Just as we were rejoicing the audio / trailer launch and waiting eagerly for Dasavathaaram comes the dampener. Minor and insignificant political organizations continue the dangerous and irritating trend in India of gaining publicity at the sake of big movies. Of course, Kamal has been a favourite target due to his non-conformist / controversial ideas. One is worried about the negative publicity affecting the movie, similar to the ‘anti-Gandhi’ charges preceding Hey Ram

The matter has already reached the court! Here is the extensive media mileage derived by VHP, Hindu Munnani and other outfits that have sprung out of the blue: Behindwoods 1 | Thatstamil 1 | ChennaiOnline | MSN | Thatstamil 2 | IndiaGlitz | Buzz18 | Dinamalar | Dinathanthi | Behindwoods 2 | News Today | Webdunia.

As if politico-religious folks aren’t doing enough, we have undue criticism even in the blogosphere, without even the movie being released!

[With extensive inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

With the Dasavatharam trailer out on Kalaignar TV yesterday and making way to YouTube within a day, the barrage is here! With the audio release function just a few days away, the fever has caught on for sure.

The trailer provides enough fodder to analyse for several days to come. It is done Hollywood style, with extremely short glimpses of various characters portrayed by Kamal and other actors.

The music for the movie has raised doubts through the two years or so. Now, the background music score (by Devi Shri Prasad) is satisfactory, suiting the tone of the trailer.

Almost all that we have heard till now seem to be true. Yet, the story is not really clear. Also, we await watching nuances of each of the ten characters.

Overall, the trailer is fantasically done, increasing expectations while not giving out too much.

Editor’s Note:
Please welcome a new author, who calls himself Vadakkupatti Ramasaamy! He starts off with a fresh idea.

Kamal always features in Vivek’s comedy scripts!!! (I am not sure if they ever shared screen space together.)

Vivek’s comedy skills are very well known and so are his mimicry skills. This is entirely my observation. In every movie Vivek refers to Kamal either by dialogues or in some other form .There could be many reasons, they both had the same mentor when they started (K.B.), it could also mean Vivek’s admiration for Ulaga Naayagan. No matter what it means, his hit comedies always had something to do with Kamal. I have tried to list instances supporting my view.

1. Vivek refers to Kamal in Anniyan (in the train, where he advices Ambi “Kiss panradhukku enna Kamal sir-aya koottindu vara mudiyum?” )
2. In 12B, his auto garage is called “Aalavandhaan Auto Works”.
3. In Thiruttu Payale, in Australia, the minute he meets Jeevan’s gang Vivek inquires “Dasavathaaram eppo varum?”.
4. In Kireedam, he answers the phone by mimicking Kamal from VV as “Illa idhu SP Raghavan veedu”.
5. In the movie Viswanathan Ramamoorthy, he uses the Thenaali ‘bayam‘ sequence.
6. In Dhool, he uses the Aalavandhaan dialogue “Vilanga mudiyaa kavidhai naan” twice.
7. In the movie “Ullam Kollai Poguthey“, he enacts the Guna hospital sequence.
8. Even in a Vijay TV special programme where he dressed up as Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, he has someone saying “Idhu Dasavathaaram getup-aa, kiss scene undaa?“.
9. In the movie Parthiban Kanavu, he makes references to the movie Ek Duuje Ki Liye and also mimics a dialogue.
10. Everytime he is made to talk about Kovai Sarala, he definitely remarks “She was the heroine to Kamal Haasan” in many functions and interviews, including Vijay TV awards where he shared an award with Kovai Sarala.
11. Even in the recently released movie Singakutty, he enacts Punnagai Mannan suicide scene (featuring Kamal and Rekha), with Malavika. Kissing Malavika like Kamal did evoked chuckles in the theatres.

Though the instances may be just my view, yet they are the hit comedies by actor Vivek. Many of the instances may be rubbing Kalaignani in a wrong way (referring to kiss!!); yet he is always a part of Vivek’s comedy script, but in my personal opinion it shows Vivek’s keen observation of whatever Haasan depicts on screen. Maybe, someday they may share screen space together in a comedy and make it rib-tickling fun.

Kamal seems to have a done a whole set of interviews in Mumbai, as part of promotion for Dasavatharam. None of the interviews mention Dashaavtar though. Here are two more of them, one each for Hindustan Times and Times of India. The North Indian press seems to be obsessed with his personal life more than anything else, but Kamal is unfazed. Here are some highlights from the enjoyable interviews. As usual, Kamal proves to be a “quote factory”!

Both the times when you separated from your wives, there was another woman involved. Sarika led to your split with Vani and Simran caused a rift between Sarika and you.
Unless it’s a gay marriage, there’s always another woman involved.

All I can say is that marriage is a folly that is slowly becoming redundant. I have four vaccination marks. In our time, they were a necessary ordeal. It’s different today. I’m hopeful that one day like the vaccinations, the institution of marriage too will go away.

A broken marriage isn’t an offence or crime. Today I am happy, yes, but my idea of being settled is only inside the coffin. Till then everything is mobile.

Planning a comeback to Hindi films?
Oh definitely. There’s plenty of money. But I’m a sucker for applause. I want to reach out to a bigger market.

