Mani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam at the premiere of Raavan in 2010
Born	Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (1956-06-02) 2 June 1956 (age 56) Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India[1][2]
Residence	Alwarpet, Chennai, India
Occupation	Film director Film producer Screenwriter
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Suhasini (1988–present)

Mani Ratnam (born Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam on 2 June 1956) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema, based in Chennai, India. Born into a Tamil Brahmin family in Madurai, Ratnam worked as a management consultant before entering into the film industry. He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi in 1983, and followed this with the Malayalam film Unaru (1984) and the Tamil film Pagal Nilavu (1985). Ratnam came into prominence after Mouna Ragam (1986), a film about the friction between a newly–wed couple. He made his Telugu debut with the National Film Award winning Geethanjali (1989), which was critically acclaimed and a major commercial success. Ratnam is also known for his "Terrorism trilogy" consisting of Roja (1992), Bombay (1995) and Dil Se.. (1998). He is widely regarded as one of the leading directors in Indian cinema.^[3] Ratnam is widely credited with having revolutionised the Tamil film industry and altering the profile of Indian cinema.^[4]

Ratnam's Nayagan (1987) and Anjali (1990) were submitted by India for the Academy Award consideration in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.^[5] His Tamil film Nayagan along with Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955-1959) and Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957) are the only Indian films to have appeared in Time magazine's All-Time 100 Greatest Movies.^[6]

Ratnam is married to actress Suhasini. In 2002 he was honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award given by the Government of India. Ratnam has won several film awards, including six National Film Awards. In addition to these, he is a recipient of a number of awards at various International film festivals. He has also been instrumental in organizing Netru, Indru, Naalai, a stage musical which has helped mentally affected women and children.

Early life and background[link]

Mani Ratnam with his wife Suhasini.

Mani Ratnam was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.^[2][7] His birth name is Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam.^[8] His father, Ratnam Iyer, was a film producer who worked under the banner of production company, Venus Pictures.^[9] Ratnam grew up in Chennai,^[10] doing his schooling there completed his graduation with a degree in commerce from Madras University, Chennai^[11] and then obtained an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies,^[12] after which he worked as a management consultant before becoming a filmmaker.^[4]

Ratnam had two brothers—G. Venkateswaran and G. Srinivasan—both of them film producers. The former was a prominent personality who produced many of Ratnam's films, including Mouna Ragam, Nayagan, Agni Natchathiram, Thalapathi, and Anjali,^[4] later committed suicide in 2003, reportedly because of financial problems.^[13][9] His younger brother, G. Srinivasan died in an accident while trekking in Manali on 27 May 2007.^[14] In 1988 Ratnam married Suhasini, the niece of Kamal Haasan and daughter of Charuhasan.^[15][16] Suhasini is a National Award-winning actress and a well-known filmmaker as well.^[16] They have a son named Nandhan.^[17] Charuhasan, his father-in-law,^[18] is a National Award-winning actor.^[19] Ratnam lives in Alwarpet, Chennai, where he runs Madras Talkies, his production company.^[20][21]

Career[link]

Early years: 1983–85[link]

Unlike many film-makers, Ratnam neither assisted in film-making nor worked as a cinematographer before making a name for himself in the industry.^[22] He made his directorial debut in 1983 with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi, which starred Anil Kapoor and Lakshmi.^[23] The film explored the relationship between a young man and an older woman. Ratnam persuaded acclaimed director and cinematographer Balu Mahendra to serve as his cinematographer.^[23] Ratnam's screenplay won a Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay.^[24] His second film was a Malayalam production titled Unaru. It explored the trade union problems in Kerala.^[25] His next film, Pagal Nilavu starring Murali and Revathi, marked his directional debut in Tamil cinema.^[26] The same year, he directed Idaya Kovil, a romantic drama which proved to be a major box-office success.^[24]

Breakthrough: 1986–1991[link]

In 1986, Ratnam directed the Tamil romantic drama Mouna Ragam, which starred Revathi and Mohan. The film was critically acclaimed for portraying urban Tamils in a "realistic" manner.^[27] Specifically, it told the story of the friction between a newlywed couple.^[24] Its score by Ilaiyaraaja was highly appreciated and became popular upon release.^[28] Mouna Raagam was subsequently dubbed into Telugu under the same title and became a hit in Andhra Pradesh.^[29] The film elevated Ratnam's status as a director and won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil at the 34th National Film Awards. Ratnam won his first Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Director for the film.^[30][24]

In 1987, Ratnam directed Nayagan starring Kamal Haasan, and the film became a huge success and brought him recognition at the national level.^[27][31] Inspired by the 1972 American epic crime film, The Godfather,^[32][4] the film was based on the real-life story of underworld king Varadarajan Mudaliar,^[33][27] and tells the story of an orphaned slum-dweller and his rise to top of the Mumbai underworld hierarchy,^[28] was included in Time magazine's All-Time 100 Greatest Movies in 2005.^[6] Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy and Guru Dutt's Pyaasa are the only other Indian films that have appeared in the list.^[34] Indian critics dubbed the film as India's answer to The Godfather.^[35][36][37] Nayagan was both commercially successful and critically acclaimed winning three National Awards—Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction—at the 35th National Film Awards.^[31][28] The film was India's official entry to the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film at the 60th Academy Awards.^[38]

