Chevalier Dr. Kamal Haasanin Mayyam - Part 9

[radiochandra1977]

Sort of both. 17th or later.

[pamrang]

Wish you all the best for a release date that is convenient to you...

[radiochandra1977]

I will settle for anything other than 17. 14 24 may 1 whatever

[dell_gt]

https://thedrunkenmonk.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/thoughts-on-guna/#comments

Thoughts on Guna

Warning: Potentially lengthy read. May end up boring you to death, putting you to sleep or maybe if your stars are aligned with mine, rivet you. Anyway, jump along.

I happened to re-watch Guna recently and as is the wont with any film of intelligence involving Kamal in the ‘90s, it sent me on a trip. On the surface, this is a film about a person with obsessional psychoneurosis who kidnaps a woman who comes under the influence of Stockholm syndrome, likes him but the plot contrives them to death. But there is more to it than this in my considered opinion. I just feel like archiving my thoughts on the film here. So here goes.

I feel it is up there with other Kamal works like Hey Ram and Virumandi as a master-class in Indian film history. The story and screenplay are credited to one Sab John and the dialogues to Balakumaran, while the direction is by Santhanabharathi. Superficially, there is no Kamal other than the lead actor and occasional singer. But peer closely and there are enough filmmaking signatures which tell me subtly that there is quite a lot of Kamal all over the place (for a broader discussion on the same across many films, hattip: Dagalti). Let me broadly focus on the screenplay, scene composition and the music (Ilaiyaraaja; genius bursting out everywhere) which in my opinion makes this film an insanely great achievement by Kamal and Raaja.

Prologue and its Poetry

The first sequence itself is richly conceived. The film’s first shot after the opening credits is a full moon with a man standing like Lord Shiva on a terrace top.

First Shot of Guna

We are then provided a tapestry into a North Hyderabadi settlement (vote for TDP, vote for BJP graffiti on the wall to go with Charminar shown with the opening credits) which houses a brothel. This is kind of evident when a woman, dressed like a courtesan of yore, dances to Inhin logon ne le liya dupatta mera (these folks have taken my Dupatta off) from Pakeezah, a 1972 film about a courtesan! It is even more evident when, as the song fades to the background, Kaka Radhakrishnan, a quack, assures a person he doesn’t have AIDS, followed by telling a girl, “ரெண்டு மாசம் தானே? கலச்சுரலாம்.” There is Ismail, a local dada, extorting from the folks and taking care of the Police. A corrupt yet thriving settlement is made clear in a single sequence of admirable detailing. The shot pans to Kamal, who is revealed to be the guy standing like Shiva, the longshot zooming to him reigning down on a wedding procession and he goes down to the bride and utters a verse from Abiraami Anthaadhi and gets kicked about. Pause.

*Tangent*

Abiraami Anthaadhi was written by one Abiraami Battar. His legend is of interest in context with this film. He was someone who was obsessed with the Hindu female deity Parvathi aka Abiraami, so much so that he was branded a lunatic by the people around him. He was also known to see Abiraami in every woman he saw and went about praying to every girl. One fine day, the King Serfoji of Thanjavur, visits Battar’s hometown Thirukkadaiyur, learns about him and asks him what day it is. Battar answers it is the full moon day, when in reality, it was a new moon day. An argument is supposed to have ensued and the King declares that unless Battar proves that the day has a full moon, he’d be put to death. Battar places himself on a plank strung to a ceiling by 100 strings with boiling oil beneath. He goes on to sing an Anthaadhi, where every verse’s last word is the first word for the next verse and cuts of one string at the end of each verse. At the end of the 79th verse, it is said that Abiraami tossed her earring, moved by his devotion, and the earring manifested itself on the sky as a full moon, stirring the King and everyone around to be thrilled by Battar’s devotion. He went on to sing 21 more, with the 100th verse’s final word being the first verse’s first. Nice symmetry.

*End Tangent*

The full moon makes vague sense as Kamal gets beaten about, with some cruel irony in there with him uttering “சென்னியின் மேல் பத்ம பாதம் பதித்திடவே” (placing your lotus feet on my head) as he gets kicked around [1].

This supposed madman, with his doctor in the asylum as he rages, keeps circling with the camera moving with the circle and the doctor standing still on a tangent, in some superbly conceived scene geometry. The theme music, to dominate the film later, makes its first appearance, a leitmotif of the score that sounded with the opening credits, underpinning a troubled mind. Guna, as Kamal is revealed to be, hallucinates about a mountain which provides the chills. Abiraami is மலைமகள், after all and he ends up jamming on a door, opening the film up to full credits as Raaja sings a brilliantly written Sidhar paadal to cap what to me is among the most poetic prologues to any mainstream Indian film.

General Themes

The film touches upon quite a few themes, handled with varying degrees of finesse, all interesting and some eminently gratifying. To be sure, this is subjective, but with Kamal, it is alright to read in without inhibitions.

The film skirts briefly with effeminate men. Ganesa Iyer, a Guru of sorts to Guna who implants the idea of Abiraami in him and sends him off with a thaali to Kaka Radhakrishnan (Mangalyam Thanthunaane), wears a mark on his forehead and speaks and dances like a woman. The Chithappa, a very engaging Janakaraj, bets on his masculinity, only to immediately flip when confronted by Ismail and unabashedly exclaims he’s a woman. A more direct instance is when an iconic song has the lines, “சிவகாமியே சிவனில் நீயும் பாதியே…”, quite literally invoking the ultimate instance of the effeminate man in Ardhanareeshwara. But the film doesn’t really tell us more than this (edit: the song Unnai Ariven has a shot of Rosy lighting a lamp in front of a photo of Ardhanaareeshwara).

A more evident theme to me was the film dealing with religious patriarchy, which is evident among the characters. Guna is a man of conventional rights and wrongs (“தூங்கறதுக்கு இருட்டு வரலியே”). He can be capable of incredible heart (“அங்க ஒரு குருவிய கொன்னுட்டாங்க குயிலே”). But he also has his shades of grey. He justifies him stealing a car; comparing it with the quasi legitimacy Rosy and his mother receive, indulging in prostitution. To take it up a notch, he chains his woman in his house! This from a man who rages infinitum and even kills another man for a dead sparrow! Why, even his mother, technically Abiraami’s mother-in-law eventually, gags her and throws her into a dungeon initially. Mysskin and Pisaasu anyone? Also, as he lets her bath, he lets us know, “புகுந்த வீட்டுக்கு வந்து பொறந்த வீட்டு பெருமைய பேச கூடாது [2].” Heck, even the doctor, before the climax, to lure Guna, lets him know that “புருஷனுக்கு பாத்ததுக்கு அப்பறம் தான் பொண்டாட்டிக்கி.” However, quite curiously in a witty subversion, he eats from her plate after she finishes (the reason given is lack of plates. But read with these instances from the film, you know where I’d wager my bet on).

Immortality, Divinity and Music

However, the most obvious and gratifying themes were religious symbolism and immortality. The theme, we think is meant for love, also plays very briefly with a leitmotif registering the first few notes when he rushes to see his mother who he thinks is dead [3]. She says “நான் சாக மாட்டேன்”, assuring to him of her immortality. Janakaraj tells Guna before doping him that he is “பாதி சாமி.” This seems important to Guna, to be constantly reassured of his divinity. There is also a wee bit of make believe and a leap of faith necessary where he borders on possessing superhuman strength, to repeatedly recover after falling from a cliff to being shot, that it’s also plausible that the screenplay thrusts some divinity, outside the scope of his hallucinations, on him. Guna tells ‘Rohini’ “எதுக்கு சாவனும்? நமக்கு சாவில்ல” as she wants to kill herself. In fact, he simply walks away after introducing his name with some delight, oblivious of her perilous state [4], almost as if he is assured of her divinity that he doesn’t consider death as a possibility! In fact, he takes her to a mountain top, as is the residence of a மலைமகள், worthy of the name Abiraami.

It is impossible to talk about the screenplay without the music and vice-versa. The depth in this film’s music places it right up there among the top of the table in my experience with Indian films. The numerous leitmotifs to the theme come when ‘Rohini’ is seen as Abiraami by Guna and the ‘divinity’, such an abstract thing/emotion, finds vent in the music so aptly that this author is lost for words. I’d say the music is inseparable from the divinity and immortality in the film. In some breathtaking poetry of scene composition and music, it plays when Guna sees her in the halo of the Sun.

Abiraami

Abiraami



It plays when she is dead, in a gory way. It plays when he first spots her, in a temple. The theme gets fulfillment there. That entire stretch is screenwriting/music composing porn. Allow me to indulge. He is goaded by Janakaraj that Abiraami would come, “pippiripippiripee”, and there materializes a beautiful woman he sees as Abiraami. She spots him, casts a benign smile and walks away. He asks himself if she is Abiraami and follows her in the other direction. His head hits the bell, the signboard he hits points him to her, the screen dislodges a veil to shine the Sun on him and even the security Guard points his finger toward her. The stars, with the deities, animate and inanimate objects seem to align to tell him She is his Abiraami. The theme, playing in raga Sarangatharangini, changes scales to Paavani, as verses from Abiraami Anthaadhi begin. At ஆயகியாதி உடையாள், the camera pans to her feet. The line literally means Abiraami’s feet is the origin of everything and presents Battar there. Ilaiyaraaja and Kamal are firmly in fifth gear now.

