Kamal Haasan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan Born 7 November 1954 (age 56) Paramakudi, Madras State, India Residence Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Occupation Film actor, producer, director,screenwriter, songwriter,playback singer, lyricist Years active 1959–present Vani Ganapathy Spouse (1978-1988) Sarika Haasan (1988-2004) Partner Gouthami Tadimalla (2004-present) Shruti Haasan (born 1986) Children Akshara Haasan (born 1991) Kamal Haasan (Tamil: கமலஹாசன்; born 7 November 1954) is an Indian film actor,screenwriter, and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. [1] [2] He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting. [3] [4] [5] Kamal Haasan has won several Indian film awards, including four National Film Awards and numerous Southern Filmfare Awards, and he is known for having starred in the largest number of films submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[6] In addition to acting and directing, he has also featured in films as ascreenwriter, songwriter, playback singer, choreographer and lyricist.[7] His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. In 2009, he became one of very few actors to have completed 50 years in Indian cinema.[8] After several projects as a child artist, Kamal Haasan's breakthrough into lead acting came with his role in the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal, in which he played a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. He secured his second Indian National Film Award for his portrayal of a guileless school teacher who tends a child-like amnesiac in 1982's Moondram Pirai. He was particularly noted for his performance in Mani Ratnam's Godfatheresque Tamil film Nayagan(1987), which was ranked by Time magazine as one of the best films of all time.[9] Since then he has gone on to appear in other notable films such as his own productions, Hey Ram andVirumaandi, as well as the Dasavathaaram, in which he appeared in ten distinct roles. [edit]Career [edit]Early career: The 1960s Kamal Haasan as seen in his debut,Kalathur Kannamma (1959) After shifting from Paramakudi with his family for his mother's medical treatment, Kamal was enrolled at Holy Angels school in T. Nagar. As a child, he became interested in dance.[10] There are two versions regarding his entry into films. One version has it that, as a little boy, he accompanied a doctor who went to treat an ill woman at the home of movie mogul A V Meyyappa Chettiar (father of AVM Saravanan). On hearing loud shouting from a first-floor tenant of the bungalow, the doctor became uneasy. Young Kamal Haasan strode up the stairway to ask the noisemaker not to shout over the phone as someone was ill, leaving the person astonished. An impressed Meyyappa Chettiar later provided him an entry into films.[11] The other version is that when young boy Kamal accompanied a family doctor of Meyyappa Chettiar to his house, producer AVM Saravanan noticed Kamal as a hyperactive child. He took him over and introduced to AV Meyyappa Chettiar who was looking for a young boy to play a role in the movie Kalathur Kannamma. [12] Kamal Haasan made his film debut as a four-year-old child artist in Kalathur Kannamma, which was directed by A. Bhimsingh and released on 12 August 1959. He was cast along with the veteran Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan, winning the National Film Award for Best Child Artist.[13] He acted as a child actor in five other Tamil films in the subsequent few years co-starring with Sivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran. On seeing Kamal's interests in arts, his parents supported and helped him join the TKS Nataka Sabha, an old-style theatre. T. K. Shanmugam was Kamal's guru in the theatre. During this period, he continued with his school education at Hindu High School in Triplicane while still being a prominent part of the theatre troupe. He learned acting by watching his guru Shanmugam perform on stage and acquired his interest in make-up from Shanmugam. [10] [14] [edit]1970 - 1975: The rising actor Kamal Haasan - Early days Following a nine-year hiatus from films, Kamal Haasan returned to the industry with the hope of joining the technical crew in films but was selected to appear in supporting roles in several films. He re-entered the film industry playing his first adult role in Maanavan, appearing only for a dance sequence. It was followed by supporting roles in films such as, Annai Velankani for which he was an assistant director, Arangetram and Sollathaan Ninaikkiren, both co-starring Sivakumar. He played a villain in the film Sollathaan Ninaikkiren and his first character role was in Aval Oru Thodar Kathai, another female-centric film of K. Balachander. After a few more films in Tamil, he did Naan Avan Illai, which was his final supporting role before establishing himself as a lead actor.