Check out Kamal’s interview on NDTV’s Walk the Talk — not a great interview, but interesting to see him in a casual chat. Kamal talks about Rajnikanth, Jayalalitha, MGR, etc.

Here’s an interview with S Muthukumar, photographer and son of DNS (long-time associate of Kamal), which appeared in Express Buzz a while ago. He has worked with Kamal in many movies — Hey Ram, Marudhanayagam, Mumbai Xpress, Dasavathaaram and upto Unnaipol Oruvan. In addition to his experiences with Kamal, you also get to see a very new still from Marudhanayagam! Below is a snippet from the interview before you click away!

Kamal Haasan is a great person to work with. He ensures that everyone eats at the same time and the same food is served to all. Every moment spent with Kamal Haasan’s crew is a learning experience.You can pick up so much by just being around them.

Here is a collection of interviews done as part of the promotion for Unnaipol Oruvan / Eenadu. Before you check out each of them, sample the highlights.

Kamal in The Times of India:

Is there friendly competition when two classy actors work together? In the case of UO, you and Mohanlal?
Absolutely. And we like each other. All the while, every actor is in competition, whether he is in the same film or not. Whenever I watch a good movie of Mohanlal’s, I feel like doing a movie better than his and when he watches a good film of mine, he feels likewise. We both initiate and encourage each other. The idea is that if the competition is negative in nature, we will only head downwards. The gravity will drag us down and we will have to remain there. To get up and fly, we need to motivate each other. The concept of destroying your enemy completely is a concept that does not exist in modern day warfare. When it is a non-existent concept in the art of modern day war, how can it be there in the field of art, in which enemies don’t exist?

Mohanlal in Rediff.com:

I was more attracted to the story than the role. More than anything, Kamal Haasan was a major attraction.

While I was dubbing, Kamal Haasan was with me throughout to help me with my Tamil diction. I told him not to trouble himself and after the dubbing was over, if he needed any corrections, I would come and re-do it. Do you know what he said? He said, ‘I am very selfish about my films’. Because he had good command over the language, he stood by me throughout. It shows how passionate he was about film making.

Unnaipol Oruvan is produced by Kamal Haasan. Did you at any point fear that you would be overshadowed?

Such thoughts are unnecessary. Only insecure people think on those lines. I need to think how well I can portray the role given to me. If you are insecure about your role and if you feel that the other actor will overshadow you, you should not commit to such films. It is very shameful to think that the other person will overshadow you. I don’t think that way at all.

Chakri Toleti in Rediff.com:

This was your first film, and you were directing people like Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal who have won several national awards. Were you nervous?

I was more excited than nervous. It was a great opportunity and a directors’ dream to work with artists like Kamalji and Lal.

Did you at any point feel that you will be overshadowed by the Haasan family?

[Laughs] It did not even cross my mind because of the relationship I have with Kamalji. He has given me 100% control over the film. I really appreciate that. I am fortunate to have such a producer. He is playing multiple roles in the film, that of the producer, lyricist, and actor.

Ganesh Venkatraman in The Times of India:

Kamal sir has always been a big inspiration and when I met him during the first schedule, I was awestruck by his preparedness and dedication.

[With inputs from Ananth]

When Kamal stepped into his Golden Jubilee year on August 12, there were several who wished him. Kamal celebrated the occasion with a few close associates and well-wishers.

There were quite a few who put out ads in newspapers, while partially seeking publicity for themselves. Here are some of them.

Unlike some earlier occasions including Dasavathaaram, the media did justice this time.

