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.

After the many murmurs, it seems like the news is true — Kamal will be part of a bevy of stars featuring in Kuchelan. The news seems believable, considering that the movie is produced by his mentor, K Balachander’s production house. Kamal has provided guest appearances in many of his movies from Thillu Mullu to Paarthaale Paravasam. Speculation though ranges from Kamal shaking a leg with Rajni to presenting an award to the latter.

[With inputs from Ananth]

Okay, don’t get confused by the title! It indicates references to Kamal movies in the just-released U Me Aur Hum and some ‘inspiration’ from them too. Here are the instances I noticed:

• Ajay Devgan uses the funny exchange from Avvai Shanmughi (and Chachi 420) and Kajol uses it back on him later:
  

  “How do you know that?”
  “You told me.”
  “When?”
  “Just now!”

• There is a dialogue which mentions how even doctors are forgetful these days, leaving behind watches and even mobile phones inside the patient’s body after a surgery. Pammal K Sambandham, anyone?
• Then, we have a long monologue by Ajay Devgan which refers to Ek Duuje Ke Liye and the “Hum bane tum bane…” song in it.

Now, we don’t know who got inspired by Kamal movies — Ajay Devgan (also the producer / director) or Ashwani Dhir, the dialogue writer. But we can be happy to see references to Kamal in a well-intentioned movie.

We have been waiting for long to hear stuff from the horse’s mouth and here it comes! Kamal answers several questions lingering in our minds presently, through an interview to Mumbai Mirror. Highlights:

Jackie Chan is coming down for the music release of the film?
The producer Oscar is an old friend of Jackie and it is because of him that Jackie is coming down.

It took a long time to conceive?
The basic thing was that all of us, especially the director and I, had to decide to concentrate on just this film and we were ready to face the lack of averages. We both could have done four films each in these two years instead of Dasavatharam, but I must say that it was quite rewarding. The producer is already assured of making twice the money he has spent in Tamil Nadu itself and that’s quite an achievement.

It is said to be the costliest film in Tamil Nadu.
Yes it is the costliest film in the Tamil film industry. It has already managed to break even. I just hope that now it lives up to the expectation of audiences. It is a costly film as its stars, music director and the director are being paid a lot. The best part is that the producer was smiling at the start of the film and he still is smiling when it’s complete - which is very rare.

You were not very confident of Himesh earlier.
It’s not that I looked down upon him but yes, I wouldn’t have agreed to him doing the music at an earlier point. But he gave us what we wanted and that too in a very short time. I have no complaints now, whatsoever.

You have signed Hema Malini for your next film. Tell us more about the film.
Yes, I have signed her for the film. All I can say right now is that it’s a period film set in the 7th century. It will be a bi-lingual in Hindi and Tamil and I am writing the entire script in Tamil and Atul Tiwari is writing it in Hindi. Rahman will score the music.

There is always this talk about a war between you and Rajnikant over who is supreme in the South industry.
(Laughs) We decided to wage this war when we were very young. We always meet and take each other’s opinion about each other’s work. We give advice to each other too - though we don’t necessarily follow it. I always tell him what I am going to do next. So does he. We work like a team.

But does it pressurise you when his film and your film are up for release together - as in the case of Sivaji and Dasavatharam this time?
I guess the media plays it up. I think I play cricket and he plays football. It is not even the same field. We may be in the same arena but we play two different games.

But Mani Ratnam had a project for you two.
It was not for both of us acting together, but for one producing and one acting. Rajnikant and I act together? If Rajnikant and I act together what will be left to make the film with?

Enjoy the whole inteview!

That Kamal enjoys widespread admiration among peers in his industry is a known fact. Let’s take a peek into the range of people who have been floored by him.

Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi had this to say:

When I saw Kamal Haasan’s performance in Swatimuthyam (directed by K. Vishwanath), I was so moved that the next day I felt ridiculous to utter the same old routine dialogues for one of my commercial blockbusters…

Going up North, we encounter another big star, Govinda:

Kamal Hassan and Amitabh Bachchan are the kings.

Ashutosh Rana, who displayed his acting prowess in Sangharsh and Dushman, mentions Kamal in an interview:

I really have a high regard for Dilip Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Hassan.

Continuing with the North, even a new singer like Zubeen isn’t spared by the charm.

I love Kamal Haasan, Naseeruddin Shah and Marlon Brando. But Charlie Chaplin is my favourite.

His reach extends quite far.

New York actor Tirlok Malik, who played a suspected serial killer in a cameo with Haasan, said, It was such an honor to act with one of the greatest actors of India. Malik found, while observing Kamal Haasan acting in the movie over many days in New York, that Mr. Haasan makes acting seem so natural. Because any actor would be in awe of Mr. Haasan’s talent and body of work, Malik asked the star what makes a good actor. Mr. Haasan replied, modestly: Script, script, script.

Back to Tamil movies, director-turned-actor Cheran had to counter accusations of aping Kamal recently. Defending himself, he also heaped praise on Kamal’s achievements.

Shweta, who entralled us in Kutty as a child, declares herself a fan.

I am a complete Kamal Haasan fan. I adore all his movies. I really like Anbe Sivam, Virumaandi, basically all his movies.

Rising star Bharath joins the bandwagon.

He says, “It is no doubt a difficult thing to get ready with the make-up for the role. However, I keep myself enthusiastic thinking about Kamal Haasan, who takes several pains to don different make-ups”.

He also says that he had seen Kamal Haasan’s Enakul Oruvan more than several times to study the body language and mannerisms of a Nepali.

“No doubt, I am inspired by Kamal Haasan. He is my role model”, he adds.

Ravivarman, who worked with Kamal in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu and Dasavatharam had an interesting anecdote.

Listening to Ravi hum the tune, composer Thaman suggested Ravi sing it himself. “The song and Vairamuthu’s lyrics for it fascinated me. So I went ahead. I made my mentor Kamal Haasan listen to it, without telling him that it was in my voice. But he guessed it, praised me and suggested a few corrections in my diction. I rehearsed thoroughly and went back and recorded the piece again,” he says.

Let’s end with Karan, once again, whose relationship with Kamal is well-known.

From that scene till the end, Kamal taught me how to go about acting. Any misgivings vanished with the way he greeted me warmly every morning, as he stepped out of the car, a Contessa in those days.

[With inputs from HAL]

Aamir Khan has been widely appreciated for Taare Zameen Par, a movie which marked his directorial debut. Kamal too joined in, when he announced the national-level Best Debutant Director Award on behalf of the Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation. He was accompanied at the press conference by long-time friends Gollapudi Maruthi Rao and Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao.

IndiaGlitz has several photos and a video. KollywoodToday.com too has photos. This news received wide coverage. Read reports from MSN, Sify, OneIndia, CineSouth and Chennai365.

Maruthi Rao, readers would recollect, featured in many Kamal movies including Hey Ram, Indrudu Chandrudu (Indran Chandran) and Swathi Muthyam (Sippikkul Muthu). This award is instituted in memory of his son, Srinivas, who died under tragic circumstances. This incident was used by Kamal in Anbe Sivam, with a reference to ‘tsunami’.

[Based on inputs from Ananth]