In an interview to The Hindu on the sidelines of IFFK, Kamal confirmed that his next movie is indeed Marmayogi. Among other things, he also talks again about a bilingual with Mohanlal. Highlights:

“As far, I am concerned, ‘Dashavataaram,’ which will be released next year, is history. I am immersed in my next film, ‘Marmayogi,’ a bilingual period film in Hindi and Tamil, set in the seventh century. It will be the biggest film made in Tamil and it is being scripted and directed by me”.

“Success is difficult to quantify. Once, it meant the amount of money I earned. Then I found that I yearned for creative heights as an actor. So the idea of success keeps evolving. Finally, I decided that I would do only one film at a time and give it my best. That is what I have done with ‘Dashavataaram. That is what intend to do with ‘Marmayogi,’” he avers.

“Why compare karimeen (Pearl spot) and tandoori chicken? Films are made by a team and the festival must cater to each segment in that team and give them the opportunity to learn and evolve in their areas of interest”.

Read the complete interview on The Hindu’s web-site.

[Via Ananth]

Editor’s Note: In the fortnight of ‘F’, we fall back on ‘A’ to ‘E’…

It’s good to remember a landmark of a movie and a time when Kamal was just about half his present age. He was introduced to Bollywood formally and what a mark he made! Of course, the role was a tailor-made launch vehicle, under the man who had mentored Kamal and let him unleash his extraordinary range of talents.

Kamal was already well-established and was on the verge of superstardom down South, but it was only then that he was really stepping across the Vindhyas. His character was relatively simple and the role of a South Indian guy learning Hindi suited him very well. In one of the last scenes, he speaks various dialects of Hindi to impress his in-laws. In turn, he must have made an everlasting impression on the Hindi-speaking audience too. Kamal had a short run in Hindi, tasting box-office success in a few masala capers.

The movie was a huge success everywhere and one of the top grossers of that year. The Tamil audience too were thrilled to see their man conquer the North and lapped up the movie. The term “Ek Duuje Ke Liye” (made for each other) is still used in Tamil movies, with or without proper meaning. I remember my aunt carrying a bright handbag with the title of the movie on it — a clear sign of what kind of a hit the movie was even in Chennai.

The movie’s success was not really a fluke. It was the remake of a mammoth Telugu hit, Maro Charitra, involving many of the same cast and crew. Credit should go to the team for adapting it very well when they took it to Hindi.

The man who led them was veteran producer LV Prasad. Kamal remains grateful to him till date, taking up Vasool Raja MBBS only since his production company was involved. We also remember Prasad featuring in a memorable role in Kamal’s 100th movie, Raajapaarvai, that released the same year.

The music of the movie was a big draw too, with classic hits by the combination of Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Anand Bakshi, rendered primarily by the duo of Lata Mangeshkar and SP Balasubramaniam. SPB had a great debut too, going onto win a National Award and being fondly remembered when he returned for Maine Pyaar Kiya.

The movie was just a tragic love story, but created impact in every aspect. K Balachander toned down his rebellious streak and possibly accomplished more than what he set out to do.

Ellam Inba Mayam, made in 1981 (story, dialogues and lyrics: Panju Arunachalam) was in many ways a precursor to Kamal’s later movies. He dons a multi-character role, speaks different dialects and above all, explores a full-fledged light-hearted comedy for probably the first time. G. Rangarajan, the director, would go on to make another comedy Meendum Kokila with Kamal the same year and Maharasan a decade later. The setting and spirit of “Solla solla..” song (a perfect spoof of ‘disco’ songs of the period, resurrected on YouTube) was taken further in the evergreen “Ilamai itho itho…” in Sakalakala Vallavan, a year later.

The movie follows a hackneyed script but the Kamal takes the situational comedy to a level where we can forget the mindlessness of it all. In fact, the movie seems to have been made with the singular objective of showcasing Kamal’s acting talents with no regard to logic. His scenes with YG Mahendran are some of the best of the period, in terms of comic timing. Two examples: Kamal and YGM have just arrived at Madras, and are visiting the Gandhi statue at the Marina beach. As they remove their slippers and move to the statue, YGM remarks “Aasirvaadham vangippom. Yengayo avasarama poraru pola irukku..” (Let’s get his blessings. He seems to be in a hurry to go somewhere.). Later, when a prospective employer inquires about their competency, Mahendran explains, “Nalla saapiduvom“. The man then demands, “Appuram?”, to which Kamal replies without batting an eyelid, “Kai kazhuviduvom…” (the beauty will be lost in translation) – proving again what it takes to transform an ordinary script into an engaging act.

The Charlie Chaplin influence on Kamal is seen in this one too – probably for the first time on screen. The scene where Kamal and YGM dine at a local restaurant Chaplinesque to the core, especially the sequence where Kamal cannot stop his hiccups. The way he walks in the Basavappa character is again reminiscent of Chaplin’s films.

