It’s quite some time since we looked back at an old interview of Kamal. This one from Screen was done around 1995, when Kurudhippunal was out. The interview covers a wide range of topics, from direction to Hindi movies and from Sarika (his then-wife) to penning an autobiography. As usual, it is full of straight-talking.

As a rule, all interviews are meant for effect. That’s the way it should be. Celebrities should preserve a side to them that is not for public.Over the years, I have mastered the golden blend where I don’t lie, but don’t tell the complete truth either.

I cannot be accused of showing off in Nayakan and definitely not in Mahanadi. Maybe this has to do with the phase an actor goes through. I had a lot at stake during EDKL and I didn’t want to go unnoticed. I think the effort showed. Once the actor is assured of the applause, he settles down. So critics who say that Kamal Haasan is narcissistic are those who’re not updated on Kamal Haasan. I take my critics seriously. And if I’ve to take my cues from them, they had better be constructive and intelligent.

I gave up Hindi films too easily. I compared it to South cinema and became disillusioned.

I do a retake only when I can convince the director that what I have in the offing is better than the original. Mind you, I’m not always right.

I wanted to be the master. I wanted to dictate, not be dictated. I wanted to pursue films as a dream, not as a nine-to-five job.

I’m never self-conscious about anybody. My problem with Sarika working behind the scenes was of a different kind. Sarika and I are too independent in our thinking and therefore often tend to disagree. She’s an excellent worker, she’s highly dedicated and disciplined and once on the sets does not indulge in playing Kamal Haasan’s wife.

I’d have preferred it if there was more output. Somehow, a lot of time gets lost in floundering…The ideal situation would be to have at least four releases a year.

…Mahanadi is my all-time favourite, so is Kurudhipunal, but the credit for Kurudhipunal should go more to the producer, than the actor. Amongst my old films, I think I’m competent in Sagar Sangamam…I’d say that Nayakan and Thevar Magan are complete films.

…I should have directed a film 10 years ago. According to my friends I’m overdue by almost 20 years.

…To write an autobiography I’ll have to lie and the kind of truths I know will hurt too many people. Exposing so many people is vanity. I might do it some time later, but not now. I’m not ready for it as yet.

Though I pretend to be organised, I am not. Like most successful men, I have all the trappings of punctuality but it is restricted to checking the wristwatch for an appointment.

For certain films, it’s a waste of time to go into an indeph character study. These are roles that don’t demand energy.

The film is inspired from Govind Nihalani’s Drohkaal. The initial agreement was that we’d dub the film in Hindi after it was released down South. The director however had second thoughts. He said that the distributors were asking for refund from territories where Drohkaal hadn’t fared well.

I’m not the happy kind. I’ll never settle down for happiness.

Read Part I and Part II of the whole interview.

As in many other places, Dasavathaaram has broken records in Srilanka too. After setting a record of 50 days in 10 theatres, it marches onto its 75th day.

It is important to note that the film business is different in the small island nation that is also torn apart by the Tamil Eelam conflict. This also has a direct effect as seen in the above newspaper ad (thanx to Mayooran and Karthick of Kamal Haasan Orkut community). The shows in Jaffna are scheduled before 6 p.m., the time at which curfew begins.

One would also remember that Kamal’s Guru had a record-breaking run in Srilanka in the early 80s.

Kamal has never openly talked about how the dwarf character of Appu in Apoorva Sagodharargal (Apoorva Sahodarulu / Appu Raja) was done. But now, Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao, the director, has revealed most of the ’secrets’, almost after 20 years.

Rao mentions special shoes, using a trench, masking technique and also artifical legs. He also throws light on the efforts put in by Kamal. Read the whole report from The Hindu.

Still, we await the short video on the making which Kamal had promised to release.

We have been hearing of Dasavathaaram setting various records around the world. But here’s some solid proof of the interest it generated worldwide, thanks to a fellow Kamal fan and blogger (maruthanayagam.blogspot.com). On the day of release, June 13, it was the 100th most searched item on Google! Google, of course, is the world’s favourite search engine. This site provides statistics for USA (and possibly some other parts of the world too).

Even on Google’s India site, Dasavathaaram dominated the day. Of course, it’s sad to see search terms like “dasavatharam movie download”.

Not much information has come in since the last post on Marmayogi, especially the authentic kind.

There has been some talk of the music by AR Rahman. In a function felicitating him, we heard that Kamal sent in a video message. With South Africa, Switzerland, Latin American music and a story set in the 7th century in the mix, Kamal and/or the media keep our heads spinning.

Also, Kamal had expressed his desire to have Amitabh Bachchan on board. The efforts don’t seem to have fructified yet.

Meanwhile, after pounding us for long with Kajol, there was a brief flutter caused by the media throwing up the name of Shriya Saran. Finally, it seemed like a rumour circulated by the lady herself for the sake of publicity.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Post-release, Kamal visited Hyderabad and Kochi to meet the press and promote Dasavathaaram. Accompanied by KS Ravikumar at both locations, Kamal provided interesting insights.