The song begins. Stunning melody. Paavani, the raga, literally means remover of sins (interesting, because Guna helps steal from the temple the next day and is immediately repentant. Seeing ‘Abiraami’, he follows her, seemingly wanting her to show him the way out of his sins). The rhythm pattern (thaaLam) operated by Ilaiyaraaja is Kandam (beat of 5, tha ka tha ki ta). Kandam is the beat used for Shiva thaandavam. The interlude is a brief reentry to another verse of the Anthaadhi which praises the jewels that stay firm on Abiraami’s breasts (முத்துவடம் கொண்ட கொங்கை – muthuvadam meaning pearl necklance and kongai meaning breasts) and her vagina that is beautiful like a cobra (நல்லரவின் படம் கொண்ட அல்குல் பனிமொழி வேத பரிபுரையே – nalaravam – nallapaambu – cobra; algul – vagina), she being of speech that cools us (paNimozhi), with all the Vedas present at her feet; and Raaja takes a brief detour to a pleasant Kalyani raga exactly as the film rolls to the filmy Abiraami’s breasts at முத்துவடம் கொண்ட கொங்கை, almost asking to take pleasure, and reverts back to Paavani from நல்லரவின், as Guna goes on a hallucination trip into a Shiva thaaNdavam with this Abiraami, ending with the cheNdai pouring its rhythm; a subversion of a devotion bordering on the erotic in the Anthaadhi to divine love here. Outstanding.



Unnai Naan Ariven is a great song too; a picturization of great symmetry, beginning in the brothel where Guna is put to sleep, travelling across the brothel/settlement to ghazal, Telugu folk and back to Guna with his mother putting him to sleep. But before she gets to her son (hattip: the Dagalti post linked above), there is a rich sequence where she peeps over to monitor business between a client and a prostitute working under her, all the while praying to the Gods, seemingly indifferent to the irony! Also, note how Rosy suddenly looks at the rickety table fan as the song segues to ghazal mode because of the change in the Tabla rhythm, this at the back of Guna telling her “இதுல சத்தம் தான் வரும்”! What detailing man! All round brilliance.



Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan is set to Shankarabharanam. The raga quite literally means an ornament on Lord Shiva. Was this deliberate too? Maybe not. But will it stop me from reading in? No. After all, this is Raaja and Kamal we are talking about.



Coming back to the divinity minus music briefly, the crooks who assist Guna and his uncle before they are eventually killed are curiously named as Kaasi and Anumanthu (Guna in fact calls him Anumaar!!), names associated with Shiva and Rudra. To make this more evident, Anumaar is killed by a trident which was part of the loot!

Trident

As a side note, the police officer after Guna is called Moovendar (meaning Lord of the 3 worlds and Shiva having 3 eyes and a trident and all that. You get the drift). There is also a wickedly ironic moment where the villain SK, the only character with trite and clichéd dialogues (more of a nitpick this), gives permission for Ismail to rape Abiraami inside a dilapidated Church! But then, Ismail refers to her as a देवता as he sees her for the first time in the dungeon.

Sekoolar

Above all, there is the presence of Abiraami Battar, his Anthaadhi and legend all over the film. He wants to tie the thaali to Abiraami on Pournami. He is derided as a lunatic. He ends up tying the thaali a day before Pournami, because Abiraami tells him this IS Pournami, a subversion of Abiraami making a full moon when it was not for Battar’s sake.

The end happens when, despite his unshakable belief in their immortality, she dies. Guna’s nemesis is eventually Abiraami’s and his mortality. Not humans, who he disdainfully tosses away. His penultimate statement before dying is stating he is a சாமி, holding Abiraami like the Shiva of lore held Sati.

Naan Saami

The final shot of the film is the full moon that eventually arrives that night.

Final Snap of Full Moon

The first shot of the film was a full moon. So was the last shot. The second shot of the film was Guna standing on a terrace top like Shiva. The penultimate shot of the motion picture is Guna standing in a similar pose with Abiraami. Talk of symmetry! Especially when Abiraami Anthaadhi’s final word is the same as its first word.

What do you do when presented with such high art? Kamal and Raaja are great creators. Together, they are just something else. Every film of theirs where Kamal has been involved in significant degrees as a creator has been absolute magic on screen. This simply stands head and shoulders above even among their best.

[Adox]

We have to wait and watch if there's any truth to this story by BW. He did spend time in Mauritius and that didnt sound like a vacation.

We have some interesting updates on Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan’s forthcoming film after Uttama Villain, Vishwaroopam 2 and Papanasam.

There were rumors that Kamal Haasan would soon kickstart a film based in Mauritius. Our sources have confirmed that with a YES and have also hinted that this film will be an action thriller which takes place in a single day. Apparently the team has zeroed in on a working title ‘Ore Iravu’ and Raaj Kamal Films International would be producing it.

And composer Ghibran would be teaming up with Kamal Haasan again, for the fourth consecutive time. Other crew details are expected to be announced soon.

[pamrang]

Oh nice! Will settle for anything but a remake (read PK) but, this sounds way more interesting!

[Adox]

Kamal Haasan Fans retweeted
Kaushik LM @Lmkmoviemaniac · 6h 6 hours ago
#KamalHaasan's next action thriller set in Mauritius. Story will happen in a single day. Current title - Ore Iravu.
#Ghibran music again

http://movieclickz.com/2015/04/08/kamal-haasans-next-movie-expected-to-be-a-thriller/

[radiochandra1977]

No aunthenticity in the news

[nickraman]

Ithuku hindi padathuku thaane? Amar hain?

[Adox]

Lets wait and watch .. he was in Mauritius earlier and nobody knows for sure why he was there.

[Russellbba]

Stumbled upon this series of articles where 'Dhigil' Murugan (PRO) talks about Haasar. This one is about his fitness. Source: The Hindu - Tamil.

"கமல் சார் இன்னும் இளமையாகவும், புத்துணர்வுடனும் இருப்பதற்குக் காரணம், அவரது உடல் நலம் மீதான அக்கறைதான். இதை நான் விவரிப்பதைவிட சூரி சார் சொன்னால் நன்றாக இருக்கும்" என்று கமல்ஹாசனின் உடற்பயிற்சியாளர் சூரியின் பேசச் சொன்னார். சூரி கூறிய தகவல்கள், நம் மொழி நடையில்...

கமல்ஹாசனைப் பொறுத்தவரையில், தனது உணவு விஷயங்களில் மிகவும் கண்டிப்பானவராக இருப்பார். எது கிடைத்தாலும் சாப்பிடுவது, என்ன கொடுத்தாலும் அருந்துவது என்பதை அவரிடம் காணவே முடியாது. உடல்நிலை சரியில்லாத சமயத்தில் டாக்டர் ஏதாவது மாத்திரைக் கொடுத்தால்கூட, அந்த மாத்திரை ஏன், எதற்கு என்பதை தெரிந்துகொள்ளாமல் சாப்பிடமாட்டார். எப்போதுமே அரை வயிறு தான் சாப்பாடுவார். அரிசி வகைகள் மிகவும் குறைவாகவும், பயிறு வகைகள் மிகுதியாகவும் உணவில் சேர்த்துக் கொள்வார். காபி, டீயைத் தொடுவதே இல்லை. தேவைப்படும்போது, ப்ளாக் டீ மட்டுமே குடிப்பார்.

படப்பிடிப்பு எவ்வளவு தீவிரமாக நடைபெற்றாலும், காலையில் ஒரு மணி நேரம் யோகா, இரவு 3 மணி நேரம் உடற்பயிற்சி என்பதை கமல் ஒருநாள் கூட தவறவிட்டதில்லை. அதேபோல, எந்த ஊருக்கு படப்பிடிப்புக்கு சென்றாலும், அவருடைய உடற்பயிற்சியாளர் சூரி கமலுடன் சென்றுவிடுவார். அமெரிக்காவில் 'விஸ்வரூபம்', பெங்களூரில் 'உத்தம வில்லன்' படப்பிடிப்பு நடைபெற்றபோது அவர் உடனே சூரியும் சென்றுவிட்டார். ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் படப்பிடிப்பு முடிந்தவுடன், சூரியின் பயிற்சிகளை தவறாமல் செய்துவிடுவது கமலின் வழக்கம்.

'உத்தம வில்லன்' படத்தில் மேக்கப், உடைகள் எல்லாம் களைந்து படப்பிடிப்பு விட்டு வெளியே வரவே இரவு ஏழரை மணியாகிவிடும். அப்போதுகூட களைப்பு அடையாமல், உடற்பயிற்சி செய்ய சென்று விடுவார் கமல். அந்த அளவுக்கு தனது உடல் மீது அக்கறை உடையவர். படத்துக்கு தகுந்தவாறு உடலைக் குறைப்பது, கூட்டுவது என சூரி சொல்லும் சாப்பாடு அனைத்தையும் தவறாமல் கமல் ஏற்றுக் கொள்வது உண்டு.