So where do you think you went wrong?
I didn’t try hard enough. To succeed here, I needed to live in Mumbai, make films consistently, not have a release every four-five years. Still, the audience was kind, they didn’t forget me.

But I make occasional appearances here when I want to reach out to larger audience. It’s a different story in Tamil Nadu. There a film sells on my name alone.

Ten roles, isn’t he increasingly becoming self-indulgent in his films? “Who isn’t,” asked Kamal defensively. “Aren’t great actors like Yusuf saab and Amitabh self-indulgent? Who else should I love more than me? Brad Pitt?”

My politics is private like sex. I don’t want to spoil the fun by talking about it.

There have been several conjectures about my 10 get-ups complete with graphics. I could use them for some other movie.

I liked Om Shanti Om and might have liked it even more had I been less informed about cinema and wasn’t looking into unnecessary details like focus and colour. I’m like a cook who cannot savour a good dish without checking on the salt and sugar.

We believe in two different kinds of cinema. It’s unfair to pit one against the other. Would you ask Marlon Brando what he thought about John Wayne’s films? Or compare (Arnold) Schwarzenegger’s biceps to Woody Allen’s brains? Come on! Mr Rajnikant has made some good films. I’ve done some commercially successful films too.

…Unless Rajnikanth and I agree to work for free and later take the trade collection, I don’t see it happening. But, yes, it will be interesting to work together.

It’s being said that your next film will be with Walt Disney studio.
We’re in talks.

Apparently, Mallika Sherawat threw a lot of tantrums.
I wouldn’t know. I was the writer and star of the film. ( Smiles ) Everyone treated me well.

Recently, Madan (cartoonist-cum-writer who is also a film critic) threw some light on Kokila, an old Kannada movie featuring Kamal and Shobha. Madan, as we know, is part of Kamal’s circle of friends. Back to the movie, it happens to be the directorial debut of Balu Mahendra, with whom Kamal later colloborated in many movies including the famous Moondram Pirai (Sadma). Madan categorises the movie as a must-watch. Let me add a couple of tidbits:

• Years after Kokila, Kamal worked in a movie co-starring Sridevi and Deepa. Reminiscing his earlier work with Balu Mahendra, it was titled Meendum Kokila (Back to Kokila). Of course, the title suited the story too.
• Kokila was also the debut of another star who made a name for himself in the Tamil movies of the 80s. He is Mohan — yes, the “man with the mike”! In Kannada moviedom, he is still referred to as “Kokila Mohan”!

Have any of you watched the movie? We would love to hear from you in the Comments section.

[Updated 20 Mar 2008: Meendum Kokila did not involve Balu Mahendra]

Balakumaran is another literary personality with whom Kamal has colloborated. Though not as much as Sujatha, Balakumaran too has made significant contributions. The most notable among them is Nayakan. Then, there is Guna, where his spiritual / religious inclination would have come into play.

In Balakumaran Pesukirar, a blog dedicated to him, there was a piece recently on his impressions of his work in movies. He specifically talks about Rajnikanth, Kamal and Ajith. He starts off on Kamal with:

Kamal Haasan is a wonderful artiste. Any person who sees him at close quarters for 10 minutes will certainly be astonished.

He goes onto to narrate an experience during the making of Guna. He talks about how Kamal continued a story discussion of the previous day, right from the moment he arrived (stepping out of his car), to illustrate how engrossed Kamal is in his work.

It is about creativity every moment. It is about movies every moment. That’s how Mr. Kamal Haasan thinks. Working with him is a pleasurable thing to do.

He ends saying that Kamal has high expectations of people working with him. Kamal himself admitted that he gets angry at times when he is disappointed with co-workers.

I am not an angry person. I am just fast.

Speaking about Ajith, he describes an incident when he explained a scene and Ajith refused to do it that way, saying that it was reminiscent of Kamal.

Enjoy the full post (if you can read Tamil).

[Via Ananth]

Kamal was interviewed for Puththagam Pesudhu (Tamil magazine on books), in its special edition released for the Chennai book exhibition held in January. Bubbling with enthusiasm and ideas, Kamal covers a wide range of topics related to books, movies, religion and society. In the end, the reader is astounded with his depth of knowledge and wisdom. Though we are unable to reproduce this very long interview or provide a link to it, here are some highlights.

• He encourages the efforts of the people behind this magazine.
• He talks about an aborted attempt with writer Balakumaran to provide meaningful stories as comic strips. He puts forward an idea of narrating stories through FM radio!
• He talks about his early inhibition to write in Tamil and how RC Sakthi helped him overcome it. He first wrote a short story titled “Ninaivugal” (Memories).
• Talking of the influences of books in his movies, he mentions Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. He says that Saket of Hey Ram was influenced by the character of Raskolnikov.
• He openly talks about his fascination for women and obsession with sex-related books during his adoloscent years. He also speaks about how he evolved into an atheist.
• He goes onto talk about his literary heroes incluing Jayakanthan, Jeyamohan and Sundararamasami. Regarding movies, he mentions his “Close net film society” efforts and is confident of changing the nature of movies in India.
• He praises fellow actor Sivakumar for not having a fans’ association. He also elaborately evaluates Sivaji Ganesan’s acting.
• During the interview, Kamal quotes a censored dialogue from Mumbai Xpress, which is based on Gandhi’s three monkeys!