Following these two commercial successes, Ratnam wrote and directed Agni Natchathiram in 1988.^[39] The film deals with the story of step-brothers played by Prabhu and Karthik^[28] and is notable for its use of new techniques in camera framework, especially during the songs.^[40] The film had a successful run in the box office.^[4][39]

In 1989 Ratnam opted to make his next project, Geethanjali, his maiden venture in Telugu.^[31] Starring Nagarjuna in the lead role, the film told the story of an ill-fated couple, both of whom are suffering from terminal diseases.^[4] Geethanjali was critically acclaimed and won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment in 1990 and fetched the Nandi Award for Best Story Writer for Ratnam.^[41] Ratnam maintained a momentum of making emotional stories of under-served people through the film Anjali in 1990, which starred Raghuvaran and told the story of an autistic child who changed the lives of people around her.^[42] The film proved to be a commercial success and was nominated as India's official entry to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 63rd Academy Awards.^[42][43] Following Anjali's release, Ratnam later made another underworld-themed Tamil film, Thalapathi (1991), starring Rajinikanth and Mammootty.^[44] The film was an adaptation of Mahabharata, dealt with the friendship between Karna and Duryodhana portrayed by Rajinikanth and Mammmooty respectively.^[45] The film met with both critical acclaim and commercial success upon release.^[46] Ilaiyaraaja's musical score and Ratnam's work were highly appreciated as they both went on to win the Music Director and Best Director awards respectively at the 39th Filmfare Awards.^[47]

International acclaim: 1992–99[link]

With Thalapathi, Mani Ratnam ended his long-term association with music director Ilaiyaraaja, bringing in debutant music director A. R. Rahman to score his Tamil classic Roja (1992). The venture was successful, earning Ratnam various awards. Roja, a romantic film, was about terrorism in the Kashmir region.^[4] Starring Arvind Swamy and Madhoo, it was nominated for the Golden St. George Award at the Moscow International Film Festival.^[48] It became highly popular, gaining an iconic status in Indian cinema and was dubbed into other languages and met similar success in other regions.^[49] Ratnam took a more light-hearted approach with his next film —Thiruda Thiruda (1993). Scripted by Ram Gopal Varma,^[50] it explored the action and thriller genres,^[51] was a departure from Ratnam's previous style, did not fare well at the box office. A retrospective of his Tamil films was held at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1994.^[2]

Ratnam again teamed up with Ram Gopal Varma to provide the screenplay for the latter's Telugu film Gaayam, a socio-politico film loosely based on The Godfather.^[52] In 1995, Ratnam returned to Tamil language drama through Bombay starring Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, which told the story of a Hindu-Muslim couple in the midst of the 1993 religious Bombay riots and bombings. It was also the first Indian film to focus on marriage between Hindu and Muslim people.^[53] The film met with controversy and censorship upon release,^[53] was subsequently dubbed into Hindi and was commercially and successful and appreciated by critics.^[31] It won a number of awards, such as Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, Special Award from the Political Film Society,^[54] In the Spirit of Freedom Award at the Jerusalem International Film Festival^[55] and the Gala Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.^[56]

Ratnam produced his wife's directorial debut film, Indira,^[57] and the critical success Iruvar, his next film as director. Iruvar was honoured the Best Film at the "Festival of the Auteur Films" at the FEST film festival held in Belgrade.^[58] In 1998 came the third part of his "terrorism trilogy", named Dil Se.. and starring Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, with the latter fabricating the second collaboration.^[59] It showed the relationship between a young man and a dangerous, disturbed woman. Although they fall in love, she is unable to take the romance further due to her bleak past. The soundtrack album, again composed by A. R. Rahman, gained mass appeal and gave Rahman his next Filmfare Award for Best Music Direction in 1999.^[60][61] Unlike his previous two projects, Dil Se.. opened with well note among the film critics and the film poorly performed in the domestic market,^[62] despite being a success overseas.^[63][64][65] It was screened in many international film festivals, and won the Netpac award (Ex-Aqueo) in the Berlin International Film Festival.^[66] In 2000, Ratnam directed the romantic drama Alaipayuthey that starred R. Madhavan and Shalini. The film focussed on marriage and explored relationships and their consequences, and garnered critical recognition.^[67][68] It was also screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.^[69]

Along with Vasanth, he was instrumental in organising Netru, Indru, Naalai,^[70] a stage musical that marked the first theatre production, with numerous other artistes, to aid The Banyan, an organization that rehabilitates women and children with mental illness.^[71][72]