ஆளவந்தானுக்காக உடலுழைப்பு

'ஆளவந்தான்' படத்தில் ராணுவ வீரர் விஜயகுமார் கதாபாத்திரத்தின் படப்பிடிப்பு முடிந்தவுடன் சூரியை சந்தித்து உடம்பைக் கூட்ட வேண்டும் என்று கூறியிருக்கிறார் கமல். தொடர்ச்சியாக 4 மாதங்களுக்கு உடற்பயிற்சி கூடமே கதி என்று இருந்திருக்கிறார். முட்டையில் உள்ள வெள்ளைக் கரு மட்டும் தினமும் 30 சாப்பிட்டு உடம்பை ஏற்றியிருக்கிறார். தான் நினைத்த அளவுக்கு உடம்பு ஏறியவுடன்தான் படப்பிடிப்புக்கு சென்றிருக்கிறார் கமல். அந்தப் படப்பிடிப்பு முடிந்தவுடன், மீண்டும் உடலைக் குறைக்க வேண்டும் என்று கூறியிருக்கிறார்.

உடலைக் குறைப்பது என்பது உடனே முடியாது என்றவுடன், சரி.. பரவாயில்லை என்று அந்த உடல்வாகுக்கு ஏற்றவாறு 'பம்மல் கே.சம்பந்தம்' படத்தை ஒப்புக் கொண்டார். அந்தப் படப்பிடிப்புக்கு இடையே உடலைக் குறைத்து கொண்டே வந்திருக்கிறார். 'பஞ்ச தந்திரம்' படத் தொடக்கத்தின் போது மீண்டும் கமலின் பழைய உடலமைப்பைக் கொண்டு வந்துவிட்டார் சூரி. இப்போது 75 கிலோ எடையில் இருக்கிறார் கமல். இன்னும் 2 கிலோ குறைக்க வேண்டும் என்பது கமலின் ஆர்வமாக இருக்கிறது. அவ்வாறு குறைத்துவிட்டால் கமல் இன்னும் இளமையாக தெரிவார் என்கிறார் சூரி.

உடற்பயிற்சியின்போதும்கூட தீராத திரைப்பசி

தினமும் உடற்பயிற்சி செய்யும்போது கூட, சூரியிடம் இன்று இந்த மாதிரி காட்சிகளில் எல்லாம் நடித்தேன் என்று பகிர்ந்து கொள்வார் கமல். படப்பிடிப்பு இல்லாமல் பாடல் பதிவு மாதிரியான நேரங்களில்கூட பாடலைப் பாடிக் காட்டி சூரி என்ன நினைக்கிறார் என்பதை தெரிந்துகொள்வார்.

'தசாவதாரம்' படத்தில் வரும் பல்ராம் நாயுடு கதாபாத்திரத்தை சூரியால் மறக்கவே முடியாது. அந்தப் படத்தின் படப்பிடிப்பின்போது தினமும் உடற்பயிற்சியின் போது அப்பாத்திரம் மாதிரியே பேசிக் காட்டி அனைவரையும் சிரிப்பலையில் ஆழ்த்திவிடுவாராம் கமல். அந்தக் கதாபாத்திரம் படப்பிடிப்பு முடியும் வரை எப்போது கமல் உடற்பயிற்சிக்கு வருவார் என்று சூரி ஏங்கிய நாட்கள் எல்லாம் உண்டு.

அதே போல, உடற்பயிற்சியின்போது கூட நிறைய பேசுவார், பாடுவார், கவிதைகள் கூறுவார்... இப்படி ஏதாவது செய்துகொண்டே இருப்பார் கமல். 'மருதநாயகம்' படப்பிடிப்பின்போது காலை 4 மணிக்கே எழுந்து உடற்பயிற்சி செய்திருக்கிறார் கமல். அந்தக் கதாபாத்திரம் மீது கமலுக்கு அந்தளவுக்கு ஈர்ப்பு உண்டு.

'ஹேராம்' படத்தில் கையில் துப்பாக்கி வைத்திருக்கும் போஸ்டர் டிசைன் ஒன்று இருக்கிறது. அதற்காக, கைகள் போஸ்டரில் சரியாக இருந்தால் மட்டுமே நன்றாக இருக்கும் என்று நிறைய பயிற்சிகள் செய்திருக்கிறார்.

சூரி பார்வையில் கமல்ஹாசன் என்ற நடிகர் எப்படிப்பட்டவர்..? "எல்லாருக்கும் சிவாஜி சார், எம்.ஜி.ஆர் சாரைப் பிடிக்கும். அவர்கள் இருவரையும் கலந்தவர் கமல் சார். அவரை நிறையப் பேர் அடுத்த சிவாஜி என்பார்கள். சிவாஜி மாதிரி நடிப்பு என்றால் எம்.ஜி.ஆரைப் போல எடிட்டிங், இயக்கம் என அனைத்து பிரிவுகளையும் தெரிந்து கொண்டவர் கமல் சார். உடற்பயிற்சி செய்யும்போது அடிக்கடி "நீங்கள் சிவாஜி - எம்.ஜி.ஆர் இருவரையும் சேர்ந்த கலவை சார் என்பேன். சிரித்துக்கொண்டே இருப்பார்" என்றார் சூரி.

http://tamil.thehindu.com/opinion/blogs/%E0%AE%B8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B0%E0%A F%8D-%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BF-3-%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B9%E0%A E%BE%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%A9%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%9C%E0%A E%BF-%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF-%E0%AE%8E%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9C%E0%AE%BF%E0%A E%86%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF/article7048099.ece?relartwiz=true

[Russellbba]

https://thedrunkenmonk.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/thoughts-on-guna/#comments

Thoughts on Guna
.....

The first shot of the film was a full moon. So was the last shot. The second shot of the film was Guna standing on a terrace top like Shiva. The penultimate shot of the motion picture is Guna standing in a similar pose with Abiraami. Talk of symmetry! Especially when Abiraami Anthaadhi’s final word is the same as its first word.

What do you do when presented with such high art? Kamal and Raaja are great creators. Together, they are just something else. Every film of theirs where Kamal has been involved in significant degrees as a creator has been absolute magic on screen. This simply stands head and shoulders above even among their best.

Ohh!! what a gem.. This makes me want to watch this classic again tonight. Thanks a lot for sharing this.

[hattori_hanzo]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCw4nfyVEAAEr-d.jpg

[hattori_hanzo]

Gounder_strike, that article is quite inspiring!!!

[Anban]

Tirisaavaa?? Eksi

[pushpak]

Looks like heights of gossips :
http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/malayalamContentView.do?contentId=18707775&tabId=3&BV_ID=@@@

Kamal to act as villain in Enthiran-2 with Rajini as hero. Aamri Khan was supposed to do the villain, but he backed off.

[Adox]

More on Ore Iravu ...

Actress Trisha, who is currently known as the reigning queen of Tamil cinema, is making headlines again. The latest news is that the actress has grabbed the lead role in the upcoming Kamal Haasan movie, "Ore Iravu".
A still from Tamil movie "Yennai Arindhaal".

Reports are that Trisha will portray a character similar to that of a "Bond" girl.

The movie will reportedly be directed by Kamal Haasan's associate Rajesh, whereas some sources claim that the movie will be directed by the actor himself.

The music of the upcoming flick is done by Ghibran, who has done music for Kamal's "Uttama Villain" and "Papanasam". The movie will be produced by Kamal's production house Raj Kamal Films International.

Kamal Haasan recently uploaded a video while shooting for "Ore Iravu" in Mauritius and reports suggest that the movie is going to be an action thriller which deals with a political subject.

Sources close to the movie claim that pre production work of the movie is taking place in full swing. Apparently, the actor is waiting for the release of his much-awaited flick, "Uttama Villain", on 1 May so that he can completely involve himself in his next flick.

It has also been said that Kamal Haasan will soon be associated with a Hindi movie too.

Besides "Uttama Villain", Kamal Haasan is also awaiting the release of movies "Papanasam" directed by Jeethu Joseph, and "Vishwaroopam 2" directed by the actor himself.

For "Uttama Villain", Kamal Haasan has donned several hats. Apart from being the lead actor, he has also penned the screenplay and dialogues for the film. He has also sung for the film and is the lyricist and the storywriter of the movie. He is also one of the producers of the flick.

http://www.ibtimes.co.in/trisha-star-opposite-kamal-haasan-ore-iravu-629662

[Karikalen]

Or Iravu was the title of a 1951 movie. The story was written by the late Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Anna.

[irir123]

படம் பேர் 80sல வந்த ஏதோ Malayala matter படம் பேரு மாதிரி இருக்கு

[Cinemarasigan]

Debutant director Mr. Rajesh Selva to direct KamalHaasan sir's Next!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC88Du3UEAAhDPe.jpg

He's the one blast the bomb in the NY building in Vishwaroopam movie

[Cinemarasigan]

Debutante director Mr Rajesh Selva to direct #KamalHaasan sir's Next!

Debutant director Rajesh, who is a long time associate of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and has worked with him in several of his films over the years, has been handed over the reins of the latter’s next Tamil outing.
Tentatively titled “Ore Iravu”, the film’s story is said to unfold in a single night.

“Kamal had originally planned to direct this project, but he has now asked his most trusted associate Rajesh to helm it. Both have worked in films such as ‘Manmadhan Ambu’, ‘Vishwaroopam’ and the forthcoming release ‘Uttama Villain’,” a source from the film’s unit told IANS.
Written by Kamal, who will also play the lead, the film will be completely shot in Mauritius.