[15] He won his first regional Filmfare Award in his Malayalam debut film Kanyakumari (1974), in which he played the lead role.[16] In 1975, he won his first Filmfare award in Tamil for Apoorva Raagangal,[17] an exploration of age- gap relationships. For his role, he learned the mridangam. It is considered as one of the all-time classics of Tamil cinema and was directed by his mentor, K. Balachander. The film also saw the entry of Rajnikanth, who would play prominent roles in several Kamal films. [edit]1976–1980: Success in the south Sigappu Rojakkal (1978) The late 1970s was a period that saw Kamal Haasan's continued collaboration with K. Balachander, who also cast him in many of his socially-themed films. In 1976, Kamal Haasan appeared in the drama Moondru Mudichu with Rajinikanth and Sridevi, another K. Balachander film, Manmadha Leelai, and Oru Oodhappu Kan Simittugiradhu, which won him his second consecutive Regional Filmfare (Tamil) Best Actor Award.[18] Avargal (1977) was one of the most sensitive movies on woman liberation, for which he learnt the art of ventriloquism.[19] The film was also remade in Telugu as Idi Katha Kaadu (1979) with Kamal Hassan repeating his role. 16 Vayathinile won him his third consecutive best actor award, where he appeared as a village bumpkin, along with Rajinikanth and Sridevi.[18] In 1977, he starred in his first Kannada film,Kokila, which was the directorial debut of another friend and mentor, Balu Mahendra. The fourth consecutive award came with Sigappu Rojakkal, an anti- hero thriller in which he played a psychopathic sexual killer. In 1978, he debuted in the Telugu film industry as hero with the hitMaro Charithra by K. Balachander. Few of the other famous films in this period were the youthful Ninaithale Inikkum, the snake horror film Neeya, Kalyanaraman and the Telugu film Sommokadidhi Sokkadidhi. At the end of this period, he had won six regional Best Actor Filmfare Awards, including four consecutiveBest Tamil Actor Awards and became a famous actor in South India giving hits in all the four languages.[18] [edit]The 80s: Bollywood entry Kamal Haasan's pairing with the actress Sridevi continued with Tamil classic Varumayin Niram Sigappu in 1980. Kamal Haasan also made a guest– cameo appearance in the Rajnikanth film Thillu Mullu. He reached his 100th film appearance in 1981 with Raja Paarvai, which also marked his debut in film production. Despite this film's relatively poor reception at the cinemas, his portrayal of a blind session violinist earned him a Filmfare Award.[20] He followed it with his debut in Bollywood, Ek Duuje Ke Liye, the remake of his Telugu- language film, Maro Charithra, also by K. Balachandar. Following a year of starring in commercially-oriented films, he won his first of three National Awards for Best Actor with his portrayal of a school teacher who looks after an amnesia patient in Balu Mahendra's Moondram Pirai, alter reprising the role in the Hindi version, Sadma.[16] In 1983, he appeared in Thoongadhey Thambi Thoongadhey playing a double role. Kamal Haasan began to appear in more Hindi-language films, including Saagar, for which he was awarded both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Award at the same ceremony for this role. [16] Saagar portrayed him alongside Rishi Kapoor. Kamal Haasan also appeared in Geraftaar and a few more Hindi remakes of his Tamil films, most famously Zara Si Zindagi. He featured in Tamil cinema's first sequel Japanil Kalyanaraman, which followed up his previous Kalyanaraman, and shared the screen withSivaji Ganesan, doing a guest role in Uruvangal Maralam. Nayagan (1987), was chosen for ALL-TIME 100 best films by TIME Magazine[9] In the mid-1980s, Kamal Haasan appeared in two Telugu-language films, Sagara Sangamam andSwathi Muthyam, directed by Telugu legend Kasinadhuni Viswanath. While the former film portrayed him as a drunkard classical dancer, Swathi Muthyam portrays him as an autistic person attempting to change society and was India's representative for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1986.[16] The enormous response to these films in Tollywood helped him capture a strong audience in Andhra Pradesh, and many of his later Tamil films were regularly dubbed in Telugu.[21] Following Punnagai Mannan, in which he portrays dual roles including a satire of Charlie Chaplin as Chaplin Chellappa and Vetri Vizha as an amnesiac, Kamal Haasan appeared in Mani Rathnam's 1987 film Nayagan. Nayagan portrays the life of an underworld don in Bombay. The story revolved around the life of a real-life underworld don calledVaradarajan Mudaliar, while sympathetically depicting the struggle of South Indians living in Mumbai.[16] He received his third Indian National Award for his performance and Nayagan was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1987.