There are many elements of the village bumpkin character which Kamal seems to have retained in Kameshwaran of MMKR. The naivety, the walk, the awkwardness are all trademark Kameshwaran. Also of note is that for a typical masala movie, with villain and fights intact, there is no gore or even a single murder, much like Michael Madana Kama Rajan. Incidentally, both movies were produced by Panju Arunachalam’s P. A. Arts. Ellam Inba Mayam may not be one of Kamal’s best; but looking back, I am sure it has influenced his career path and his disposition to full-fledged comedies.

Editor’s Note: We’ll continue with ‘E’ for a fortnight as usual. But the next letter is ‘F’, which unfortunately has no movies. So, let’s catch up on what was left out from ‘A’ to ‘E’ during that time. Send in your entries!

Editor’s Note: Okay, the purists might say that the spelling should actually be “Thevar Magan”. But we’re strapped for movies — will you kindly excuse? And is anyone ready to quench our thirst for Daisy, Donga Dora or Dekha Pyar Tumhara?

Hmm, what do I write about a landmark movie that has been analysed in umpteen ways, even on this very blog? I think I’ll look back at the movie, the times and some interesting tidbits.

• Few shots come to mind when I think of Devar Magan. One of them that is stuck permanently is from the climax. Kamal carries the mega-sickle on his shoulders and walks down, like Jesus with the cross. At that instant, I saw Kamal disappear and the character take over completely. But my wish for a National Award didn’t come true. There were 6 others for the movie though.
• The movie was talked about for Sivaji Ganesan coming together with his on-screen successor, Kamal. The chemistry was simply memorable. Kamal seemed to have almost reproduced their real-life relationship onto the reel. Sivaji remarked after the movie’s release that Kamal had just asked him to be himself to play that character.
• When the movie was being shot, Devi, the Tamil magazine had covered it. It featured sound bytes from Sivaji mainly. To one of the questions, he had said that Kamal was still young and could continue acting for another 15 years. The year was 1992.
• In my mind, this was Sivaji’s best performance along with Mudhal Mariyadhai. He famously refused the Special Jury National Award, as he hadn’t been recognised in all the years.
• Traces of The Godfather are evident — the local chieftain, the younger son being preferred to take over and so on. Kamal later said that it was indeed a tribute. It was actually a bet amongst friends on who would do the Hollywood classic in Tamil first. Mani Ratnam won with Nayakan, 5 years earlier.
• Revathi took over the role of Panjavarnam that Meena turned down due to lack of dates. Though a tad old for that role, she went on to add another feather in her cap in the form of a National Award.
• Vadivelu possibly never did a role like this before or after Devar Magan — sheer casting genius.
• The songs were very situational and not all of them became big hits. But “Inji iduppazhagaa…” rocked and fetched a National Award for S Janaki.
• When the movie became a huge success, Kamal underplayed it by saying that it was just a ‘rehearsal’ for Marudhanayagam. We’re still waiting for the real thing.

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.

Such little information is available on this movie that I’m just going to put down whatever I know and found out. I tried in vain to rent the DVD too. [But it’s not available here in the Bay Area. Maybe, I’d have had better luck in Bangalore.]

Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu (the flower that bloomed in fire) still remains one of Kamal’s popular ventures into Kannada cinema. It is the remake of Aval Oru Thodarkathai starring Sujatha, which had Kamal in a supporting role. He acted in the Bengali remake Kabita too.

This 1983 Kannada movie had his real-world niece Suhasini in the lead role, being the only movie in which they acted together. Kamal plays the role of a bus conductor, not the same part he played in the Tamil original. The “Mundhe Banni…” song (with playback by SPB) is still an old favourite.

Anyone knows more? Give us all some details in the Comments section.

Editor’s Note:
Unfortunately, this seems to be the only movie for ‘B’. Or does anyone know some other movie Kamal was atleast associated with and not necessarily acted in? Otherwise, let’s continue with more movies starting with ‘A’ for this fortnight. Send in your entries!

Apoorva Raagangal (more commonly pronounced as ‘Aboorva Raagangal’) was part of the second innings of K Balachander, one among the ’shock-and-shake-up-the-audience’ series of movies (the others being Arangetram, Aval Oru Thodarkathai and Avargal). Kamal featured in all of those, but got possibly his first opportunity as leading man in Tamil with this movie released in 1975.

Barely in his twenties, he stuns the audience with his fearless and mature performance. When one thinks back now, it seems like Balachander actually tapped the rebellious streak and raw energy in Kamal for the role of Prasanna. The intelligence, interest in arts and indifference to societal rules all seem to match with his real-life self. In that sense, Balachander and Kamal were working off each other.

This movie is also known for the debut of Rajnikanth. In the few scenes they have together, Kamal and Rajni are in a way pitted against each other, both being interested in the same woman. Again looking back, the slowly maturing relationship between the two seems to reflect their personal equation in the future superstar era.