[edit] Kannathil Muthamittal and onwards: 2002–present

Ratnam's following project, Kannathil Muthamittal, dealt with the story of a child of Sri Lankan Tamil parentage adopted by Indian parents, who wishes to meet her biological mother during the Sri Lankan Civil War.^[73] The film was critically lauded and commercially successful, winning six National Film Awards, Filmfare Award for Best Direction in Tamil, In the Spirit of Freedom Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival^[74] and an award at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.^[75] In 2004, he made a Hindi film titled Yuva, his second venture into Bollywood. The film, which tells the story of how one incident sends the lives of three youths on a collision course, received positive reviews and was a hit in the box office.^[76] Ratnam made the film simultaneously in Tamil as Aaytha Ezhuthu, starring Surya Sivakumar, R. Madhavan and Siddharth replacing Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan and Vivek Oberoi respectively from the Hindi version.^[76] The Tamil version was appreciated by critics, unlike the Hindi version, which was a failure at the box office. Ratnam suffered his first heart attack while shooting for Yuva.^[59]

In 2007, Ratnam made Guru, a biographical film based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, a business magnate from India.^[77] starring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, through his production house, Madras Talkies.^[78] The film is set in the early 1950s, became a box office success, and received critical acclaim.^[79]

In 2010, Ratnam worked on a bilingual film, titled Raavanan in Tamil and Raavan in Hindi.^[80] The Tamil version was dubbed into Telugu and titled Villain. The film was released worldwide on 18 June 2010.^[81] The film is loosely based on the Hindu epic Ramayana; its narrative occurs over 14 days when a revolutionist named Beera, who lives in a forest, kidnaps a policeman's wife to avenge his sister's death. The Tamil version received positive reviews from the critics compared to its other versions.^[82] The New York Times called the movie a "critics' pick". However, the reviewers of the Hindi version panned the film; Rajeev Masand said it was "a crushing bore of a film, a disappointment on virtually every count"^[83] while another critic, Raja Sen commented "It's profoundly sad to see a filmmaker of Ratnam's calibre reduced to this".^[84] The Tamil version was declared a box office success.^[85] Ratnam's forthcoming film, Kadal, earlier titled Pookadai, is said to be set against the backdrop of fishermen in and around Rameswaram.^[86] It will signify the acting debut of Gautham, son of veteran actor Karthik.^[87]

Legacy[link]

Ratnam is highly credited for having revolutionized the Tamil film industry and altering the profile of Indian cinema.^[4] He has made films with a variety of genres and majority of his films are characterized by string Socio-political themes.^[88] It was mainly because of this most of his films have garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success.^[88]

With his idea of combining art and commercial elements, Ratnam was referred for bringing new dimension to the South Asian film industry.^[88] Many of his films have taken inspirations from real-life incidents such as Nayagan, Bombay, Iruvar and films like Thalapathi and Raavan were based on Indian epics.^[2] He is lauded for his casting in each of his films—he said in an interview, "I am not a director who performs and shows. I discuss the role, the scene with my actors and let them bring life to it".^[2]

Ratnam is also well recognized outside India with a retrospective of his films held at various film festivals around the world such as Toronto International Film Festival, Pusan International Film Festival, Tokyo Filmex and Birmingham International Film Festival.^[58] His films are being screened regularly at many film festivals such as Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, Montreal Film Festival and Palm Springs International Film Festival.^[58]

Ratnam's aspiration towards films grew up watching films of K. Balachander, Guru Dutt and Sivaji Ganesan.^[89] His is greatly influenced by the film-making styles of Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Krzysztof Kieślowski and Ingmar Bergman.^[89]

Awards and honors[link]

The Government of India honoured Ratnam with Padma Shri in 2002.^[90] He has won several National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Awards South and state awards. Apart from these awards, many of his films have been screened at various film festivals and have won numerous accolades. Geethanjali, directed by him won the Golden Lotus Award for Best Popular Film at the 37th National Film Awards. Other films like Mouna Ragam, Anjali, and Kannathil Muthamittal have won the Best Regional Film awards at the National Film Awards. Two of his films, Roja and Bombay have won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. The former was also nominated for Best Film category at the Moscow International Film Festival.^[91] In 2010, Ratnam was honoured with Jaeger-Lecoultre Glory to the Filmmaker at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.^[27][92]

Filmography[link]

The following is the list of films directed by Mani Ratnam. Many have been remade or dubbed in several languages, mostly in Telugu and Hindi.

See also[link]

• List of films directed by Mani Ratnam featuring A. R. Rahman

Notes[link]

References[link]

• National Film Development Corporation of India, Directorate of Film Festivals (1988). Indian cinema. Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 
• Chaudhuri, Shohini (2005). "Cinema of South India and Sri Lanka". Contemporary world cinema: Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and South Asia. Edinburgh University Press. p. 199. ISBN 0-7486-1799-X, 9780748617999. 

Further reading[link]

• Benjamin, S. (2006 15(4), 423–435.). A rose by any other name: exploring the politics of Mani Ratnam's Roja.. Contemporary South Asia,. 
• Mallhi, Angie (2006). The Illusion of Secularism: Mani Ratnam's Bombay and the Consolidation of Hindu Hegemony. University of Victoria: CAPI Occasional Paper #31.Victoria: Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives. 
• Terska Ciecko, Anne (2006). "National Cinema and State Authority". Contemporary Asian Cinema: Popular culture in a Global Frame. Berg: Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84520-237-8. 
• Gopalan, Lalitha (2005). Bombay: BFI Film Classics. London: BFI Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85170-956-7. 
• Nagappan, Ramu (2005). "Momentary Pleasures of Reconciliation". Speaking Havoc: Social Suffering & South Asian Narratives. Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98488-9. http://books.google.com/?id=wdAgle6tCVoC&printsec=frontcover#PPA170,M1. 
• Velayutham, Selvaraj (2008). Tamil Cinema: The Cultural Politics of India's Other Film Industry. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-39680-6. 