IndiaGlitz reported in text and video formats on the Hyderabad event. Watch the long video to enjoy Kamal’s answers to several questions from the media. Chennai 365 covered the meet, wonderfully capturing an array of his expressions in the form of photos. Rediff.com, Sify.com, TeluguCinema.com and Behindwoods carried some of the highlights of the Q&A. Sitting in the Taj Krishna hotel, Kamal declared that Dasavathaaram had received the biggest opening in his career.

At Kochi, Kamal revealed that the incident in MGR’s life was an inspiration for Avtaar Singh getting cancerous cells removed by a bullet shot in Dasavathaaram. Read reports from The Hindu, The New Indian Express and IndiaGlitz.

[With inputs form Ananth]

Here are some more articles on Kamal and Dasavathaaram that appeared on Rediff.com.

The first one is an interview with Thota Tharani, one of the three art directors. He shares his experiences along with some drawings, including scenes in the Oval Office and involving the Tsunami. Below are a couple of his thoughts on Kamal. Enjoy the whole article!

I have done more than eight films with Kamal, and between us, we have won 5-6 major awards including national awards for Nayagan and Indian. We also won the state awards for Raja Parvai and Sagara Sangamam.

Kamal is unlike any other artiste I have seen. That is why I was asked to create a story board for Dasavathaaram. Though I am not a story board artiste, Kamal and I sat together and did this story board on the tsunami.

Then, we have an interview with yet another Kamal fan, Malayalam actor Jayasurya. One would remember that he did a small but effective role in Vasool Raja MBBS. Highlights:

He is, without a doubt one of the greatest actors we have in Indian cinema as well as the world.

He has born to be an actor, no doubt about that. He takes only seconds to become the character. He improvises the mannerisms and dialogues as the shots are being canned. In fact, I did ask him about this and was surprised when he said that it was one trait he learnt from Malayalam cinema.

Movies are important to him like the air we breathe. His passion for the medium is truly commendable, and perhaps that gives him the strength to try out new experiments. He has set a different standard for himself and is a league apart from almost every other actor in the business.

Finally, Rediff.com came up with a slideshow on Kamal’s interesting ‘avatars’, which though slipshod, is worth looking at.

[With inputs from A1]

Kamal seemed to have gone underground after the April 25 Dasavathaaram audio release function and now finally emerged out of it. The reason was another such function, that of Jayamkondaan, starring Vinay and Bhavan, and directed by Kannan. The event featured many other industry personalities including Mani Ratnam.

Kamal welcomed corporate entities into the industry, in response to concerns raised by one of the speakers. As usual, he displayed his foresight and adaptability. An interesting tidbit that surfaced in the event was that Jeyam Ravi had worked as assistant director to Suresh Krissna in Aalavandhaan.

Read reports from Sify.com, Yahoo, Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz and News Today.

Kamal’s get-up seemed intact, except for a thicker beard than earlier.

Check out more photos at Behindwoods, KollywoodToday.com and IndiaGlitz.

[With extensive inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

The audio launch of Dasavathaaram (note the change in spelling) is just about a day away and information has been flowing for the past several days. We start first with scanned images of the invitation, shown above and below. It clearly shows the time, venue and participants, confirming some earlier news and smashing several rumours.

Then, we have the scanned copy of the audio cassette’s cover. We can see the list of songs, along with credits. Again, we have several things cleared up.

Click for larger image

Finally, some more pieces of news:

• Amitabh Bachchan refused Oscar Ravichandran’s offer to take care of all expenses for his visit.
• Sify.com carried Asin’s interview on the occasion.
• The Hindu’s report on the audio launch, Karunanidhi being impressed, etc. See other reports from Times of India, MSN Tamil, Thatstamil, IndiaGlitz, CineSouth and Chennai365.

[With inputs from Ananth]

As we await the release of Dasavatharam, here are some details that have trickled in:

• Anil Pemgirikar, one of the make-up artistes involved in the movie, talks about the pains undertaken by Kamal and the crew. Check out the IndiaGlitz article for more, including information about re-recording by Devi Sri Prasad.
  

  Each and every role demanded a lot of hard work and pain to the actor, informs Anil Pemgirikar, the co-make up artist. “For example, for the role of a 98 year old lady, the makeup process consumed eight hours per day. We shot for 45 days for this scene. But, you know, the scene runs only for fifteen minutes in the film”, says Anil.

  Similarly, informs Anil, Kamal watched all possible clippings of President George W. Bush for the scene featuring him and the unit shot the scene for 60 days. The screen time for the scene is just seven minutes.

• KS Ravikumar talks about his joy of working on the movie, special effects, Tsunami sequence, etc.
• Galatta.com reports that Brian Jennings, who has worked on movies like Scary Movie and Mortal Kombat, has designed the special effects for Dasavatharam.
• One of the Tamil magazines has published portions of the lyrics of a song, possibly picturised on Avtar Singh, as seen in a recent still.