Translation of some snippets:

• Since profound literature was boring, readers stuck to trivial magazines. As we forgot to mix it with honey, only honey bottles are being provided nowadays.
• Is the side-dish alone enough? Don’t we need to eat the main dish? People imagine that the side-dish alone would fill stomachs. That’s sad.
• There is this book called Tao of Physics. I like such ones…I promise I didn’t understand it.
• In my house too, there were people who read books. But in Brahmin households, English had the first priority. Only women used to talk about Tamil novels. Due to the interest of my mother and sister, I too got introduced to Tamil.
• I’m a pedestrian politician. I’m not searching for my leader in Delhi, but on the streets.
• When Ananthu died, two boxes full of books came to my house. I leaned on the box and cried out loud. That is my relationship with books.
• Great writers do contain themselves due to their desire to feature in Ananda Vikatan and Kumudham (top Tamil magazines). Sivaji did the same.
• Shouldn’t Sivaji and Satyajit Ray have worked together? Language is a reason. We don’t have a national language.
• Rajni came (without knowing Tamil), isn’t it? No one puts in efforts like his these days.
• The air-conditioner in my office runs because movies have become a business.

Let’s end with some seemingly outrageous statements on one of his pet topics, atheism:

• It is difficult to make me believe in God after all these years.
• If the religious heads didn’t keep dancing this way, a person like me wouldn’t have come to atheism.
• Ramanuja was an atheist too. Christ was an atheist too. In their times.

If you can get hold of the issue, enjoy another of Kamal’s dimensions.

[Via an unassuming source who wishes to remain anonymous]

[Click image to view larger version]

As expected, Kamal has sent out a press release paying homage to Sujatha. Here is the gist in English from The Hindu.

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

On the death day of Mahatma Gandhi, here’s more from Kamal on him — an excellent full-fledged article on RadioSargam.com. When we read it now, it seems to be a good addition to Hey Ram — maybe, a preface if we imagine the movie to be a book. Here are some excerpts:

What inspires me most is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi — his attitude and approach to life. I have always felt that icons should not be idolised and stuffed with their halos and angels floating around them. It robs me of the hope that I could be like them. It is only humanising them that gives me hope in my life.

Gandhi is my hope, my friend. Do not rob my kith and kin away from me by making them messiahs of God. They are humans like me and fallible. I like to keep them on the human level. That gives me hope.

…he had the audacity and the honesty and the integrity to publicly accept and contradicts his deeds, criticise his mistakes, change track and say ‘I am sorry’ in public. I think that is what I admire by the gentleman.

…the Mahatma is not a specific post. It is a metaphysical word for a better person.

Yes, it is an easier and better view when I sat away from it. I could understand what was the problem with Godse and Nehruji. That gives me the equipoise, which they could not have had.

Go on, read the whole article.

Here’s a very old piece from Rediff.com — a chat Kamal had with readers around the time of Hey Ram. Here goes Kamal, “at his wittiest best”:

…Have you ever considered making English movies? What would be your dream role?
Marudanaayagam.

Did you fear about the future when you are waiting for a breakthrough in filmdom during your adoloscence? And what would you have been now if had not been that lucky?
I never fear the unknown, if I hadn’t been that lucky I would have been a film buff.

Kamalji, how did you feel when you lost the address slip from Amala in Pushpak (last scene)?
That was not Amala’s address, don’t worry I know her address

How long do you think you can act in movies? Acting in one movie in a year, how many movies (like Hey! Ram) do you think you can give in your lifetime? Have you ever thought about this kind of planning ?
Yes, when you can think about it, you bet on your computer I would have thought about it a thousand times.

After Hey! Ram, what characters do you look forward to playing or enjoy acting?
One that gets the most applause:-)

How I wished you, the Indian/Hindustani/Bharatheeyudu, were there at KANDAHAR on IC 814, to ploy that martial art, one twist of the hijackers’ nerves, and they would have dropped dead!….No?
You are watching too many movies. NO?

Kamal, why do you make a point of having kissing scenes in your films lately??
You don’t ask that of songs? Do you like music so much? Or is it that you hate sucking face?

How I cried, watching you in Saagara Sangamam, especially when you sob holding Jaya Prada’s hand for getting a chance to perform at a cultural festival. What is it in you that makes viewers cry?
I hope it’s not my bad acting;-)

You had told that you had the habit of going through Karl Marx’s Das Capital every night before going to bed. What is the speciality of that book that attracted you?
Assured sound sleep within a few pages, I’m yet to complete it. I’m sure I’ll have company in many modern communists.

Thanks, I enjoyed it, but if I yawn, you’ll think I didn’t:-) I am because I got up at 5 and have to do that again tomorrow. *yawn* I loved it. Thank you *yawn* sorry all. Goodnight*yawn* Will be back sometime when I’m not this sleepy good *yawn* sorry night.

Enjoy the whole chat.