External links[link]

• Mani Ratnam at the Internet Movie Database

Ar Rahman may refer to:

• Ar-Rahman, sura of the Qur'an
• A. R. Rahman, Indian musician and composer

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Expression error: Unexpected > operator Expression error: Unexpected <= operator Expression error: Unexpected <= operator

Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan at an event organised by FICCI
Born	Kamal Haasan (1954-11-07) 7 November 1954 (age 57)[1] Paramakudi, Madras State, India
Residence	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, dialogues, playback singer, lyricist
Years active	1959–present
Spouse	Vani Ganapathy (1978–1985—divorced) Sarika Thakur (1985–2004—divorced)
Children	Shruti Haasan (born 1986) Akshara Haasan (born 1991)
Awards	Padmashri, Kalaimamani

Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian film actor, screenwriter, producer and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema.^[2][3][4] He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting.^[5][6][7] Kamal Haasan has won several Indian film awards, including four National Film Awards and numerous Filmfare Awards, and 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.^[8] In addition to acting, screenwriting and directing, he has also featured in films as a songwriter, playback singer and choreographer.^[9] His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. In 1990, he was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to Indian cinema.^[10] Kamal Haasan is also a recipient of an Honorary doctorate by Sathyabama University.^[11] In 2009, he became one of very few Indian actors to have completed 50 years in cinema.^[12]

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.^[13] Since then he has gone on to appear in other notable films such as Anbe Sivam and his own productions, Hey Ram and Virumaandi, as well as Dasavathaaram, in which he appeared in ten distinct roles.

Career[link]

Debut as child artiste: 1959–1963[link]

Kamal Haasan's family shifted from Paramakudi to Chennai for his mother's medical treatment. He went to Holy Angels Convent school in T. Nagar. He was interested in girls even as a young child. ^[14] 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.^[15] The other version is that when young boy Kamal Haasan 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.^[16]

Kamal Haasan was five-years-old when he faced the camera for the first time in Kalathur Kannamma, which was directed by A. Bhimsingh. The film was released on August 12, 1960. The film starred veteran actor Gemini Ganesan and won the President's Gold Medal.^[17] Following his successful debut, he starred in five more films as a child actor sharing screen space with Sivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran. Kamal Haasan's family was very supportive of his interest in the performing arts. He joined a theatre repertory, TKS Nataka Sabha, that was helmed by T.K.Shanmugam. He continued his school education at the Hindu High School in Triplicane. The time spent as part of the theatre company shaped Kamal Haasan's craft and was instrumental in his interest in make-up. ^[14][18]

Breakthrough and Experimentation: 1970–1975[link]

Following a seven-year hiatus from films, Haasan returned to the industry to be a part of the technical crew of films. However, he played a few supporting roles instead. As an adult, his first film role was in the 1970 film Maanavan, in which he appeared in a dance sequence. He also did a supporting role in the film Annai Velankani in which he was the assistant director. His role in K.Balachander's 1973 film Arangetram was the beginning of many noteworthy performances. He played the antagonist in Sollathaan Ninaikkiren and Gumasthavin Magal both co-starring Sivakumar. His first serious role was in K. Balachander's Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974). His last role as a supporting actor was in 1974, in the film Naan Avan Illai.

He debuted in the Malayalam film industry with the 1974 film Kanyakumari. He won his first regional Filmfare award for this film.^[19] His first break as a lead actor in Tamil films came with Apoorva Raagangal, directed by K.Balachander, for which he also won his first Filmfare award in Tamil.^[20] The plot of the film revolved around a young man in love with an older woman and won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. Kamal Haasan learned to play the mridangam for this role. Another noteworthy fact is that this film introduced audiences to Rajnikanth, who played several supporting roles in films starring Kamal Haasan before becoming one of the most successful actors in the Tamil film industry.

Success in the south: 1976–1980[link]

The late 1970s was a period that saw Haasan's continued collaboration with K. Balachander, who cast him in many of his social-themed films. In 1976, Balachander cast him as a womaniser trying to woo many women in Manmadha Leelai which was followed by Oru Oodhappu Kan Simittugiradhu, which won him his second consecutive Regional Filmfare (Tamil) Best Actor Award. Later, Kamal Haasan appeared in the drama Moondru Mudichu with Rajinikanth and Sridevi, another Balachander film. Avargal (1977) was one of the most sensitive movies on woman liberation, for which he learnt the art of ventriloquism.^[21] The film was also remade in Telugu as Idi Katha Kaadu (1979) with Haasan 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. In 1977, he starred in his first Kannada film, Kokila, which was the directorial debut of another friend and mentor, Balu Mahendra. The same year, he acted in a Bengali film, Kabita. In 1978, he debuted in the Telugu film industry as a lead actor with the cross-cultural romantic film, Maro Charithra directed by K. Balachander. The film was regarded a cult-classic and was also Haasan's first major hit. His fourth consecutive Filmfare award came with Sigappu Rojakkal, an anti-hero thriller in which he played a psychopathic sexual killer.

