On March 25, Kamal participated in the audio / trailer launch function of Pasanga, as announced earlier. But the pleasant surprise was that it turned out to be a memorable event for all-round camaraderie.

Ameer, who received the trailer from Kamal, set the tone with his open idolisation of Kamal. Kamal responded with modesty, while also using the opportunity to talk about Tamil movies in general, need for separate ‘XXX’ movies and even Slumdog Millionaire. Sasikumar was brief yet effective. Balamuralikrishna also added his bit. Watch the video of the delightful speeches on IndiaGlitz. The above video from SivajiTV.com and the one on ChennaiOnline are shorter versions of Kamal’s speech.

Read reports from Sify.com, MSN, Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Webdunia, Galatta.com, ChennaiOnline, Dinathanthi, Nakkheeran and TamilCinema.com.

Extensive photos are available from Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Galatta.com, Chennai 365 (1 | 2), KollywoodToday.com and Nakkheeran.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Kamal Haasan, as we know, is versatility on his own credit — whatever the role or genre, he excels to our great delight. Comedy is a hallmark of Kamal and he proves that apart from drama and action, he can be a superb comedian. Mumbai Xpress is a great example of his innovative talent. Although the film has relatively sunk into obscurity, since it box-office-bombed back in 2005, it is nevertheless a hilarious movie. If you feel that the storyline is a bit incoherent, it is still worthwhile viewing, since our star is in the leading role.

Mumbai Xpress starts off with a master plan conceived by three amateur criminals, who plan to kidnap a wealthy man’s son for ransom. However, one of the thieves falls seriously ill, and it is left to the rest to scout for a replacement. That replacement comes in the form of a deaf stuntman named Avinasi aka “Mumbai Xpress”, played by Kamal Haasan. The master plan that was ingenious in its nature turns horribly wrong when two of the criminals get injured, and a third person (an insurance agent), is roped into the crime by a unfortunate accident. When the thieves capture the wrong boy, it is left to Avinasi to rescue him from his accomplices and restore him to his mother, played by Manisha Koirala. What happens next is what forms the rest of the story, with many twists and turns occurring here and there, that makes the story all the more complicated and comical.

A few examples of where the plan goes terribly wrong are very original and brilliant — when one of the criminals tries to explain to Avinasi the master plan, it seems like he has listened to the entire discourse, only for all to find out later on that he forgot to put on his hearing aid, and also when the gang-leader endeavours to show Avinasi the car gear mechanism, he accidently switches to ‘drive’ immediately and the vehicle speeds up and hits an insurance agent! Mix-ups and goof-ups like these make the film an absolute entertainer, and it’s a pity that the film didn’t do well at the box-Office, when such films like Rajnikanth’s Chandramukhi and Vikram’s Anniyan were garnering the limelight. Mumbai Xpress definitely goes on the shelf as one of the great comedies that Kamal has ever done, and one should seriously view the film on its own merits.

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Here is some stuff that came up during the release time of Dasavathaaram, which have been waiting for a long time to be posted.

Let’s start with 2 videos from IBN. The first one is a pre-release interview by Kamal while the other one is more interesting. It compares Rajni and Kamal, particularly with respect to the frenzy experienced for Sivaji and Dasavathaaram.

Reporting during the release time had reached such a frenzy that we even had photos of film boxes reaching USA, like the one below.

There was also a piece of news at that time that the DVD would be officially released in about 50 days’ time!

As part of the publicity, Aascar Ravichandran was interviewed and he declared Kamal to be the “mother of the movie”. Here are a couple of the many interviews of Kamal: Businessworld | News Today.

Kamal had stated that he took the help of Shruti, his daughter for the American accents.

Rediff.com published interviews with Suresh Krissna and Ramesh Arvind. The former traces his association from the days of Ek Duuje Ke Liye. Here are some snippets:

Once the whole shoot was over, Kamalji would come to the hotel where all the assistants and cameramen were living, and play cards and have fun. It was pure entertainment and tremendous camaraderie. He never gave the impression that he was a star and we never felt we were working with one. Kamalji loved that unit as he was always close to Balachander Sir.

Kamalji watched me to grow from being a fifth assistant to Balachander Sir to becoming associate director of Punnagai Mannan…When I was ready to branch out as director, he asked me if I was interested in directing a film he was producing as well as acting. What more can anyone ask for? So I said fine. The film was Sathya.

Kamalji loves singing. I remember we all used to sit together and sing songs from old films and even play Antakshari [in Tamil].

Ramesh talks about the varied dimensions of Kamal he has experienced.

He always insists on international quality in every aspect. He loves novelty in scripts and narration. You can see him avoiding all kinds of cliches. He detests stupidity and does not want anything in the film to look illogical.

Acting with him is a bonus because he constantly advises you on how you can enhance your performance in the film.

He is a great friend who respects your space, guides you the right way without mincing words.

Behindwoods carried a long article in praise of Kamal.

And finally, here’s some humour (in Tamil) related to Dasavathaaram.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Here’s a superb piece by Geetika Sudip, a reporter of The Hindu who is also a mad Kamal fan. She recounts her efforts to meet Kamal during his trip to Thiruvananthapuram to inaugurate IFFK in December. Here are a few interesting snippets, but you really have to read the whole article which covers the time over 32 hours or so.

Curtains were finally drawn on the IFFK 2007 to reveal Men-in-Black Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan rubbing shoulders at Nishagandhi. My moment of truth had arrived, there was no denying it. There he was, in flesh and blood! As I savoured the moment, my phone blinked: Madame S, my boss. “Kamal’s going to be in town all of tomorrow. Can you do his interview?”
Like, would you like to inherit the Kohinoor?

Enough was enough. I thumbed down the first vehicle in sight and hot-wheeled it to Kovalam. You might do a lot of things, but you can’t give up on Kamal without a fight. Ennal mudiyum thambi.

I sank into the swamplands of despair. One last hope led to one last note:
“Ten minutes of your time
That’s all I truly ask for
Being asked to wait is no crime
But I need to leave at four!”
The Big K is unmoved.

It took me a while to spot the dapper, handsome man among the tables. Then he stood up – Nayakan’s Shaktivelu, Pathinaaru Vayathinile’s Chappani, Indian’s Chandra Bose, Michael Madana Kamarajan’s Michael, Madan, Kameshwaran and Rajan.

[Inputs from Karthikeyan, Sridhar]

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!

The idea of Marudhanayagam was first publicised 15 long years ago, when Kamal was doing Guna. No one (except him, maybe) knows if his dream project will ever see the light of the day. We fans keep talking various things about it and are excited at any wee bit of news related to it. Leave aside melancholy for once and take a look at this series of photos with funny captions.

[Source: Jagadish’s Kamal site]