With a record 137 awards, he is an actor, writer, director, and producer, and it won’t be a surprise if he masters every department in filmmaking, from art direction to cinematography to editing to costume to makeup. He is a trained Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancer and has sung in over 50 films. If one were to list the achievements of Kamal Haasan and his contributions to Indian cinema, a book would have to be written. Perhaps that is why filmmaker and author K Hariharan decided to write Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey, a book exploring some 50 of the 245 films across five languages the legendary actor has been a part of.
In 2010, during a three-day retrospective of his films at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi, Kamal Haasan stated that his best work would come in the following decade. When someone like him, who won the President’s Gold Medal for acting at the age of six (Kalathur Kannamma, 1960), makes such a declaration, we can be rest assured it is not to be taken lightly. Some of his best films––Vishwaroopam 1, Vishwaroopam 2, Papanasam, Vikram, and the latest Kalki 2898 AD––all released in the last decade. With Shankar’s Indian 2 and Indian 3, and Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2 in the pipeline, the 70-year-old star is proving why he lives up to what everyone calls him – “Ulaganayagan” or The Universal Hero.
Kamal Haasan (left) and Amrish Puri in Chachi 420.
Kamal Haasan is a self-taught man who learned and honed his craft over the decades working with the best of Indian directors in the first few decades of his career, like K Balachander, Balu Mahendra, K Vishwanath, Bharathiraaja and Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. Having worked in 35 films with K Balachander, the actor did many movies that were ahead of its time, and has continued this legacy throughout his career.
Kamal Haasan plays villain in Kalki 2898 AD. (Photo: Kalki 2898 AD trailer/Vyjayanthi Network YouTube)
Haasan’s repertoire of films is extremely vast and diverse; he has worked in all genres––romance to thrillers to sci-fi to comedy––and touched upon many socially relevant themes as well. His 1973 debut film as an adult, for instance, Arangetram was about a young woman from a conservative family who becomes a prostitute to support her family. Pushpaka Vimana (1987) was a silent film, and Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989) saw him play a dwarf. He stunned every cinema lover playing 10 roles in Dasavatharam (2010), a feat no other Indian actor has dared. In fact, seven of his films, including Saagar (1985), Swati Mutyam (1986), Nayagan (1987), Thevar Magan (1992), Kuruthipunal (1995), Indian (1996) and Hey Ram (2000) have been sent to the Academy Awards from India in the Best Foreign language category.
Haasan considers his father his guru, as he has said that without his backing, he would not be where he was now, but K Balachander was his mentor and the man who moulded and taught him the ropes of acting. He recently said about the Apoorva Ragangal director on his birth anniversary, “The changes he has made in my life, and many others similarly, are unforgettable. I have learnt many things professionally and also how to be disciplined in life.”
The Vikram star never shied away from experimenting or pushing boundaries when it came to characters. He also introduced many firsts in Indian and Tamil cinema which involved technical aspects as well. While Haasan’s acting chops are undisputed, his knowledge of the technical aspects of cinema is unparalleled too. Sample this. For the first time in Indian cinema, the 42-year-old actor used prosthetics to play the 70-year-old Senapathy in his 1996 hit film Indian. His 1994 film, Mahanadhi, was the first Indian film to use Avid editing software, while Vishwaroopam (2013) was the first Indian film to use the new Auro 3D sound technology. Aalavandhaan (2001) was the first Indian film to use a motion control rig to capture the movement of pictures – the list is endless.
Kamal Haasan in Virumaandi.
Haasan has always had a strong voice when it came to issues that affected society like politics, religion or social issues. He is extremely self-assured as an actor and this extends to his opinions and acts in his public life, possibly why he started his political party Makkal Needhi Maiam in 2018. And as anticipated, from acting, the Virumandi star turned to direction, and in 1997 he made his directorial debut with the Hindi remake of his superhit Tamil film Avvai Shanmugi (Chachi 420). His best directorial is perhaps Hey Ram (2000), a historical drama with strong shades of Indian politics. Showcasing an alternate history of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu) and the Partition of India, the movie received much critical acclaim and was hailed as one of the landmark films in Indian cinema. When Rahul Gandhi asked why he made Hey Ram, Haasan replied, “It was my way of saying sorry to my Bapu. I have to take the onus of the crimes, including what happened in your family. We let it happen.”
Kamal Haasan has faced a fair share of failures too. What resonates with the audience is that he does not let failure hinder his future endeavors. Rao, in Hariharan’s book, summed it up best: “More than the success of his films, Kamal’s passion, commitment, and artistry make him unique, especially in a community of very ‘ordinary’ standards. He is constantly in the pursuit of perfection; every time he makes a film, he wants it to be better than his previous one.”
Rao also said, “In life as well as in films, Kamal has had successes and failures. But he never let either one get to him. The sense of humor with which he looks at the world gives him the required detached equanimity. For him, conviction is more important than calculation.”
This encapsulates Kamal Haasan, the greatest actor in India, the true pan-Indian star, who relentlessly pursues his mission to deliver path-breaking cinema to an audience that continually showers him with love and respect.
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