Few of the other famous films in this period were the Telugu film Sommokadidhi Sokkadidhi, where he played dual roles, the musical entertainer Ninaithale Inikkum, the snake horror film Neeya and Kalyanaraman.

At the end of this period, he had won six regional Best Actor Filmfare Awards, including four consecutive Best Tamil Actor Awards and became a famous actor in South India by having starred in all languages.

Bollywood foray: 1980s[link]

Kamal Haasan's pairing with the actress Sridevi continued with Tamil classic Varumayin Niram Sigappu in 1980, where he played an unemployed youth. Kamal Haasan also made a guest–cameo appearance in the Rajnikanth's Thillu Mullu. He made his Bollywood debut with Ek Duuje Ke Liye, the remake of his Telugu-language film, Maro Charithra, also by K. Balachander which earned him his first Filmfare nomination. He made 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.^[22] 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, later reprising the role in the Hindi version, Sadma.^[19] During this time he concentrated more in Bollywood acting in remakes of his Tamil films, most famously Yeh To Kamaal Ho Gaya and Zara Si Zindagi. In 1983, he appeared in Sagara Sangamam, directed by Kasinadhuni Viswanath. His portrayal as a drunkard classical dancer fetched him his first Nandi Award for Best Actor and second Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Award.

After the successful multi starrer Raaj Tilak in 1984, he acted in Saagar, released in 1985, 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. The film was India's representative for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1985.^[19] Saagar portrayed him alongside Rishi Kapoor. The same year, he appeared in Geraftaar alongside Amitabh Bachchan. He featured in Tamil cinema's first sequel Japanil Kalyanaraman, which followed up his previous Kalyanaraman.

In 1986, he again collaborated with K. Vishwanath in Swathi Muthyam which portrayed him as an autistic person attempting to change society. The film was India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1986.^[19] 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.^[23]

Following Punnagai Mannan, in which he portrayed dual roles including a satire of Charlie Chaplin as Chaplin Chellappa and Vetri Vizha as an amnesiac, Kamal Haasan appeared in Mani Ratnam'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 called Varadarajan Mudaliar, while sympathetically depicting the struggle of South Indians living in Mumbai.^[19] He received his second 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. It was included in the Time's All-TIME 100 Movies list. In 1988, Kamal Haasan appeared in his only silent film to date, Pushpak, a black comedy.^[19] In 1989, he appeared in three roles (one of which was that of a dwarf) in Apoorva Sagodharargal.^[19] He then performed dual roles in Indrudu Chandrudu, winning the Filmfare Best Actor Award and Nandi Awards for his performance. In 1989, Kamal Haasan starred in his last original Malayalam film as hero to date, titled Chanakyan. The multi-starrer film was critically acclaimed and was a hit.^[24]

The 1980s saw the transformation of Kamal Haasan from a young heartthrob performer in Tamil films to a nationally acclaimed star appreciated for his method acting. By the end of 1980s, he had entered and tasted success in the Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi film industries, had received Filmfare awards at each industry, three national awards and had his performances recognized at international film festivals.^[23][25]

Tryst with comedy: 1990s[link]

In 1990, Michael Madhana Kamarajan saw Kamal Haasan go one step further from Apoorva Sagodharargal, acting in four different roles as quadruplets. It started an ongoing collaboration with Crazy Mohan, a dialogue writer, for future comedy films.^[26] The film became a blockbuster, and his portrayals were all critically praised; one cook role where he spoke in Palakkad Tamil formed the crux for a future venture by his production house.^[27] Kamal Haasan won successive Best Actor awards for his portrayal of the deranged, obsessive protagonist in Guna and Thevar Magan, where he played the son of actor Sivaji Ganesan. Guna met with critical acclaim but failed commercially, while the latter became a big success and was remade into Hindi as Virasat. Kamal Haasan was credited for the story and became India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. After a series of films such as Singaravelan, Maharasan and Kalaignan, he played a cheated villager in the emotionally draining and underrated classic Mahanadi. Six years after it released, it was premiered at the Rotterdam festival.^[28] He then began to appear in comedies such as Sathi Leelavathi, based on the English film She-Devil. The film, his home production, featured him opposite comedienne Kovai Sarala and its success led to further regional remakes. He also renewed his collobaration with Kasinadhuni Viswanath in Telugu film, Subha Sankalpam. In 1995, Kamal Haasan starred in the police story Kuruthipunal. His success in Kuruthipunal was followed by his third National Film Award for Best Actor, for the film Indian.^[29] Playing dual roles of a freedom fighter and his untrustful son, the film also won Kamal Haasan regional awards and plaudits for his portrayal.^[30] Moreover, both films were also selected as India's submissions for the Academy Awards in their respective release years.

