Birth Anniversary of the Legend - KAMAL HAASAN

I am talking about no one but the great Kamal Haasan, The Legend of Indian Cinema.

It was on this day, on 1954, Kamal Haasan was born in a lesser known village named "Paramakudi, Tamil Nadu."

He entered the cinema at this age of 4 and now at the age of 57, he still strives to bring out his master piece.
Kamal Haasan's 50 years completion in Tamil Cinema was recently celebrated and the praises made by artists across the South Indian Cinema was totally mind blowing.

Can a man be so dedicated and committed to his field?

No wonder Kamal sir is my role model not only for his attitude towards his career but also because of his philosophy.

He always wants his fans to think and so are his movies. His knowledge on wide range of subjects made him to be named as a Living Encyclopedia by his co-artistes. He is a method actor and has several other faces in Indian Cinema. He has acted in over 7 languages and has won laurels ranging from 4 National Film Awards and numerous Film Fare Awards. He is also the sole personality who has starred in largest number of films that have been submitted by India to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film category. Apart from acting, he has also showed his talents as play back singer, screen play writer, director, lyricist and choreographer.

Kamal Haasan is actively involved in several social service activities through his fan clubs under the banner Kamal Narpani Iyakkam. (Kamal Welfare Association). His fan clubs are involved in organising blood and eye donation drives and donating education materials to school students. He received the first Abraham Kovoor National Award for his Humanist Activities and Secular Life in 2004. He has turned his fan associations into social service organisations. He was also the project ambassador of Hridayaragam 2010, a fundraiser to set up an orphanage for HIV/AIDS-affected children.


His personal life was not as rich and happy like his cinema life. He ended up in 2 marriages that ended up in divorces. Now he lives together with Gauthami (another actress from Tamil Cinema). He seems to be happy spending his life with her.

I and many more fans of him wish him a joyous and more prosperous life ahead filled with love, happiness and success. Love Long Kamal Sir.


His 10 different roles in hos magnum opus Dasavatharam





Comments

  1. Dasavatharam is most certainly NOT his magnum opus

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  2. Ya, u r right..
    His magnum opus was Maruthanayagam which now is shelved..!!

    Hope he directs it soon...

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  3. I am not really sure about that. Marudhanayagam is his dream project. But would it be his masterpiece? I dont think so. As far as i understand, his sole priority over the last decade has been to endorse the fact that he is the last bastion of quality film making in tamil cinema. Kamal has become more of a narcissist offlate. Take Dasavatharam for eg, behind his decision to play 10 roles, i'm sure, there would have been a great deal of craving to prove that he is a better actor than Sivaji Ganesan, who played 9 roles in navarathri. This alone, might as well have been the sole reason for taking up 10 roles.

    Not that i dont like Kamal. I am his greatest fan. But again, just retierating the fact that he is not the Kamal he was until 10 years before. Movies like Aval Appadithan, Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu, Aboorva Raagangal, Nizhal Nijamaagiradhu, Hey Ram...are the ones worthy enough to be called his magnumopus not the shit he makes now.

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  4. I wouldn't call the movies that are coming up now as "shit"
    I accept that he has changed his track, but all for some good..

    You know what happened to ARR...!!

    I mean, he was not rewarded for his classical, soft music like in Roja and movies that followed it, but he got Oscars for his Jazz and Peppy music (the style he changed just before he got Oscars).

    I am sure, Kamal is upto something big...!
    Whatever it is, he is a great actor and your facts about narcissism and Kamal, I can't agree man. Thats just one movie you are talking about.

    Look at Unnai Pol Oruvan and Manmadhan Ambu, those are not such great movies, just ordinary ones. The former showed a great deal of performance whereas the latter was a normal one.

    He still follows his suit of one serious subject and one comedy subject. And mostly the serious subject movies pay him real well...!!

    Let it be anything man, Kamal is great, Beyond anyone in Indian Cinema..!!

    AGREED????

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  5. Now that you have brought ARR, i cant resist throwing a few words about him. ARR is a very good music director, but not a genius. He started out by making songs that were brilliant. At that time many would have thought he was the best thing Indian cinema produced and even today many think about him the same way. But not me. Looking a little more closely into what he has done, you would find that, he did nothing more than incorporating western elements, and that brilliantly, into our music. At that period there was not a single trace of western instruments/music in our music industry. ARR was intelligent to have done what he did. But he is not that kind of a person who can be called a music "genius". If you are searching for a genius in music, Ilayaraja is the man.
    Ilayaraja's music even today is prodigious. But ARR today is not entirely sure what he does. Because he is not a genius musician albeit he is the only one who is worthy of this legendary position that he is in, next to Ilayaraja.