The source added that TrishaKrishnan is most likely to play the female lead.
“Kamal had discussed the story with Trisha recently. Apparently, she liked it and wished to be a part of the project. However, she’s yet to sign on the dotted line,” the source said.
The film is said to be a high-octane action-thriller and Kamal plans to rope in some of the best stunt choreographers in the world.
#Ghibran has been roped in to compose the tunes, and this will be his fourth consecutive project with Kamal after #Vishwaroopam2, #Papanasam and #UttamaVillain.

(Source: Indian Express)

[Cinemarasigan]

Looks like heights of gossips :
http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/malayalamContentView.do?contentId=18707775&tabId=3&BV_ID=@@@

Kamal to act as villain in Enthiran-2 with Rajini as hero. Aamri Khan was supposed to do the villain, but he backed off.

Kamal Haasan says NO to the Rajinikanth film with director Shankar
http://www.bollywoodlife.com/south-gossip/kamal-haasan-says-no-to-the-rajinikanth-film-with-director-shankar/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[radiochandra1977]

Yes. He only received me in telugu audio launch. Got his oh number. If news is official .... will call and congratulate him

[Arvind Srinivasan]

http://indulge.newindianexpress.com/i-dont-go-to-a-psychiatristi-do-interviews/chennai/29052

A very good interview from Kamal.

AS I ENTER the 112-year-old bungalow on Eldams Road, I am shown into a spacious hall. While I sit restlessly on a sofa, a massive oil portrait of the legend stares down at me. Every corner of the house illuminates our Ulaga Nayagan. Besides an impressive glossary of books, an antique Matchless bike and a figurine of him as a child actor from Kalathur Kannamma—this world of Kamal Haasan’s boasts his legacy, family, childhood, fame, art and memories. With four National Awards, 19 Filmfare Awards, a Padma Shri and a Padma Bhushan, the 60-year-old has practically donned every hat in his 50 years in the film industry. Having fielded communal controversies with his previous film (Vishwaroopam), the actor is relieved that his latest, Uttama Villain, is finally releasing in two weeks. “Along with freedom comes responsibility. I am responsible. I don’t think those who throw allegations at the wind are half as responsible as they expect me to be,” he begins, before speaking about the film, critics and Indian cinema:

No film falls in place, the way we want it to. It takes a life of its own and becomes disobedient, when so many things go out of hand and then Murphy rules. But we got Uttama Villain under control, out of experience, I guess. Working with director K Balachander (KB) in the film is another angle. I have worked as his assistant, I have given him a story (after joining him knowing nothing), I have done several roles and even dance-composed for him. It didn’t feel strange, or like a special day. It felt like it was long overdue.

Uttama Villain is not a musical. I got a music director, Ghibran, who was itching to do something different; that made two of us. We call every film a musical, but a musical is far more complicated than what most people think. We wanted to attempt something midway, to use music as a narrative tool. I am a great fan of Carl Maria von Weber and Alain Boublil who wrote Les Misérables. They became sort of a template and we started working on those lines. The lyrics of Jesus Christ Superstar and CATS are so surprising and we wanted to bring about that kind of a style.

Qualified critics take themselves too seriously. I think it should be left to the people. Your angst is all about getting them to say good things about your film. So do you expect them to only say good things? What sort of a megalomania is that? I expect them to like and dislike my film. They have sculpted me. This grotesque or beautiful sculpture is thanks to them.

The biggest pleasure is when the film is already a big success and yet they are criticising it. That said, apart from ridiculing the critic for not being part of the major crowd, you might get a clue of the unknown quantum, about the minority that has been thinking. It is nice to know that also. After all, they might be the future audience.

From the advent of independent cinema, there has been no attempt to make a film purely for children. Similarly, we have neglected adults.

To be a film, our films have ended up being juvenile and I don’t exclude myself from this.

We are underestimating or overestimating what the youth want. Directors think they know the demographic. They don’t know that I watched Godfather, not for Michael Corleone, but for Marlon Brando and Francis Coppola. Only later came Al Pacino. I was a young kid myself and that’s how I thought. At that age, you want to look at the other side of the world.

There are so many young filmmakers today. I would rather kill them because I am so envious of them. I don’t even know their names. And if you think of it, they are not all in America.

Hey Ram changed me. Gandhi changed the way I think. I was a hell of a Gandhi basher, just like the rest. Nobody told me that it was wrong or punished me. In my ignorance and under peer pressure I had to say the most shocking things. And claiming he is not my father, was the first step. Then I discovered Gandhi and Periyar. Gandhi became my hero on my own merit.
He pulled off certain things that nobody could till date.

Going to the Oscars is not even a pinnacle, it’s a journey. My aim is to take our films internationally. It has taken me 30 years to talk like this confidently. Perhaps I might even act on it.

It is nice to be with equals because leading can be boring. You have set an example and there is no more to learn. You are all the time teaching and teaching itself is such a sacrifice. You might be a PHD but if you decide to teach undergraduates you are stuck with only undergrads for the rest of your life.
Amitabh Bachchan is like MGR with a grain of Sivaji thrown in. But he kept to his place and played it safe. It is only in recent times that he has done different roles. I still miss Amitabh from a Pukar, Anand and Deewar. Even when it was an Amitabh circus—he was the elephant, the horse and everything— he maintained his grace and never lost his dignity. I have learnt a lot from that.

After a point you lose stage fright, then comes money and fame. What matters to me is losing audiences. That is my greatest fear. You are reading poetry and somebody is yawning; you have lost him.
I attribute my success to my family. Some of them are practitioners, not performers or professionals. My sister, Nalini Raghu, is a very good teacher and is one of the best among the family. What is important is making others dance. Why Kamal Haasan becomes important or KB becomes important is because they make other people instead of putting the spotlight only on themselves.

I never raised children. They just take care of themselves, like a tree. I will see to it that they don’t lean onto a wall or break the wall. I don’t even want to clip the tree, like bonsai. I want to make sure they grow tall. Pretending that I made that leaf sprout is silly. It will happen with or without me. That is photosynthesis.

I’m a proud baapu today with my daughters doing well. I thanked Balki again and again for Shamitabh. Akshara refused to act in Avvai Shanmughi as my daughter. I knelt before her, I kissed her hand and begged her to act in the film. She thought about it and in the morning when I asked her again, she gave me a condition. That she will act with me only for three days. That left me with no choice. So for her, entering films is long overdue. But they have a long way to go. Even today, Shruti told me how she is hollow. She is successful but hollow. I told her it is a good feeling, as being hungry does not make you ill, it makes you grow.

Given a choice, I would be with the least clothes in a public forum. But I need to maintain decorum. I shield my thoughts too sometimes and values. When people ask, ‘it must be driving you mad?’ I say, “I have my sessions. No, I don’t go to a psychiatrist. I do interviews.” (laughs) Indian cinema isn’t going the right way. The industry is run by money bags who don’t think straight because they are constantly palpitating about their money. They don’t need a bag, they need diapers. They are soiling their pants in the fear of what will happen to their money. They don’t think of the film, that’s why the fail.

Inside a young mind

[[We have no clue what films school children are talking about these days, especially the so called critically acclaimed films. My daughter Subbulakshmi and her friends are fond of directors like Roland Emmerich but they look at it from another point of view. Two years ago, I tried impressing her with Robert Graves, and she finished his I, Claudius. They are out reading or playing the piano or understanding photography. What do you think selfies are all about? A selfie will take you away from self absorption and turn the camera the other way, soon.

Daily list

■ I like Chad Kultgen’s disturbing kind of writing which is very honest. It goes to the deep core

■ I am learning cooking, and Gautami helps me. I have learnt to make rasam and drumstick sambar

■ I am sporadically learning piano. I learnt for sometime from Karthik Raja, but he was fed up and told me I was pretending not to understand anything!

■ I have a new app which is not for total public consumption. Called ‘Live,’ it lets me colour correct and work on my edit notes. It is my current toy

I watch about 100 hours of moving images per month, which is at least 30 films.

I see all the European and American television series. I like Borgia, Marco Polo, Peaky Blinders, Breaking Bad, Killing. I watch a lot of documentaries because they give me better ideas than films. I don’t attend film festivals these days. It is too political, and I’m on the inaugurating end. I would like to go to a festival with a bag on my shoulder, take notes, sit in a tea shop, rip a film and then go back.

[Adox]

Few places has it including BW that Prakash Raj has been roped in for the movie Ore Iravu ..

http://www.gulte.com/movienews/37953/Legendary-Actors-To-Join-Hands-Again

[ramdas2005]

Kamal Haasan says NO to the Rajinikanth film with director Shankar
http://www.bollywoodlife.com/south-gossip/kamal-haasan-says-no-to-the-rajinikanth-film-with-director-shankar/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I don't think there is any of chance of these 2 doing the films together in the future, kamal could have tried but then there are too many issues similar to viduthalai times I guess who gets more importance, also I don't feel kamal would do movies with any other directors like shankar, he has become too restrictive and has developed his own comfort zone.

[nickraman]

I don't think there is any of chance of these 2 doing the films together in the future, kamal could have tried but then there are too many issues similar to viduthalai times I guess who gets more importance, also I don't feel kamal would do movies with any other directors like shankar, he has become too restrictive and has developed his own comfort zone.
In this day and age, Shankar can give blade kathai laced with grapicks and still makkal will give aattam and paaratai. Till date Indian remains his best (aside from waste heroines manisha urmilla.)