Kamal Haasan appeared as a woman in Avvai Shanmughi, inspired by the Hollywood production Mrs. Doubtfire.^[31] He initially chose noted adfilm maker Shantanu Sheorey to direct the Hindi remake of Avvai Shanmughi, titled Chachi 420.^[32] But unhappy with the complaints after five days of shoot and after checking the actual result, he took over as director.^[33][34] In 1997, Kamal Haasan began his first directorial venture, the biopic of Mohammed Yusuf Khan, Marudhanayagam, which failed to complete its schedules with only half an hour and a trailer being recorded during its shoot.^[35] Marudhanayagam had been speculated to be the biggest and most expensive film in Indian cinema with a number of high profile actors technicians signing up for roles. Moreover, the film was launched in a highly publicized ceremony by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom during her visit to India in 1997.^[36] Due to budget constraints, the film failed to materialize into a feature film, but he has since stated his interest in building up funds for the project.^[37]

[edit] Hey Ram and onwards: 2000–present

Following a two-year hiatus in Indian cinema, he opted against reviving his magnum opus, Marudhanayagam, and filmed his second directorial venture, Hey Ram,^[38] a period drama told in flashback with a semi-fictional plot centering around India's Partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Kamal Haasan also took on roles as the writer, the lyricist and the choreographer as well as producing the film under his home banner. The film, also featured Shahrukh Khan and was India's submission for the Academy Awards that year.^[39] His following film was Aalavandhan, where he portrayed two distinct roles, for one of which he had his head shaved bald and gained ten kilograms. To play the other army major in Alavandaan (Abhay, in Hindi), he went to the NDA for a crash course.^[40] The Hindi version Abhay was distributed by reputed Shringar Films.^[41][42] Despite much publicity prior to release, the film failed commercially, and he opted to repay distributors who had suffered losses with the film.^[43]

Following a series of successful comedies^[44] in Thenali, Panchathantiram and Pammal K. Sambandam and a couple of guest appearances, Kamal Haasan directed his third feature film in Virumaandi, a film about the death penalty which won the Best Asian Film award at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival.^[45] Kamal Haasan also appeared in Anbe Sivam alongside Madhavan. Priyadarshan, who started the film, departed allowing commercial director Sundar C to complete the film. Anbe Sivam told the story of Nallasivam, enacted by Kamal Haasan as a communist. Kamal Haasan's performance was highly lauded by critics with The Hindu stating that he "has once again done Tamil cinema proud".^[46]

Kamal Haasan then appeared in the remake film Vasool Raja alongside Sneha. In 2006, Haasan's long delayed project, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu emerged as a blockbuster.^[47] In 2008, he appeared in Dasavathaaram portraying ten distinct roles in the venture which was released in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Hindi throughout India and overseas. Dasavathaaram is known to be one of the first modern sci-fi films made in India which Kamal Haasan co-wrote along with the film's director K. S. Ravikumar, it also remains one of the most expensive Indian films ever made.^[48] Featuring him opposite Asin Thottumkal, the film as of 2008 became the first highest grossing film ever in Tamil cinema, and won him critical praise for his performance.^[49] In Canada, the film was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the first Tamil film to be done so. The film ultimately grossed more than 250 crores worldwide.^[49][50] He had written the story and screenplay for the project.

Following the completion of Dasavathaaram, Kamal Haasan opted to direct his fourth directorial venture, with a film tentatively titled Marmayogi, which after a year of pre-production became stalled.^[51] He then opted to produce and star in a venture, Unnaipol Oruvan,^{[52] [53]} co-starring him with Mohanlal. The film, which had Shruti Haasan appear as the music director, became a successful venture for him at the box office.^[54] Kamal Haasan worked on his fifth collaboration with Ravikumar, in Manmadan Ambu, for which he also wrote the dialogues and screenplay. The film also featured Madhavan and Trisha Krishnan and was released in December 2010. The story revolves around a man who hires a detective to find out if he is being cheated by his fiancée. This film completed one month successfully but was officially declared an average film. He is currently working on his fourth directorial venture Vishwaroopam ,^{[55][56][57][58]} a spy thriller on the lines of the Mission Impossible series, which will be released in two parts.^[59][60][61]

Off-screen contributions[link]

In addition to acting, Kamal Haasan has also played various roles behind the camera and is known for his involvement in several aspects of film-making.^[14][33] He wrote the story and/or screen-play for many of his films including Raja Paarvai, Apoorva Sagodharargal, Guna, Thevar Magan, Mahanadhi, Hey Ram, Aalavandhan, Anbe Sivam, Nala Damayanthi, Virumaandi, Dasavathaaram and Manmadhan Ambu. His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. He also directed the films Chachi 420, Hey Ram and Virumaandi. He considered taking up film direction full time, if Hey Ram was a success, but did not do so as the film was a box office failure.^[62] In 2010, he stated his intention to direct more films as many young actors had wished to work under him and gain his direct guidance.^[63] He wanted to turn a technician after his comeback into adult roles. Speaking about it in a lighter vein, he once said, "Film makers like K. Balachander told me that I won’t be able make much money by being a technician. So the end result is that the star Kamal funds the technician Kamal in pursuing his dreams".^[64] Kamal has attended workshops for make-up techniques in US for several years and once trained as a make-up man under Michael Westmore.^[65]

Kamal Haasan is also well known as a song-writer. He first penned lyrics for Hey Ram and followed it with films like Virumaandi, Unnai Pol Oruvan and Manmadhan Ambu. They were well received by his peers in the Tamil film industry.^[66] Kamal Haasan is also a playback singer. He has sung close to 70 songs in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and English.