• NDTV, CNN-IBN and Times Now carried interview snippets. The first two videos are featured above. Watch Kamal talk about his childhood acting experiences, “sibling” relationship with Sridevi, about Mani Ratnam and acting with Mohanlal among other things. He also mentions for the first time about not going ahead with 19 Steps (or The 19th Step?).
• Thenaali.com featured a long tribute from Prakashraj (aka Prakash Rai).
• Deccan Chronicle carried a short interview, where Kamal underplays the significance of the milestone.
• Nighazhuvugal.com came up with a piece that included a list of all his movies.
• The Times of India came up with a good photo gallery.
• Vikatan.com came up with a list of 50 tidbits.
• Read other reports from The Hindu, Sify.com, The Times of India, Thatstamil, Chennai365, Galatta.com, India Today, SivajiTV.com, Behindwoods, and Dinamani and Maalaisudar. Sify.com now also has a separate page for Kamal-related news and other stuff.

[With inputs from Ananth]

Unnaippol Oruvan is nearing its day of release and this is a good time to recap on the updates we have got in the last couple of months.

The last available information is that it will release on August 12, to coincide with the release date of Kalaththur Kannamaa, Kamal’s first movie. Check out Sify.com, IndiaGlitz, Galatta.com, Thatstamil, ChennaiOnline, Behindwoods and Cinegoer.com.

Here is what else we know through official and non-official means.

• Unconfirmed reports from Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Galatta.com say that veteran actress Lakshmi is part of the movie. She is said to be playing the role of Chief Secretary (to the Chief Minister). In the original A Wednesday, the Chief Minister himself had a significant role.
• We haven’t heard a lot about Eenadu, the Telugu version. Here’s an interview of Venkatesh in The Times of India, where he says that the role is modified to suit his image.
• Manushyaputhran too has narrated his experiences to the media. He told Mangaiyar Malar that the opporutnity to write a song for the movie came out of the blue one day. He revealed that the song about “the greatest tragedy of our times” is sung by Kamal himself. He was ecstatic about Shruti Haasan and has said that he is proud of writing the first song with her music.
• Meanwhile, Shruti spoke about her experiences to The Hindu and ChennaiOnline.
• Two younger generation actors who are part of the movie are Anuja Iyer and Ganesh Venkataraman. Anuja spoke about Kamal’s patience and being inspired by him to Kumudam, which was reported by Dinamalar. She was also featured on The Hindu and Galatta.com. Ganesh was heard on The Times of India and Galatta.com.
• Eric Felberg from Hollywood is the special effects supervisor. He has worked on Shri Anjaneya before and also was supposed to be part of Marmayogi too.
• Manoj Soni from Bollywood is the cinematographer. He seems to have been chosen for his experience with the digital medium. Hear him go ga-ga on Express Buzz and Galatta.com.
• Writer Era. Murukan was interviewed by Ergo. He talked about his experiences with Kamal and Mohanlal, while also giving us some insight into the script. Here’s some background on Era. Murukan from Behindwoods.
• Era. Murukan writes about his experiences on his blog,  now and then. In fact, in his most recent piece, he says that he’s writing a whole book based on it called Sight at Shoot! He writes about Kamal’s tirelessness and specifically about a shot in which Kamal impressed him.

‘That was an one-man symphony, kamal-ji’ – I told. He just smiled.

• Mohanlal is said to have wrapped up his portions in early June.
• Kamal talked about the movie during the promotion of Dashavtar to The Indian Express.
• The Times of India carried some details about the economics of Unnaippol Oruvan.

Neeraj Pandey, writer-director of A Wednesday, has expressed his opinion on the remake. He told India Abroad News Service that he’s looking forward to it. This is what he had to say on PassionforCinema.com.

Q) What do you think about the cast of Kamal Hasan & Mohanlal in the Tamil version?

Great casting.

We fans, await, first for the trailer and stills and then for the movie itself…

[With extensive inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

SivajiTV and IndiaGlitz and ChennaiOnline (1 | 2 | 3) have videos of the media event on May 28. The former is more complete, including questions from the press.

A wide range of photographs are available from Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, OneIndia, Chennai365 (1 | 2), SivajiTV, ChennaiOnline, Top10Cinema.com.