Shankar knows the pulse and he is still getting revenue because he takes hoy ride of makkal irrespective of criticism.

[ramdas2005]

In this day and age, Shankar can give blade kathai laced with grapicks and still makkal will give aattam and paaratai. Till date Indian remains his best (aside from waste heroines manisha urmilla.)

Shankar knows the pulse and he is still getting revenue because he takes hoy ride of makkal irrespective of criticism.
True, if kamal joins hands with Shankar, may be something good can come out, also I meant kamal being too restrictive about working with other directors.

[hattori_hanzo]

I don't think there is any of chance of these 2 doing the films together in the future, kamal could have tried but then there are too many issues similar to viduthalai times I guess who gets more importance, also I don't feel kamal would do movies with any other directors like shankar, he has become too restrictive and has developed his own comfort zone.

ramdas, i'm not aware of this incident. Can we have more info please.

[thamiz]

Kamal as villain and Rajini as hero? That sounds so ridiculous! I am glad Kamal turned it down- if at all the rumor was true! :)

[ramdas2005]

ramdas, i'm not aware of this incident. Can we have more info please.
Hi Hattori: Qurbani was remade as viduthalai in tamil, Producer balaji wanted to cast rajni in feroz khan role and kamal in vinod khanna's role. Kamal wanted feroz role, balaji did not agree, kamal-balaji had a fall out, kamal went ahead and made vikram. viduthalai was made with rajni-vishnu vardhan.

[hattori_hanzo]

Hi Hattori: Qurbani was remade as viduthalai in tamil, Producer balaji wanted to cast rajni in feroz khan role and kamal in vinod khanna's role. Kamal wanted feroz role, balaji did not agree, kamal-balaji had a fall out, kamal went ahead and made vikram. viduthalai was made with rajni-vishnu vardhan.

Thanks for that piece of information, ramdas. Happened to watch Viduthalai in Youtube recently. Shoddy movie. I mean, KH's Vikram is not a classic either but it can be watched for several aspects like fast screenplay, melodious songs, picturization and BGM. But Viduthalai had none of them, to sustain your interest. Good that KH was not a part of it. Were Vikram and Viduthalai released on the same day?

By the way, the antagonist of Viduthalai, Naattamai was named Vikram ;) Now I know the reason.

[ramdas2005]

@Hattori: Both were released during the same year, not the same day though.

[rsubras]

I doubt this story...after ninaithaalae inikkum they two had agreed not to act together.........may be as hh pointed out, the antagonist name in that movie vachu somebody might have spun a story

[cinema]

This is definitely true story. I remember this one from tamil magazines during those days. The reason they did not want to act together was the money. Balaji was willing to pay but Kamal did not want to accept the rule and he asked for Hero's role. Even in Giraftaar Kamal was the hero. The only time Kamal acted as second fiddle was in Saagar and even then he had more scope for acting than Rishi Kapoor and in fact he won the best actor filmfare award for that.

[pushpak]

This is definitely true story. I remember this one from tamil magazines during those days. The reason they did not want to act together was the money. Balaji was willing to pay but Kamal did not want to accept the rule and he asked for Hero's role. Even in Giraftaar Kamal was the hero. The only time Kamal acted as second fiddle was in Saagar and even then he had more scope for acting than Rishi Kapoor and in fact he won the best actor filmfare award for that.

Can't say second fiddle for Saagar, not just from the point of view of scope of acting, but even otherwise.

[hattori_hanzo]

This is definitely true story. I remember this one from tamil magazines during those days. The reason they did not want to act together was the money. Balaji was willing to pay but Kamal did not want to accept the rule and he asked for Hero's role. Even in Giraftaar Kamal was the hero. The only time Kamal acted as second fiddle was in Saagar and even then he had more scope for acting than Rishi Kapoor and in fact he won the best actor filmfare award for that.

ok, but I think i was wrong in guessing the reason for the antagonist's name. Just checked Wiki, the villain in Qurbani was also named Vikram. My bad.

[Murali Srinivas]

h_h/ramdas,

I am afraid that the info regarding Vidudhalai is not fully correct. While Balaji did have a grand idea of staging a casting coup of the century (imagine NT, Rajini and Kamal acting in the same movie) it never went beyond the initial stage. The fall out between Kamal and Balaji did not happen for Viduthalai. A brief flash back for the uninitiated.

Balaji after becoming a producer was solely dedicated to NT. Except for his first film as producer Annavin Aasai, which had Gemini in the lead and which came out in 1966 and save an exception in 1978 when he made Radhaikketra Kannan with Sivakumar (more to help his long term production manager Krishnamoorthy more popularly known as Billa Krishnamoorthy) he produced films only with NT from 1967 to 1979.

Even during those days (read 1975-76) it was rumoured that he was trying to do a casting which if it had materialised would have been the mother of all casting coups in Tamil Cinema. Sholay got released on 15th August of 1975 and the rumour was like this. Balaji had acquired the remake rights from GP Sippy. While NT would reprise the role of Amithab in the original, MGR will enact the role of Dharmendra and Gemini would don the role of Sanjeev Kumar. But I am sure it was only a rumour with no truth to it.

During October of every calendar year Balaji used to start his movie so that he can release it on January 26th, his lucky date (actually it was his marriage date). At the fag end of 1979 Balaji wanted to remake Sankarabaranam with NT but NT said no. Since no suitable story was available for NT from other languages and since NT was also busy with other commitments, Balaji turned his attention to the next generation. Rajini was roped in and Don was remade as Billa. Next he made Thee with the same combo with Thee being the remake of Deewar and it got released on 26th January 1981. [It is to be noted that the same Balaji had tried to acquire the rights for Deewar way back in 1975 when it was released with NT in mind. But the price quoted by the producer was too high and Balaji left Deewar and purchased the rights of Namak Haraam which he remade as Unakkaga Naan with NT and Gemini].In between Billa and Thee, Balaji also produced a movie called Sujatha (remake of Malayalam Shalini ente Koottukkari) that had the beautiful song “Nee Varuvai ena naan irundhe” which pitch forked singer Kalyani Menon (Mother of director Rajiv Menon) in to limelight.

Coming back to 1981 post the release of Thee, Balaji went to Kamal and produced Saval (July 3rd of 1981- a remake of Haath Ki Safai) after which continued with Kamal to produce Vaazhve Maayam (Jan 26th of 1982 – remade from Telugu Premabishekam). Then he went back to NT and Theerpu (May 1982) and Neethipadhi (Jan 26th of 1983) followed. Then again to Kamal with Sattam getting released in May 1983. After this Balaji spread his wings and he started doing more films with Mohan, Sivakumar and Suresh all coming under his fold.

After Sattam Kamal did Mangamma Sabatham for Balaji in September 1985, which was again a remake of Disco Dancer 2 of Mithun. Kamal had committed another movie for Balaji. But by now Kamal was not very comfortable doing movies continuously for one producer which were again remakes and nothing original. Moreover Balaji’s style of working was completely different. He used to get the call sheets of all artists in advance, chalk out the shooting schedule and then hunt for the story. Once he zeroes on a subject his team of writers would complete the script and shooting would start and proceed as planned earlier. Kamal it was rumoured did not like the working style because since everybody is committed, the producer is not serious about a good story but simply buys whatever is available in the market and proceeds with the shoot.

That’s the reason he was hesitant for another venture and the fact that his movies that came after Khaki Sattai (April 1985) like Andha Oru Nimidam(May 1985), Uyarndha Ullam (July 1985), Mangamma Sabatham (Sep 1985) and subsequently Japanil Kalyanaraman (Deepavali, Nov 1985) did not do well at Box office added to his decision. At that point of time he did not want one more disaster. Therefore when Balaji hit upon the idea of remaking Qurbani and asked Kamal to be a part of it he refused. [He for one had not been keen on multi starrers after 1980 can be gauged from the fact that both Prabhu and Arjun had only brief roles to play in Vetri Vizhaa and Kuruthi Punal respectively]. But by that time Vikram had already started and so was Vidudhalai. In fact Balaji had two films on the floor simultaneously at that point of time both having NT in lead roles. While Marumagal came out on his favourite day of Jan 26th of 1986, Viduthalai was released on 11th April of 1986.

Vikram was released on 29th May of 1986 and if at all Viduthalai had a film competing with, it was Naanum Oru Thozhilaali another Kamal movie helmed by Sridhar that was started in 1981 as Sakthi got rechristened as Meednum Sooriyodhyam that title later getting changed for assumed political colour to Naanum Oru Thozhilaali and finally hit the screens on May 1st of 1986. That is another long story.

Sorry if I had bored anyone with this long narration. Just wanted to highlight that it was the working style of the producer that put off Kamal All other reasons were accidental.

Regards

[radiochandra1977]

Fabulous and interesting post

[Arvind Srinivasan]

Wonderful post there, Murali Srinivas...:thumbsup:

and Welcome back...It's been a while

[Anban]

Historian level writing sir.

[irir123]

super narration!

FIVE movies within 8 months ?! Khaki Sattai (April 1985) , Andha Oru Nimidam(May 1985), Uyarndha Ullam (July 1985), Mangamma Sabatham (Sep 1985) and Japanil Kalyanaraman (Deepavali, Nov 1985).

I do recall that time period but the timespan of these movies means Kamal was most likely working 14 hour shifts!!

to top it, he was also practicing his dancing at Eldams road - whew! some man indeed!

how did this man get the time to eat, go to the bathroom etc etc?