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Kamal Haasan filmed with M. G. Ramachandran

Kamal Haasan was born in the town of Paramakudi in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, to a criminal lawyer named D. Srinivasan and his wife Rajalakshmi.^[67] One source says that his parents originally named him Parthasarathy.^[68] Another says that one of the four given names in his house was Parthasarathy (As revealed to Surya Sivakumar in the Shruti Haasan episode of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi). He is an Iyengar Brahmin.^[69] Kamal Haasan was the youngest of four children, the others being Charuhasan, Chandrahasan and Nalini Raghu. His father was a martinet. He wanted all his sons (Chandrahasan, Charuhasan, Kamalahaasan) to study and do well. The two elder brothers followed their father’s example and studied law. Kamal spent his childhood learning everything except staying focussed on his studies.

Kamal Haasan had referred to his parents in couple of his films, with references being made in Unnaipol Oruvan as well as in the song Kallai Mattum from Dasavathaaram.^[70] His eldest brother Charuhasan, like Kamal Haasan, is a National Film Award-winning actor, who appeared in the Kannada film Tabarana Kathe, among others. Kamal's niece (Charuhasan's daughter), Suhasini is also a National Film Award winner and is married to director and fellow Award winner Mani Ratnam, who collaborated with Kamal Haasan on 1987's Nayagan.^[71] Chandra Haasan has appeared as the producer for several of Kamal Haasan's films as well as being an executive of Kamal Haasan's home production company, Rajkamal International. His brother's daughter Anu Hasan has appeared in several films in supporting roles, most notably in Suhasini's Indira.^[72] His sister Nalini Raghu is a dance teacher. Kamal Haasan later named an auditorium after his sister as Nalini Mahal.^[73] Her son, Gautham, played Kamal Haasan's grandson in his directorial venture, Hey Ram.

Relationships[link]

Despite his celebrated film career, his personal life had some setbacks which have been exploited by the media. In his early career, he co-starred in several films with actress Srividya. The pair were reported to have been a part of a notorious affair in the 1970s, with their relationship being explored in the 2008-released Malayalam film, Thirakkatha by Renjith, with Anoop Menon portraying Kamal Haasan and Priyamani playing Srividya. Srividya, who died in 2006, was visited by Kamal Haasan at her bedside during her final days.^[74] In 1978, at the age of 24, Kamal Haasan married danseuse Vani Ganapathy in a low-key affair.^[75] Vani put on the mantle of costume designer for her husband's movies and was publicized for walking along with Haasan into the Filmfare Awards South ceremony of 1980 immediately after their wedding. However, the couple split after ten years together, after Kamal Haasan began dating fellow actress Sarika, confirming in a later interview that he and Vani have never been in touch since their divorce. Kamal Haasan is a good friend of Rajinikanth and Vijayakanth.^[76]

Subsequently, Kamal Haasan and Sarika lived together from 1988, opting to marry only after having their second child. Of the two children: Shruti Haasan (born 1986) and Akshara Haasan (born 1991), the former is a singer as well as a Tollywood / Kollywood actress, while the latter is pursuing higher studies in Bangalore. Sarika took a break from acting soon after her marriage to Kamal Haasan. However, she replaced his ex-wife, Vani Ganapathy, as Haasan's costume designer, with acclaimed work in Hey Ram. The couple filed for divorce in 2002, with Sarika estranging herself from Kamal Haasan by the end of the procedure in 2004.^[77] His intimate relationship with co-star Simran Bagga, who is twenty-two years younger, became the reason for the split.^[78] However, Haasan's relationship with Simran, who appeared opposite him in two consecutive ventures – Pammal K. Sambandam and Panchathantiram, was short-lived as Simran went on to marry her childhood friend in late 2003.^[78] Haasan now lives with former actress Gouthami Tadimalla, who starred with him in several films in the late 80s and early 90s. He had helped her during her traumatic breast cancer experience and the pair have been in a domestic relationship since 2005. Along with Shruti and Akshara, Gouthami's daughter, Subbalakshmi, from an annulled marriage also lives with them.^[79]

Religious views[link]

Kamal Haasan, despite being born into a Hindu Brahmin family, has declared himself as an atheist; many of his films, notably Anbe Sivam and Dasavathaaram, both co-written by himself have featured anti-theistic views.^[80] Kamal Haasan, has also been mistaken for a Muslim due to the Arabic surname, and was famously stopped for his name at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2002.^[81] The name originated from a friend of his father, Yaakob Hassan, a Muslim freedom fighter who spent time in prison with Kamal Haasan's father while imprisoned by the British. Yaakob Hassan had protected Srinivasan from other prisoners who hated the Brahmins. Later, he paid tribute to his friend by incorporating part of his name into his sons’ names.^[82] Kamal Haasan clarified in an interview with Karan Thapar in BBC that his last name 'Haasan' is, in fact, of Sanskrit origin from the word 'Hasya', which was his father's wish and thinks the Yaakob Hassan connection was highly publicized by media.^[82]