Also see news reports from Sify.com, The Times of India, Thatstamil, News Today, ChennaiOnline (English | Tamil), CineSouth and TamilCinema.com.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Some movies come with a bang and crash with a thud; others cause only a mild flutter. While Dasavatharam burnt up the box-office in the middle of 2008, its Hindi version passed off almost unnoticed in April of this year. In tune with this blog’s balanced nature, here’s a round-up of some reviews and reactions of Dashavtar.

The marketing did work to some extent. RealBollywood.com featured an interview with KS Ravikumar. Blogs like PassionForCinema came up with previews.

Though most of the Hindi audience seemed to have not warmed up to the movie, there were some unbiased reviews from The Times of India, The Telegraph, Mumbai Mirror, Central Chronicle, RealBollywood.com and Khabrein.info.

A good opening was expected, as there wasn’t much else to watch due to the Hindi movie producers’ strike. There were such reports from Kolkata (The Telegraph | IndianTelevision.com). BollywoodHungama.com showed mixed reactions from Mumbai, as seen in the video below.

Rudresh came up with some box-office figures on his blog. Thaindian News and Webdunia reported on the failure of the movie.

[With inputs from Ananth]

The people have India has spoken and a new government is on its way. But our man, who dutifully exercises his right to vote every time, was unable to do so this time around. It is not fully clear whether Kamal’s name was struck off the electoral rolls (due to his move to the outskirts of the city) or he indeed did have his name but in a different polling centre. Kamal expressed his anguish to eagerly awaiting media.

Kamal had put off shooting for Unnaippol Oruvan for a couple of days, but stayed back in Hyderabad after learning about his inability to vote.

Read other reports and interviews from IBNLive, Behindwoods, Thatstamil, Dinamani, Dinamalar and Dinathanthi.

[With inputs from Ananth]

After releasing the teaser trailer of Unnaippol Oruvan last month, Kamal met the press along with significant members of the cast and crew. Those present on stage included Mohanlal, Chakri Toleti and Shruti Haasan.

Kamal announced that shooting is proceeding at a good speed and should be wrapped up in May. The release may be postponed to August 12 (the same date on which Kalathur Kannamma released in 1959), to mark Kamal’s 50th year in movies as per fans’ request. While Mohanlal plays the police commissioner in Tamil, Venkatesh will take it up in the Telugu version titled Eenadu.

Also present on the occasion were 2 more debutants –Era. Murukan as dialogue writer and Manushyaputhran as lyricist. Both are associated with the late Sujatha, one of Kamal’s favourites. The former has been writing about Unnaippol Oruvan and Kamal for sometime. His blog / Web-site isn’t very navigable though — try your luck. Manushyaputhran earlier featured in “Kamal Kaviyarangam” in 2007.

IndiaGlitz has a good video of the press meet and fantastic photos. A short video report from IBNLive is featured above. Read reports from Sify.com, The Hindu, News Today, ChennaiOnline, Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Galatta.com, Thatstamil, Webdunia, Dinamani, Dinathanthi, Maalai Sudar, Cinesouth, Envazhi and TamilCinema.com. Photos are available on Sify.com, Behindwoods and Galatta.com.

[With inputs from Ananth, Velmurugan Ranganathan]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Even before Rahman created history at the Oscars, Kamal had sent his congratulations on Slumdog Millionaire. But after the big night, news channels and sites jostled for opinions and Kamal was one of their favourites. Here’s a (much-delayed) round-up from the various media outlets.

For Kamal’s complete thoughts on the occasion, watch Kamal say it all on IndiaGlitz. Kamal makes fun of himself, rubbishing titles like “Oscar naayagan” (Oscar hero).

Kamal also participated in a discussion on CNN-IBN. Below are couple of videos from Times Now and Zoom.

Kamal praised Rahman’s hard work and commitment, while looking forward to working with him in the near future (The Hindu, Screen). Check out other coverage from Economic Times, Thatstamil, Behindwoods, ChennaiVision.com, ApunKaChoice.com, Dinathanthi and Dinakaran.

[With inputs from Ananth]