If you can also fill in as to why K Balaji and IR fell out (KB going to Gangai Amaran for Sattam and Vaazhvey mayam at a time when IR was churning out stunner after stunner, is inexplicable), would be thankful.

[ramdas2005]

@Murali Srinivas, thanks for the fantastic write up...and the clarifications...

[venkkiram]

http://postimg.org/gallery/bcabkka8/

வழக்கம்போலவே துணிச்சல் மிகுந்த, செறிவான பதில்கள். கமலுக்கு நிகர் கமலே! வேறெந்த கலைஞர்களிடமும் இல்லாதது.. அந்த வகையில் ரசிகர்களும் ஒரு(பல) படி மேல்தான்.

:notworthy:

[Adox]

Can't say second fiddle for Saagar, not just from the point of view of scope of acting, but even otherwise.

Ha ha! Second fiddle ?? Hardly .. Kamal completely overshadowed Rishi in the movie. Even NI folks say the same thing.

[Adox]

Murali Srinivas,

Your chronological narration of events made interesting reading !

[pamrang]

Superb writeup, Murali Srinivas! Enjoyed learning this history

[Avadi to America]

h_h/ramdas,

I am afraid that the info regarding Vidudhalai is not fully correct. While Balaji did have a grand idea of staging a casting coup of the century (imagine NT, Rajini and Kamal acting in the same movie) it never went beyond the initial stage. The fall out between Kamal and Balaji did not happen for Viduthalai. A brief flash back for the uninitiated.

Balaji after becoming a producer was solely dedicated to NT. Except for his first film as producer Annavin Aasai, which had Gemini in the lead and which came out in 1966 and save an exception in 1978 when he made Radhaikketra Kannan with Sivakumar (more to help his long term production manager Krishnamoorthy more popularly known as Billa Krishnamoorthy) he produced films only with NT from 1967 to 1979.

Even during those days (read 1975-76) it was rumoured that he was trying to do a casting which if it had materialised would have been the mother of all casting coups in Tamil Cinema. Sholay got released on 15th August of 1975 and the rumour was like this. Balaji had acquired the remake rights from GP Sippy. While NT would reprise the role of Amithab in the original, MGR will enact the role of Dharmendra and Gemini would don the role of Sanjeev Kumar. But I am sure it was only a rumour with no truth to it.

During October of every calendar year Balaji used to start his movie so that he can release it on January 26th, his lucky date (actually it was his marriage date). At the fag end of 1979 Balaji wanted to remake Sankarabaranam with NT but NT said no. Since no suitable story was available for NT from other languages and since NT was also busy with other commitments, Balaji turned his attention to the next generation. Rajini was roped in and Don was remade as Billa. Next he made Thee with the same combo with Thee being the remake of Deewar and it got released on 26th January 1981. [It is to be noted that the same Balaji had tried to acquire the rights for Deewar way back in 1975 when it was released with NT in mind. But the price quoted by the producer was too high and Balaji left Deewar and purchased the rights of Namak Haraam which he remade as Unakkaga Naan with NT and Gemini].In between Billa and Thee, Balaji also produced a movie called Sujatha (remake of Malayalam Shalini ente Koottukkari) that had the beautiful song “Nee Varuvai ena naan irundhe” which pitch forked singer Kalyani Menon (Mother of director Rajiv Menon) in to limelight.

Coming back to 1981 post the release of Thee, Balaji went to Kamal and produced Saval (July 3rd of 1981- a remake of Haath Ki Safai) after which continued with Kamal to produce Vaazhve Maayam (Jan 26th of 1982 – remade from Telugu Premabishekam). Then he went back to NT and Theerpu (May 1982) and Neethipadhi (Jan 26th of 1983) followed. Then again to Kamal with Sattam getting released in May 1983. After this Balaji spread his wings and he started doing more films with Mohan, Sivakumar and Suresh all coming under his fold.

After Sattam Kamal did Mangamma Sabatham for Balaji in September 1985, which was again a remake of Disco Dancer 2 of Mithun. Kamal had committed another movie for Balaji. But by now Kamal was not very comfortable doing movies continuously for one producer which were again remakes and nothing original. Moreover Balaji’s style of working was completely different. He used to get the call sheets of all artists in advance, chalk out the shooting schedule and then hunt for the story. Once he zeroes on a subject his team of writers would complete the script and shooting would start and proceed as planned earlier. Kamal it was rumoured did not like the working style because since everybody is committed, the producer is not serious about a good story but simply buys whatever is available in the market and proceeds with the shoot.

That’s the reason he was hesitant for another venture and the fact that his movies that came after Khaki Sattai (April 1985) like Andha Oru Nimidam(May 1985), Uyarndha Ullam (July 1985), Mangamma Sabatham (Sep 1985) and subsequently Japanil Kalyanaraman (Deepavali, Nov 1985) did not do well at Box office added to his decision. At that point of time he did not want one more disaster. Therefore when Balaji hit upon the idea of remaking Qurbani and asked Kamal to be a part of it he refused. [He for one had not been keen on multi starrers after 1980 can be gauged from the fact that both Prabhu and Arjun had only brief roles to play in Vetri Vizhaa and Kuruthi Punal respectively]. But by that time Vikram had already started and so was Vidudhalai. In fact Balaji had two films on the floor simultaneously at that point of time both having NT in lead roles. While Marumagal came out on his favourite day of Jan 26th of 1986, Viduthalai was released on 11th April of 1986.

Vikram was released on 29th May of 1986 and if at all Viduthalai had a film competing with, it was Naanum Oru Thozhilaali another Kamal movie helmed by Sridhar that was started in 1981 as Sakthi got rechristened as Meednum Sooriyodhyam that title later getting changed for assumed political colour to Naanum Oru Thozhilaali and finally hit the screens on May 1st of 1986. That is another long story.

Sorry if I had bored anyone with this long narration. Just wanted to highlight that it was the working style of the producer that put off Kamal All other reasons were accidental.

Regards

Murali Sir, intha HUBla ezhthunathaiyey neenga booka podalam....I still go and read NT thread just because people like you....

[venkkiram]

http://s3.postimg.org/jkrvox15d/Scan_150422_0001.jpg

[venkkiram]

http://s3.postimg.org/q3kq1udci/Scan_150422_0002.jpg

[venkkiram]

http://s3.postimg.org/4jkztwt1u/Scan_150422_0003.jpg

[venkkiram]

http://s3.postimg.org/5bs96ummq/Scan_150422_0004.jpg

[venkkiram]

http://s3.postimg.org/3k3vposnm/Scan_150422_0005.jpg

[venkkiram]

http://s3.postimg.org/8esza81le/Scan_150422_0006.jpg

[venkkiram]

'உள்ளேன் ஐயா'ன்னு டைட்டில். அதைப் படமாக்கினா நிச்சயம் ஜெயில்தான்!

:clap:

[pamrang]

Venkkiram, neenga potta pictures ethuvume paarka mudiyalai......

[Murali Srinivas]

Thank you everybody.

Aravind, I am here as always but confined to NT Forum. Time constranint but I do peep in here and update myself.

A to A, thanks and my pleasure. Book?, well long pending. Will have to seriously think about it.

irir,

As for as I know,the rift between Balaji and Ilaiyaraja started way back in 1979 when Balaji’s Nallathoru Kudumbam (starring Sivaji and Vanishree) was under production. Again to my understanding there were two issues the primary one being the clash between IR and TMS which actually led to the second issue.

Sorry, again need to do a flashback reporting. Starting from 1967 till 1976, Balaji produced 8 films with NT out of which the first 4 were directed by ACT and the next 4 were directed by CVR. All the 8 films had music by MSV. At the end of 1976, when Balaji started his next venture he completely changed his team. K.Vijayan came in as the director and Balaji roped in IR who had made his debut in that year. That movie Deepam released on 26th January 1977 was a runaway success and Balaji’s next movie Thyagam came out in March 1978 with the sam ecombo and it turned out to be a blockbuster. As a third in row, Balaji started Nallathoru Kudumbam again with NT – IR- K.Vijayan. But before Nallathoru Kudumbam was started, story writer R.Selvaraj’s debut directorial venture Ponnu Ooruku Pudhusu came out in May 1978 which had the famous song Oram Po Oram Po Rukmani vandi Varudhu. Months after this when TMS had visited Srilanka it seems that he gave an interview to a newspaper there (Veerakesari if I am not off the mark) wherein he lambasted IR saying that people who compose such songs would soon be sidelined ( Oramaga Othukkappaduvaargal). TMS had reasons for this whiplash. He felt that IT is sidelining him and giving away his chances to other singers. Even for NT, other voices were being used.

To quote another incident here would make people understand the under currents better. MGR who was the Chief Minister at that point of time decided to act in a movie that was to be produced by G.K.Dharmaraj who under his Yoga Chitra banner had earlier produced Ilaiya Thalaimurai with NT [a precursor to Kamal’s Nammavar]. This MGR movie named “Unnai Vida Maatten” had Ilaiya Raja as the Music director and the Pooja was held on the Tamil New Year’s day (ie) 14th April of 1978. On the day of Pooja a song was recorded and it was sung by TMS. But later for reasons best known to IR, he recorded the same song with Malaysia Vasudevan. This had angered TMS [But the film never progressed beyond that point is another story]. During the same period Sivaji’s Naan Vaazha Vaippen was also under production and IR was the music director for tha film also. If you had seen the film, Sivaji had three songs in it out of which Thirutheril Varum Silaiyo and Ennodu Paadungal were sung by SPB while TMS had only Endhan Ponvanname. But Ennodu Paadungal was originally recorded with TMS and later replaced with the version sung by SPB. This too played a huge part in TMS denouncing IR in the interview.