Political views[link]

Kamal Hassan has refrained from politics inspite of several people from the film Industry taking the plunge in Politics. He once said, the kind of politics he would indulge would get him killed in 365 days.^[83]

Humanitarian work[link]

Kamal Haasan is the first Tamil actor to convert fan clubs into welfare organisation,^[84] and is actively involved in several social service activities through the clubs under the banner Kamal Narpani Iyakkam. (Kamal Welfare Association)^[85][86] His fan clubs are involved in organising blood and eye donation drives and donating education materials to school students.^[87][88][89] He received the first Abraham Kovoor National Award for his Humanist Activities and Secular Life in 2004.^[10] 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.^[90] In September 2010, Kamal Haasan launched a children’s cancer relief fund and presented roses to children with cancer at Sri Ramachandra University in Porur in the suburbs of Chennai.^[91] He has also pledged to endorse consumer products, social causes and use the money for social service.^[92][93]

Literary contributions[link]

Kamal Haasan was involved in running the magazine Mayyam, which was run by the Kamal Haasan Welfare Association (Narpani Iyakkam). His views on a wide range of issues including cinema, child and drug abuse and the Kashmir conflict, have been collected and published as a book titled Thedi Theerpom Va (Come, Let's Solve Together), by his fan association.^[94] His interest in Tamil literature and his own writing skills are well known.^[95]

Awards and honours[link]

Kamal Haasan, a Padma Shri holder, is the most decorated actor in terms of awards in the history of Indian cinema.^[10] At the age of seven, he won the President's Gold Medal for his debut film Kalathur Kannamma.^[96] Haasan holds the record for the most number of National Film Awards—three Best Actor awards and one award for producing the Best Regional Film—for an actor. The 1992 Tamil film Thevar Magan which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil was produced by Kamal Haasan. Moreover, Haasan holds a record nineteen Filmfare Awards, ranging across five languages. After his latest award in 2000, he wrote to the organization requesting exemption from further awards.^[10] In 2003, his films Hey Ram, Pushpak, Nayagan and Kuruthipunal were showcased under the "Director in Focus" category at the Rotterdam Film Festival.^[97] In 2004, Virumaandi won the very first "Best Asian film" award at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan).^[45][97]

In 2005, Sathyabama Deemed University awarded Kamal Haasan an honorary doctorate.^[98] He received the Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema at the 2006 ceremony of the inaugural Vijay Awards.^[99] He received the Living Legend Award in 2007 from FICCI, which recognizes outstanding personalities from the entertainment arena and honors them with awards at their annual global convention, FRAMES.^[100] In 2010, the United Progressive Alliance government organised a retrospective of Kamal Haasan's films. During that event, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the actor fell under a special category, as his cinema broke barriers of language and region.^[101] The same year, the Government of Kerala honoured him for completing 50 years in Indian cinema during the inauguration of statewide Onam celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram.^[102]

Kamal Haasan is also a recipient of the Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1979. Other recognitions includes a string of Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Nandi Awards, Screen Awards and Vijay Awards, including four separate awards for his performance in Dasavathaaram. In 2009, Kamal Haasan was appointed as the chairman of FICCI Media and Entertainment Business Conclave, organised by the entertainment division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).^[103] He has recently been roped in to be part of academic advisory council for ISFM (International school of Film+Media).^[104] Kamal Hassan was also recently invited on board an American ship as a special friend of the US Government.^[105]

Acclaim and criticism[link]

Kamal Haasan, widely respected and admired in the Indian film industry, is often praised as someone who would have won many Oscars, if he had been born outside India. His mentor K. Balachandar, while agreeing with such sentiment, says in that case Kamal would not have been able to have a diverse acting career and the adulation he has now.^[106][107] Mani Ratnam, who directed Kamal in Nayagan, has claimed he has missed working with Kamal.^[108] Veteran Tamil actor Nagesh rated Kamal Haasan as the best actor he had seen.^[109] Kamal Haasan's contributions to films have been lavishly praised by his peers in the Indian film industry like Sridevi^[110], Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan and Aamir Khan.^{[111][111][112]} Younger actors Surya,^[113][114] Madhavan,^[115] and Ace film makers Bala,^[116] Ameer^[117] and Gautham Menon^[118][119] consider Kamal Haasan as their inspiration. His list of admirers go beyond cinema. M. F. Husain has claimed, he found Kamal Haasan as the most exciting Indian film-maker/actor.^[120]

Kamal Haasan has been accused of reusing story lines, plot elements from Western films without crediting them and also for using sexually explicit scenes and themes. He has also been accused of elitism, of offending religious sentiments and of being superficial about the social issues he depicts in his films.^{[121][122][123]} He has also been dubbed as an actor who consciously overshadows his co-artists.^[115][124] Other criticisms of Kamal Haasan include complaints about his obsession with needless perfection, which has caused some of his films to overshoot their budgets.^[125][126]

Notable filmography[link]

References[link]