 Kamal - the man, his work
 On November 7, 1954, a boy was born at Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district. Hardly anybody would have guessed that this handsome little boy would one day conquer the film industry and carve his own niche among big actors. He is Kamal Hassan - versatality his right hand, experimentation, his left. The great man is now 50 years old, and
Chennaionline.com takes a look at his experiments and tries to analyse the genius in him.
Acting and Kamal Hassan
 He becomes the character he plays. The transformation of the young rebel to an old man in the epic 'Nayakan', the woman's role portrayed to perfection in 'Avvai Shanmugi', the typical Tamil Nadu village rowdy in 'Virumaandi' - these are some outstanding examples of his prowess as an actor. He played almost the same character in three films - '16 Vayathinile', 'Swathi Muthyam' (Telugu) and 'Guna' - yet each time he was different, and interesting. Some other brilliant portrayals are
'Hey Ram' and
'Mahanadi'.
His comedy
 That comedy is Kamal's forte is well known. Films like
'PKS',
'Panchathantiram' and the recent
'Vasool Raja
MBBS' have been rib ticklers and laugh riots. His dialogue delivery in all these movies has been excellent (not to forget Crazy Mohan's famed wit.) His choice of words ('naa dubakuru' in 'Vasool Raja MBBS'), his innocent expessions (in
'Vasool Raja..' and 'Panchathantiram') - have been top-notch. Critics came down heavily on him for acting in such 'low standard' movies. They should remember one thing - 'It doesn't matter whether you are a George Bernard Shaw, your smile and wit should never leave you.'
His concepts and ideas
 Quite contrary to his comedies, there has been a number of movies in which Kamal puts forth his ideas and proves the genius in him. Proving that Love is God in a fantastically-made 'Anbe Sivam', pleading against capital punishment in
'Virumaandi' are recent examples.
'Kamal Hassan is an atheist' was the idea of the average film-watcher. He disproved it brilliantly in
'Anbe Sivam'- a personal favourite. Thus goes a song in the movie- 'Yaar Yaar Sivam? Nee Naan Sivam' which translates into 'Who is God? You and me'. Kamal's concept of God is clearly revealed in this movie, and his genius shines through this whole movie.
Cinema is a medium through which one can express one's opinion and ideas - and Kamal Hassan has done that time and again.
Historian Kamal
 "If you dont know history, you dont know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know that its part of a tree," said Michael Crichton, renowned author. Kamal seems to have taken this advice seriously - and the result was a magnificient 'Hey Ram'. Bringing together a host of good Hindi actors and actresses, Kamal extracted the best out of them, and 'Hey Ram' is easily one of his best efforts. Though it failed to go down well with the audience, it was a critically acclaimed movie.
| Chennai
Online Recent Poll Results |
 |
Star
value
Who
is the leading hero of Tamil films?
Rajinikant - 27.61%(233)
Kamal Hassan - 35.19%(297)
Vikram - 22.51%(190)
Vijay - 14.69%(124) |
Kamal and get-ups
 He is a man known to put in a lot of effort in his appearance on screen. The bald schizophrenic in
'Aalavandan', with muscles that looked like tree trunks, was one character that required a Herculean effort - and that was done successfully by Kamal. He grew a moustache-cum-sideburns for
'Virumaandi'. A French beard for 'Panchathantiram'. A short haircut and rugged beard in 'Satya' and 'PKS'. All these were good efforts, but his best effort till date was his appearance in 'Aboorva Sagodargal'. How he managed to act as a dwarf in that movie remains a puzzle till date.
Musician Kamal
 Who can forget his awesome chanting of 'Yaar Yaar Sivam..' in 'Anbe Sivam'? And the superb rendering of 'Stranded on the Streets..' in the movie 'Nala Dhamayanti'? An excellent singer with all the classical touches, he is helped a lot by a deep voice.
Ilayaraja has been Kamal's all-time favourite. Kamal's eyes light up like a
school kid when he hears Ilayaraja's name. Such is the admiration Kamal has for the musical maestro.
The humility in Kamal
"When the Guru summons, the sishya obeys" - This is what Kamal said when K Balachander asked him if he could do a guest role in the Maddy-starrer
'Parthale
Paravasam'. Even now Kamal remains a student of K Balachander. Despite the fact that Kamal is a voracious reader and watches highy-intellectual movies of Kurosawa and Coppola, he has always been curious to learn new things and has had utmost respect for people in other streams.
Kamal's concept of Love
 You would have certainly seen/heard this song from 'Vasool Raja MBBS'- "Alwarpetta..". The first and second para in this song reveal Kamal's idea of love. He sings - 'Kaadhal Unnum Kadavul Illaiyada, Intha Yezhavu Ellam Kamam Seyium Kalagam Thanada...". This, essentially, sums up Kamal's concept of love. Once, in an interview, he said, "I fail to understand what this four letter word called 'love' is all about. It's all about a three letter word...".This is the only ideology of Kamal that most fans, especially young ones like me, will not agree with.
Awards and Kamal
The actor in him shot to limelight when he was a kid. He bagged the Best Child Artiste award for his performance in 'Kalathur Kannamma', in which he acted when he was just 5 years old (remember the song 'Ammavum Neeye Appavum Neeye'?). Other sterling performances that brought him awards were 'Moondram Pirai', 'Pesum Padam',
'Nayakan' and 'Indian'. His recent 'Virumaandi' won international recognition and acclaim.
It's a Kamal film
 Every film where Kamal acts is purely his movie, without doubt. He interferes with all the tasks involved; directing, screenplay, acting, music - which only shows that he is multi-faceted. His dream project, 'Marudunayagam', needs a lot of money and whether it will be made at all is a question which only Kamal can answer.
He's had his share of controversies. Some people have described him as a 'woman maniac'. Despite all this, Kamal Hassan continues to entertain us and enlighten us in every film of his. That's the major asset of Kamal Hassan - he can entertain and enlighten the audience with his movies. We wish him a happy birthday and also wish him the best for his forthcoming projects.
Srinivasa Ramanujam
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