IR for his part decided not to use TMS anymore and he had no problem since by that time except for NT there was no requirement for TMS and even for NT films IR started using other voices. Especially in 1979, when NT had 7 releases, 5 out of it had music by IR. Of these Kavari Maan and Pattakathi Baiaravan had no TMS. Naan Vaazha Vaippen had only one song of TMS and the other two namely Nallathoru Kudumbam and Vetrikku Oruvan had TMS songs. So wherever he could boss over, IR had his way and only when the producer was big, he acceded to their request. So Rishimoolam that got released on 26th January 1980 was the last film of Sivaji that had TMS singing under IR. After which there was a long gap and it was Vellai Roja that came out during 1983 deepavali saw IR working for a Sivaji movie after which there were many Sivaji films that had IR music but there was no TMS. In 1986 producer KRG produced Thaikku oru Thalaattu with NT and Padmini in the lead that had IR as the music director. KRG and director Balachandra Menon had wanted a song for Sivaji and Padmini that would reminiisce the Golden era of Sivaji- Padmini pair. Vairamuthu had penned the lyrics for that movie and this song Pazhaya Paadal Pole Puthiya Paadal Illai was written for which the tune of Unnai Ondru Ketpen from Puthiya Paravai was used. This movie came out in July 1986 by which time Ilaiay Raja had fallen off with Vairamuthu too. So it is alleged that IR during the RR previaled upon Menon not to use that song and instead called upon Vaali to write a title song and this delayed the movie by 10 days or so. The film that was supposed to hit the screens on 4th July of 1986 was postponed to 11th and producer KRG who had badly wanted the song could wait no longer and since the Tamil month of Aadi will start on 17th of July, he hurriedly released the movie on 16th of July 1986 which fell on a Wednesday an unusual day for a movie release without the song. The movie’s song cassette had come out before the release and this song had become quite popular and for people like us who saw the opening show on the morning of 16th , it was huge disappointment. Sorry for the digression and let us come back to 1979.

The problem between Balaji and IR started during Nallathoru Kudumbam days. IR wanted to use SPB for that movie but Balaji refusded. It seems that Balaji and IR had an argument on this It is not that Balaji was against using SPB. In fact SPB had sung for Sivaji himself in Balaji’s films like Raja and Unakkaga Naan but Balaji was against using SPB for all song completely sidelining TMS. Balaji in cine circles was known as a tough nut and it is a well known fact that he was one who never brooked any indiscipline. And it did not go down well with him that a person just 3 years old in to the system however great he may be, dictating terms to him. He decised never to engage IR again for his movies and he struck to his decision till his last movie as a producer.

So he started using MSV again from Billa but after some time say 1981 fag end when distributors wanted the music flavour of that season in his films, Balaji roped in Gangai Amaran rather than going back to IR. GA did music for 3 films for Balaji [Vaazhve Maayam, Needhipadhi and Sattam] after which he switched to Shankar Ganesh, Chandra Bose etc.

Sorry for the long essay but the TMS-IR clash was the primary reason and Balaji- IR spat was incidental to it.

Regards

[ajaybaskar]

Neenga oru nadamaadum encyclopedia Anne. :)

[radiochandra1977]

Speechless sir

[irir123]

Murali Srinivas - சினிமா உலகத்துல கசமூஸா இருக்குனு தெரியும் - ஆனா இந்த ரேஞ்சுல இருக்கும்னு ரொம்ப தெளிவா சொன்னதுக்க நன்றி!

IR-TMS சண்டையினால பாலாஜி செஞ்ச படங்கள் மூலமா IR music வராம போனது தான் மிச்சம்..

[kumarsr]

All this just shows the obvious - that, when one is in their heyday they let it go their head.

[radiochandra1977]

Murali srinivas sir ...... Balaji and Nagesh ..... I heard had a long standing comraderie. Any light please ......

[Murali Srinivas]

Yeah Dr! They were very close and in fact it was Balaji who recommended Nagesh to so many Directors/Producers when Nagesh was trying to get in to films. Will try to put in more info when time permits.

Regards

[pamrang]

Super Sir! Ungaloda historical episodes recollection ke oru special thread aarambikkalaam pole irukke!

[hattori_hanzo]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDmiNkEWMAAUgpI.jpg

[hattori_hanzo]

What a write up Murali sir! thanks for answering our questions and clarifying them.

[ramdas2005]

Thank you @Murali for the excellent write up, I guess IR in his very early days had his way of getting through...

[irir123]

Digression:

… Nepal is reeling under the biggest earthquake in 8 decades - I request our fellow hubbers to contribute what little they can to the PM's Relief Fund as well as the Red Cross - blankets, tent material, anything works..

Almost everyone in Nepal who has survived are living in the open in tents with aftershocks still rocking the area - they need all of our help…

Thanks

End Digression

[Arvind Srinivasan]

^ Dig: Glad you brought it up, irir....The easiest way is through Facebook. Since most have an FB account, it should very convenient. Please go to https://www.facebook.com/nepalearthquakesupport and do the needful

End Dig

[ramdas2005]

@irir,@arvind: I made my donations via facebook...

[venkkiram]

^ me too made my donation via facebook.

[kumarsr]

https://twitter.com/Celluloidscope/status/593717271928905728/photo/1

[Adox]

https://twitter.com/Celluloidscope/status/593717271928905728/photo/1

Could you post the gist of it ? I cant read properly .. thanks.

[Avadi to America]

Osacar &Co has to pay 96C+ with in 60 days to get back all the property he pledged...

[Avadi to America]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDmiNkEWMAAUgpI.jpg

wow excellent. it looks i watched all the movies....

[madhus369]

Osacar &Co has to pay 96C+ with in 60 days to get back all the property he pledged...

Confusing... Doesn't that mean that he should try to sell VR2 rights quickly to distributors to get the money back to pay off all these loans!? Even if VR2 is caught up with the bank as collateral, Aascar should be able to sell the distribution rights for a sum that he can use to get the asset (VR2) back.

[Adox]

Osacar &Co has to pay 96C+ with in 60 days to get back all the property he pledged...

Wow, avarrukae indha gadhia ! Only thing I can think of is appo 'I' didnt recover the expenses no matter what it made in BO. Sad, VR-2 hangs in balance and maybe shelved ...

[Adox]

http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-actors/kamal-haasan/an-exclusive-uttama-villain-special-interview-with-kamal-haasan.html

Vishwaroopam 2 ? I have no clue. Everything is ready. Producers have to take care of the rest.

[madhus369]

http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-actors/kamal-haasan/an-exclusive-uttama-villain-special-interview-with-kamal-haasan.html

Vishwaroopam 2 ? I have no clue. Everything is ready. Producers have to take care of the rest.

It must be frustrating as a creator, but, the silver lining is that.. this time around, he doesn't have to worry about his finances or house etc. Wisely, he has distanced himself from those problems. He can just focus on what he does best rather than try to fight the TN media machine... where everyone wants and gets a say...

The insane obsession for movies, instead of just appreciating it as entertainment, is prevalent only in TN. And that, in my opinion, is the root cause for all the associated power struggles between everyone in the value chain. KH talks about 'pagutharivu' and goes up against religion. He probably should direct some of that towards this insane obsession of Tamilians with their 'favorite-stars' and the madness that surrounds it. It will come at the risk of hurting one's own standing, but for someone advocating 'pagutharivu', it shouldn't be a stretch, since he offends a lot anyway.

Even in the hub, we come across folks like that, with a mad obsession, who pray and get nervous for movie releases... as if they are the direct beneficiaries. It is just a movie and just an actor or a director... should probably learn to just watch it, enjoy it or diss it, move on to the next...

Of course... all of this is just my opinion. Nothing to go overboard about.

[kumarsr]

It must be frustrating as a creator, but, the silver lining is that.. this time around, he doesn't have to worry about his finances or house etc. Wisely, he has distanced himself from those problems. He can just focus on what he does best rather than try to fight the TN media machine... where everyone wants and gets a say...

The insane obsession for movies, instead of just appreciating it as entertainment, is prevalent only in TN. And that, in my opinion, is the root cause for all the associated power struggles between everyone in the value chain. KH talks about 'pagutharivu' and goes up against religion. He probably should direct some of that towards this insane obsession of Tamilians with their 'favorite-stars' and the madness that surrounds it. It will come at the risk of hurting one's own standing, but for someone advocating 'pagutharivu', it shouldn't be a stretch, since he offends a lot anyway.

Even in the hub, we come across folks like that, with a mad obsession, who pray and get nervous for movie releases... as if they are the direct beneficiaries. It is just a movie and just an actor or a director... should probably learn to just watch it, enjoy it or diss it, move on to the next...

Of course... all of this is just my opinion. Nothing to go overboard about.

Oh...he does. Even in UV. You just have to observe.

[madhus369]

Oh...he does. Even in UV. You just have to observe.