    So, I, who thought Kamal was an Ilayaraja, am afraid that he is turning into an ARR craving for worldwide recognition.

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  6. Oh, and in Manmadhan Ambu(which i think is the worst comedy flick Kamal ever made), the song Neelavaanam's video has a reverse narrative. While the video was shot, Kamal mouthed the words of the song from behind. Well...does'nt this again seem to be an act of trying to prove what a gethu actor he is. I mean..i accept it is a mind-trip for anyone to mouth an entire song in reverse. Only Kamal can do that in a jiffy. But when the situation does'nt ask for it, what's the need unless you are desperate to show off that you are the best? Moreover, i think Dasavatharam, which was written by Kamal himself, was ruined from becoming an epic like Hey Ram because of his narcissism. It would have been way better if importance was given to the great story that it was rather than the 10 roles.

    Looking back at some of his early movies like aval appadithan, the way he underplays throughout the movie, and that very very naturally, makes you think he is the Al Pacino of India. But, in contrast, in movies like Varumayin Niram Sivappu he is a personification of real-life exasperated hypochondriaic youth. That makes you think, he is better than Brando or Paul Newman. Shitt man! He was the best actor in the world those days!
    Kamal of the 70's or 80's makes today's Kamal look like a speck of dust. The Kamal I admire has long ceased to exist.

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  7. WoW...

    Hey come on man, but ARR of the 90's and early 2000 can be surely called genius..

    I mean, those songs were I dunno how to call them..
    Something so ecstasic and lovely..

    But now, he has changed his trakc and as you said, he starts to make music for the globe which doesnt suit his style.

    And ya about your comment on Dasavatharam and Manmathan Ambu, you are right almost in a way that the story went behind and Kamal came in front. Thats right buddy...!!

    But i guess thats what Kamal is, now that he is bringing out his other talents, he needs to show the world desperately something different and something that has not been done. To attract audience no denial. He wants people to know what he is capable of and whats wrong in that??

    Kamal now can never go back to the 70s and 80s Kamal Haasan, but this Kamal is not that bad dude. Except the importance he gives to himself. I am sure in the future movies, he realizes this mistake and corrects himself.

    But Can you deny there is no good artist like Kamal in India??

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  8. I dunno, i really cannot come to call ARR a genius. I feel his music to be too repetitive. But more than anything else, he does'nt have that desi, indian touch in his music unlike ilayaraja. If i want western music, i have a gazillion european/american bands that are eons ahead of ARR.


    You say Kamal does all this to show people what he is capable of. But what he is capable of was better visible in the movies that he made until 10 or 20 years back. Those were the movies made out of sheer passion towards film making. There was Balachandar, Rudraiah, Mahendran, Kamal, Rajini, Ilayaraja, Balu Mahendra....and Tamil movies were looking to be evolving to a credible level. Ours could have become similar to that of Korean/Iranian film industries. Directors like Mahendran, KB, Balu Mahendra were very unique and i would say were as intelligent as Ingmar Bergman or Felini. And in acting there was Kamal and pre-masala-fied-Rajini who were the upcoming best. But now, after 2 decades, only Mani Rathnam and Kamal have survived this revolution of intense commercialization. And even they are not as good as they were before.
    Kamal movies of these days, i feel, inspite of their extravagance, have no space for showcasing his acting talents. Because, he makes films not out of passion, but to prove something to the people. After all, men are successful only if they are motivated by the desire to follow their passion, not by the desire to beat/prove something to others.

    Have you ever had an electric-shock-up-your-arse moment upon seeing a Kamal movie post 2000? NO. I havent. Yes, movies like Anbe Sivam had great acting(and it was a great movie). But the Kamal-idiosyncracy is beyond the make-up infested roles. There was something more naturally flowing through his body those days that defined acting, that has taken a huge step behind.

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  9. Well agreed...!!

    True....

    I get the picture buddy...!!

    Even I wish I could see Kamal of Naayagan, 16 Vayathinile, Varumayin Niram Sivappu, Anbe Sivam and many more such movies.

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