But the image of the movie really is from the popular “Adhisaya raagam…” song — Kamal singing away and Srividya looking at him in wonder. Yesudas’s classical voice and Kannadasan’s simple yet meaning-laden lyrics add beauty.

Get more details about the movie from the entries on IMDb and Wikipedia. Kamal reprised this role 9 years later in the Hindi remake, Ek Nai Paheli, with Hema Malini and Raaj Kumar.

Natural performance. An expression that is used at the drop of a hat by our critics, that it ought to be taken out of the English language for servicing. Anyway it is a curious expression to use with regard to the art of acting. As a sage once put it, “from the point of view of feeling, the actor’s craft is the type (of all art)“.

Child actors, one would naturally suppose, are the best candidates for such performances. Such a supposer would have obviously not been acquainted with Tamil film children, particularly those of the yesteryears. These little pieces of heaven can be spotted swaying their head from side-to-side during song sequences and talking lengthy dialogues with righteousness oozing from their ears. All this of course if they are not tugging at the heartstrings with polio stricken legs or polishing boots to support their co-orphan younger brothers. Unless of course, the child in question happens to be Kamal Haasan.

After a National Award winning debut in KaLathoor KannammA and a dual role in PaarthAl Pasi Theerum, Kamal played the role of the heroine’s kid brother in the MGR-Devika starrer Ananda Jothi. The movie is as routine as it gets: a dispossessed rich man MGR, an epitome of simplicity and rectitude, goes about righting wrongs and finally living happily ever after. Notable here is the performance of the child Kamal Haasan. For anyone who may think this is just some retroactive praise, the movie is highly recommended, and a feeble description of a scene is attempted below.

MGR is an upright teacher Anandan, in a school run by Devika’s family and has an image of not bowing to authority. What Devika doesn’t know is that MGR is also writes poems (don’t even ask!) by the name Maniyarasan, whom she adores. Devika’s brother Kamal, studies in the school and can’t stop admiring his teacher.

In an ensuing exchange where she passes messages through Kamal that his teacher is an idiot while Maniyarasar is a genius. The message itself is triggered by a comment from Kamal: “unga maNiyarasar periya ivarO?” (roughly translates to a sarcastic: “your Maniyarasar is a great chap, eh?”). The twang and intonation are to be heard to be believed.

MGR translates the English word ‘idiot’ for Kamal. The child is outraged that his sister could have chosen such a word to describe his teacher and is angrier still that he was made to carry the message. His reaction is spontaneous and enchanting. He carries back MGR’s barb to his sister and closes the sequence with a witty smile: “pEchchu vittA pEchchu vaangikka vENdiyadhu thAn” (if you dish it out, be prepared to take them too!). And all this, with impressive expression and intonation. Natural talent, is what comes to mind, just that it isn’t compliment enough.

Of course this cannot be compared with Kalathur Kannamma. He literally drove the second half of that movie, performing with unbelievable ease. Ananda Jothi on the other hand, is yet another case of Kamal showing his mettle in an ordinary film. He would do it for a while later too.

Editor’s Note:

Prabhu Ram has picked a not-so-familiar movie and given a good start to the series. Readers, you are encouraged to send in your entries — immediately for the letter ‘A’ and not so urgently for other letters. ‘A’ itself has a whole lot of movies — Arangetram, Apoorva Sagodharargal and Avvai Shanmughi to name a few. Or can you enlighten readers about ‘B’ for Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu, next fortnight? All your entries, with the subject-line as “Kamal A2Z Submission”, are awaited at randramble AT gmail DOT com. An even simpler way to contribute is to just comment on such posts, adding more info and thoughts about the movie covered. More info on the series is here.

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.

Fellow blogger Bharath recently dug up an old article by Sujatha on Kamal. Dating back to 1976, it was probably the time when Sujatha and Kamal got acquainted. Without more ado, let me (not too badly) translate some key portions of the article.

There was nothing really luxurious in his room, save the air-conditioner…I spotted books on American film history and sound in cinema…He is very casual when explaining the funny things on his job. He knows of European directors like Polanski and Goddard. I’m able to enthusiastically analyse a shot from Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy with him for ten minutes. “Looks like Malayalam movies are not bad these days”, I said. “That was then. Now, Malayalam movies are going backwards”, he says. “Malayalam movie!”, he adds, pointing to his pink shirt.

“While picturising a song, it is convenient for the heroine to leave her hair loose. If she forgets the lip-sync, she can just hide behind her hair!”

In the loud-speaking and ‘loud-acting’ Tamil film world, I expect a new wave from the gentle, imaginative and believable Kamal Haasan.

Kamal was not even 22 at this time and was possibly on the verge of becoming a star. No more words from me. If you know Tamil, enjoy the whole piece.