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]

When Dasavathaaram released last year in Tamil and Telugu, the Hindi version was somehow left behind despite some publicity. Even when the movie broke records all over the world, Dashavtaar didn’t arrive. It has been shrouded in mystery till now and most fans gave up completely.

Then, for the past couple of months, there have been passing mentions of an upcoming release. Still, we weren’t excited really. Finally, now, Kamal announced the date as April 17 and is engaging in pre-release publicity in Delhi. Confirmation enough? We await with bated breath for Dashavtaar to light up the silver screen.

Watch the above video from IBNLive and read reports from Buzz18.com.

[With inputs from Ananth]

Last month, Kamal took the time to inaugurate Milan, the cultural festival of SRM University in Chennai. He spoke to a packed audience of students, with candour and friendly advice. Watch it on Sivaji TV.

Some fans managed to get in and click away. Apart from the above photo from Surajram, we have others from Ashwin.

More photos can be seen at Behindwoods, KollywoodToday.com and ChennaiOnline. Reports are available from The Hindu, The Times of India, Dinamani, Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz and ChennaiVision.com.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: Surajram, BehindWoods]

In February, Kamal participated in the annual FICCI FRAMES convention that he’s a regular at. This year, he had a keynote session titled “Focus South”. A video recording of it is available on Rajshri.com.

He gave out some very candid views and also took interviews on the sidelines. This is where Kamal confirmed that he’s remaking A Wednesday. Read reports from The Hindu, OneIndia and DNA.

One of the interviews Kamal did was with UTVI, part of the UTV group which is also behind A Wednesday. Kamal seems unprepared and disinterested. The interviewer tries to generalize Indian movies based on Bollywood and he keeps referring to Tamil and South Indian movies. Watch it here!

[With inputs from Ananth]

Finally, the confirmation comes from the horse’s mouth itself! On the sidelines of the FICCI FRAMES convention, Kamal affirmed that media reports were indeed true. The name of the remake is not really out though. The movie will feature Mohanlal while being directed by newcomer Chakri.

Chakri is the person who starred with Kamal in Dasavathaaram as Sairam (’Shit’ Ram!) and eons ago as the little boy assisting the photographer in Saagara Sangamam (Salangai Oli).

Read reports from Sify.com, ApunKaChoice.com, Thatstamil, ChennaiOnline, Paraparapu.com. and TopNews.in. If you missed the earlier speculation, get it from The Times of India, Sify.com, (1 | 2), OneIndia, Galatta.com, News Today (1 | 2), Behindwoods (1 | 2), IndiaGlitz, (1 | 2), Dinamalar, Webdunia, TeluguCinema.com and SpiceZee.

[With inputs from Ananth, Velmurugan Ranganathan]

Unfortunately, the string of deaths of prominent film personalities associated with Kamal continues into 2009. Veteran actor Nagesh passed away on January 31 and Kamal bid an unusually emotional farewell to him. As can be seen from the photos here, Kamal was in tears, treating the death as a personal loss. Watch the video on IndiaGlitz. Also check out their photos and those from Behindwoods, Sify.com and Chennai365.

The mutual admiration society of Nagesh and Kamal is well-known. Over the past two decades, Kamal consistently included him in his movies, with a wide range of characters from the chief villain in Apoorva Sagodharargal to a dead body in Magalir Mattum. Nagesh won possibly his only National Award for Nammavar. Rightfully, his last movie was Dasavathaaram.

Read reports from Express Buzz, Sify.com, News Today (1 | 2), Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Thatstamil (1 | 2), Dinamalar, Dinathathi and Nakkheeran to know more about their association.

Kamal will also participate in a condolence function organised by the actors’ association, about which we will hear more soon.

[With extensive inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Kamal was the star attraction at the Indian Screenwriters Conference (ISC) held in Mumbai, on November 13 and 14. In fact, it seemed like he was the lone person from the bottom half of India! Kamal promised to hold a similar conference in South India in March.

Organized by Film Television Institute of India (FTII) based in Pune, the conference featured leading names like Govind Nihalani, Amol Palekar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Rajkumar Hirani and Abbas Tyrewala. Kamal chaired one of the 10 sessions, titled “The uniqueness of the Indian script”. A first-hand report on PassionForCinema blog throws light on his charisma and sense of humour at the event. Ananda Vikatan has reported that students thronged him, especially praising him for Dasavathaaram.

Sify.com has put up a video of Kamal answering questions from reporters. Eros Entertainment too has a video news snippet on YouTube — Kamal is featured at the start and the end. Read a formal report from The Hindu. Check out photos at Bollywood Movie News Desi Blog, MastiOne.com and HamaraPhotos.

[Updated 21 Dec 2008: Included video from Sify.com]

[With inputs from Ananth]

As blogged earlier, Kamal participated in the fast organized by the Tamil actors’ association (Nadigar Sangam) to protest against the military attacks on Tamils in Srilanka. In his speech, Kamal was as mature as ever and displaying world view. He put across his views crisply.

Read reports from Sify.com, News Today, Behindwoods (1 | 2), ChennaiOnline.com, The Times of India, Dinamalar, Dinathanthi, Webdunia, TamilCinema.com and Maalaisudar. Check out photos from Sify.com, Behindwoods, KollywoodToday.com and IndiaGlitz. The latter has videos too, including that of Kamal’s speech.

[With extensive inputs from Ananth]

[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]