Kamal Haasan: A new dawn in Tamil Cinema
Padma Iyer [August 12, 2009, 11:16:24 AM]
Randor Guy on Kamal Haasan, as the actor completes 50 years in the movie business today
During August 1960, a historic event took place in Tamil cinema with the release of Kalathur Kannamma. Produced by A.V. Meiyappan, M. Kumaran and Arun Veerappan, and directed by successful filmmaker A. Bhim Singh, it was written by Javert Seetharaman adapting an English play which dealt with husband-wife relations and the plight of their child.
Playing the kid rose a new star on the movie horizon, a cherubic handsome little boy named Kamala Hasan who stole the hearts of everybody who saw the movie or even heard about it. This was the debut of the soon-to-blossom forth multilingual multi-pronged movie personality who renamed himself Kamal Haasan.
He played the role of a boy who grows up in an orphanage and a prayer song filmed on him “Ammavum neeye, appavum neeye” (music R. Sudharsanam, voice, well known ‘baby voice’-- playback singer M.R. Rajeswari. She is the daughter of a noted stage and screen actress of yesteryears T.V. Rajasundari Bai.) The song, with much meaning and captivating melody and the manner it was picturised, evoked sympathy and elevated the newcomer to overnight fame and name. Reviewing it in the now sadly-defunct movie magazine Movieland, its editor K. Vasudevan wrote in glorious terms about the debut of the charismatic boy, glowingly predicting a great future which came true soon after. Not surprisingly, the film ran for 100 days, thanks to the newcomer. Besides KH, the film also had Gemini Ganesh, Savithri, Devika, T.S. Balaiah, Asokan, S.V. Subbaiah, L. Vijayalakshmi and Manorama, but folks remember only Kamal Hasan, whose name has become inseparably associated with Kalathur Kannamma.
(Not many are aware that Kamal was introduced in this film by T. Prakasha Rao, famed multilingual moviemaker [Padagotti, Utthamaputhran, Maathar Kula Manickam, Engalalum Mudiyum (written by this writer), Charanadasi (Telugu), Sasural (Hindi)] who directed a good part of Kalathur Kannamma. For some reasons, he opted out of the film after more than halfway and Bhim Singh took over. (Prakasha Rao told this writer that in an excellent gesture, Bhim Singh offered to would put his name (Rao) in the credits, but Prakasha Rao refused and of course, Bhim Singh’s name appeared in the credits.)
He played another little boy’s role in an MGR-Devika starrer Anandajyothi directed by A.S.A. Sami and V.N. Reddi. In this film too, he made an impact.
As he grew into a handsome young man, he played the role of a teenager in a controversial movie Unarchigal in which he was featured with Srividya. The story of a naïve but sexually mature boy contracting STD, this film ran into censor problems, and few remember it today.
He came with a bang in K. Balachandar’s Arangetram (1973) and it will be no exaggeration to say that he never looked back. Indeed, he went on to conquer new peaks of success in Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi cinema. Some of his mention-worthy films in these languages are Maro Charitra, Ek Duje Ke Liye, Sagara Sangamam, Vishnu Vijayam.
Nayagan, inspired by The Godfather, elevated him even higher. Besides acting, he learnt the ropes of screen writing, choreography, direction and production and revealed his expertise in all these fields in movies which are too many to mention.
In spite of his success, some critics and well-wishers feel that he has not yet tapped the enormous potential still brimming inside him. He is still young and maybe the ensuing years will witness fresh blossoming.
