award even more invaluable to me…”

“The whole thing came as a surprise to me. I had gone to the fest as an invitee. `Virumaandi’ was not an entry at the competition level and I had no inkling of the honour. There I was seated in the audience, waiting to put my hands together for the winner when my name was announced. I was confused because I was not on the stage with the other nominees … caught unawares, I did not even have a prepared text to thank the jury for the recognition,” laughs Kamal.

It (the citation) describes the film as one “that successfully manages to combine social and political drama, romance, humour, musical and spectacular action in one story of epic proportions…all the more impressive is the fact that it has been written, produced and directed by one man who also plays the lead role…”

“…When others tell me that I would have won international acclaim if I had been in the West, I turn around and tell them, this is my place and I should win world renown from here … with my kind of cinema.” And Kamal Hassan is doing just that.

The movie was also featured at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Take a look at the write-up!

Ah, nostalgia! Time to check out the movie once more?

Last week, Kamal found time to release the audio of Kodaikanal. Bharathiraaja, with whom he had several successful colloborations including Padhinaaru Vayadhinile and Sigappu Rojakkal, received it.

The highlights of the function were the camaraderie between them and Kamal’s decrial of Oscar awards. On the latter subject, Kamal went a little further this time, saying that he would like to see India honouring American movies with awards.

Kamal also recounted the days of their first association and encouraged the “small movie”. Watch all of that on video at IndiaGlitz. IndiaGlitz has photos too, along with Behindwoods and KollywoodToday.com.

Also read reports from Times of India, Sify.com, Thatstamil, Galatta.com, CineSouth, Web Dunia, KollywoodToday.com, Adhikaalai.com, News Today and TamilCinema.com.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Link to video

Here’s a wonderful music video sent in by Arif, dedicated to Kamal on the occasion of Dasavathaaram. It features a fine mash-up of Kamal’s on-screen avatars, the editing being the highlight. Kudos to Arif and team! I’m sure, as fans, you’ll all join me in thanking and congratulating them.

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]

Just as we were rejoicing the audio / trailer launch and waiting eagerly for Dasavathaaram comes the dampener. Minor and insignificant political organizations continue the dangerous and irritating trend in India of gaining publicity at the sake of big movies. Of course, Kamal has been a favourite target due to his non-conformist / controversial ideas. One is worried about the negative publicity affecting the movie, similar to the ‘anti-Gandhi’ charges preceding Hey Ram

The matter has already reached the court! Here is the extensive media mileage derived by VHP, Hindu Munnani and other outfits that have sprung out of the blue: Behindwoods 1 | Thatstamil 1 | ChennaiOnline | MSN | Thatstamil 2 | IndiaGlitz | Buzz18 | Dinamalar | Dinathanthi | Behindwoods 2 | News Today | Webdunia.

As if politico-religious folks aren’t doing enough, we have undue criticism even in the blogosphere, without even the movie being released!

[With extensive inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Recently, Madan (cartoonist-cum-writer who is also a film critic) threw some light on Kokila, an old Kannada movie featuring Kamal and Shobha. Madan, as we know, is part of Kamal’s circle of friends. Back to the movie, it happens to be the directorial debut of Balu Mahendra, with whom Kamal later colloborated in many movies including the famous Moondram Pirai (Sadma). Madan categorises the movie as a must-watch. Let me add a couple of tidbits:

• Years after Kokila, Kamal worked in a movie co-starring Sridevi and Deepa. Reminiscing his earlier work with Balu Mahendra, it was titled Meendum Kokila (Back to Kokila). Of course, the title suited the story too.
• Kokila was also the debut of another star who made a name for himself in the Tamil movies of the 80s. He is Mohan — yes, the “man with the mike”! In Kannada moviedom, he is still referred to as “Kokila Mohan”!

Have any of you watched the movie? We would love to hear from you in the Comments section.

[Updated 20 Mar 2008: Meendum Kokila did not involve Balu Mahendra]