My point was to act as such in real life and not just provide jabs in movies.

[kumarsr]

My point was to act as such in real life and not just provide jabs in movies.

Point taken, but he has mentioned against this in public also...that's one reason he has channelized his fan club to do some constructive things. It would be difficult to expect him to do much more given that he is in the middle of all this and is also a beneficiary

[Saai]

Even in the hub, we come across folks like that, with a mad obsession, who pray and get nervous for movie releases... as if they are the direct beneficiaries. It is just a movie and just an actor or a director... should probably learn to just watch it, enjoy it or diss it, move on to the next...


This is non sense. To relate to an artist is the very basic tenet of being a human being. Any art - Literature, music, movies - and artist separates us from other creatures. And to say we should be really selfish to only worry about the products which we have invested in is very cynical and unempathetic...

[madhus369]

This is non sense. To relate to an artist is the very basic tenet of being a human being. Any art - Literature, music, movies - and artist separates us from other creatures. And to say we should be really selfish to only worry about the products which we have invested in is very cynical and unempathetic...

Claims of nonsense etc are just opinions and so is the counterpoint. To each their own...

[Saai]

Claims of nonsense etc are just opinions and so is the counterpoint. To each their own...

Isnt that obvious?? so?

[madhus369]

Point taken, but he has mentioned against this in public also...that's one reason he has channelized his fan club to do some constructive things. It would be difficult to expect him to do much more given that he is in the middle of all this and is also a beneficiary

Agreed. It is too much of an expectation from one man to take on an industry, that is messed up by so many groups.

[Karikalen]

Good moves by the legend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpUvozgHZBU

[kumarsr]

Let's hope it comes out by the end of the year or Pongal 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyuGePZfOCk

[kumarsr]

Also, besides avoiding excessive delay (like in UV, it only increases hype to super-high levels and acts as a negative, ultimately), request no graphics and a smooth, tension-free release coupled with good pre-release marketing. It would be ideal if release date is mentioned 2 months ahead of time and it is released on the said date.

[pushpak]

Take a Project Manager first and estimate the cost, plan the schedule... in brief, manage it as a good project.
Not an open ended activity with full of uncertainities !

[Cinemarasigan]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Kamal-Haasan-Why-would-I-antagonise-a-large-demography/articleshow/47309199.cms

"I had predicted Bin Laden's death three months before he died

"When the film's script was complete, we gave it to the US embassy to seek permission to shoot in the USA. I had plans to shoot in the summer, but when nothing happened till March, we decided to shoot in the winter. That's when I realized why we probably didn't get permission. There is a sequence in my film about Bin Laden being killed. We submitted the script in February and in May, he was actually killed. I predicted his death uncomfortably early! And so the film was delayed by six months. I was glad that as a writer I could foresee without any looking glass or magic mirror. In a way, as a citizen of the world society, I felt happy that I had my finger right on the pulse," he share"

தலைவா!! உன்னோட கணிப்புக்கு ஒரு அளவே இல்லையா ? பின் லேடன் சாவையும் உன்னால் 3 மாதத்துக்கு முன்பே கணிக்க முடிந்ததா.. கடவுள்-ன்னு பாதி ரசிகர்கள் உன்னை நினைப்பதில் தவறே இல்லை... :notworthy:

[Cinemarasigan]

One more interesting news from the Times interview:

"I thought that this time I will be clever and give the mantle to another producer, which I now feel is a mistake. We will take over the film and release it because then it will become redundant and all the things that I want to say in the film would have already happened," he said. "

[Adox]

Have no idea how he has those premonitions ... He was asked the same in an interview for which he replied that the future is clearly written in the happenings of the present so was not a big deal to read them !! Some profound stuff :)

[abkhlabhi]

KH interview in ABN News (telugu)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKrGhPL11sw

[Russelldwp]

நடிகர் திலகத்தின் மனப்பூர்வமான ரசிகர் என்பதையும் அவருடைய வாரிசு என்பதையும் இந்த பேட்டியின் மூலம் மீண்டும் உறுதிப்படுத்தும் கமல் அவர்களுக்கு சிவாஜியின் முரட்டு பக்தர்கள் சார்பில் வாழ்த்துக்களை தெரிவித்து கொள்கிறோம்.

[venkkiram]

நடிகர் திலகத்தின் மனப்பூர்வமான ரசிகர் என்பதையும் அவருடைய வாரிசு என்பதையும் இந்த பேட்டியின் மூலம் மீண்டும் உறுதிப்படுத்தும் கமல் அவர்களுக்கு சிவாஜியின் முரட்டு பக்தர்கள் சார்பில் வாழ்த்துக்களை தெரிவித்து கொள்கிறோம்.
:rotfl:

[kumarsr]

Take a Project Manager first and estimate the cost, plan the schedule... in brief, manage it as a good project.
Not an open ended activity with full of uncertainities !

Actually, everyone knows KH does not waste time or money. His shooting days are very well planned, ahead of time. He has himself stated this many times publicly. Costs escalate mostly based on number of shooting days. But this factor is very well controlled (especially if it is a RajKamal production)

What happens after that, is the problem (wrong producer with lots of financial troubles, CGI delays, poor marketing, issues with lyrics offending hindu groups, etc.). The long delay increases the hype among some while it causes tiredness for others in the general public. Finally, with all these delays and release date not set in advance, enough screens are not available for the crucial opening weekend. Or, it does not even get screened on day 1. I don't remember any top hero in TN missing the initial day after everything is confirmed.

[NOV]

Nuances in Vishwaroopam
February 28, 2013 by karthik S


Now, it can be safe to assume that almost all would have seen Vishwaroopam. Alongside critical technical acclaim, it has grossed numbers that other film makers could only dream of. To gross such figures, a movie needs to be commercial so that it could reach all segments. Is Vishwaroopam really a commercial movie? At first glance, many would say “Yes”. But that’s where the smart and suave Kamal Haasan has handled it with dexterity. In essence, the actual backbone of the movie is the Afghan frames. But having it for the whole length of 2.5 hrs with a huge overdose of subtitles would have been a risky proposition, though it would have been a real treat for the purists. That’s where the Kathak dancer and the RAW agent Kamal make it a really engrossing movie for all classes.

Despite this, the movie has an enormous number of nuances which makes it a really classy movie. You can easily understand and appreciate Vishwaroopam even in your first watch. But similar to how the beauty of a peak can be experienced in its entirely only when you reach the summit, the brilliance of Vishwaroopam can be felt when you uncover the sublimely stated content. Most of the scenes have an underlying thought or aspect which could be noticed only if you relate the various scenes and dialogues. I have herewith consolidated a whole list of nuances observed by me and my friends. After reading this, I know for sure you would be tempted to revisit the movie again (like how it happens with all Kamal Haasan movies).

Theme based Nuances

1) Kamal Haasan mentioned in an interview that the one liner of this story was an inspiration from Virata Parva of the Mahabharata. If we try to relate it now, in fact, Wisam’s character is a mix of the mythological Arjuna (who, transforming into a eunuch in Virata’s Kingdom, is an acclaimed dance-exponent) and Bhima (who is a great cook, and so is Wiz in this film). His uncle/boss Shekhar Kapoor is like a mentor, much like Krishna to Arjuna. And, Mr. Kapoor is aptly named Jagannath (another name by which Lord Krishna is known)!

2) If we observe the movie carefully, it has a very subtle take on Money Laundering

In the scene before Taufeeq introduction, we can see Opium plants (they are not rose plants). Taufeeq says he is a farmer and hands over ‘abin’ as gift to Wisam. The safe inference is that drug peddling is one of the main source of funds for Jihadi operations. Afghanistan is one of the biggest illicit producer of Opium, which previously played a major part in the funding of Taliban
This money finds its way through banking system of less monitored countries like Nigeria, Yemen and the currency is routed to countries like US outside the banking system – One example is the Deep Research Oncology accounts, many of the accounts are imaginary customer names (not actual customers who buy equipments)- So fake orders are created and the drug money is routed to US; This is apparent in the scene where Deepak hides the money in the safe and remarks that the US banking system does not believe his customers
3) Pigeons in Title scene: At the end of the titles, the pigeon left by the old man ravels to Bull (Financial heartland), then to wall street buildings and then reaches the place where Nirupama meets the psychiatrist (observe the window pane), in a way this connects the aspects the story deals with- Al Queda/Taliban, financial control (oil and assets) and Nirupama

In the same scene, if we observe carefully, a pellet is tied to the pigeon’s legs. So the radiation exposure through pigeon has even been exposed in the first scene itself.

4) First dialogue of The Godfather – I: ” I believe in America; America has given me fortune”; First dialogue of Vishwaroopam: ” I believe in America; Inga dhan enakku vimojanam nu thonithu”;

Indicates the deep within love of the writer Mr Kamal Haasan for Godfather

Nuances relating to Vish (Kathak dancer sequences)

1) When Nirupama meets the psychologist in the first scene, she asks “Please talk me about phd” and she says “Ur phd”- This indirectly conveys that Vish also might have got a phd (or they think so)!

2) The name Vis: Nirupama calls Vishwanath as “Vis” and says that everyone calls so and hence she also calls him so assuming it to be short form of Vishwanath, But in fact, it is actually the short form of Wisam; The name Vishwanath has been intentionally chosen by Wisam so that even if people call him by his abbreviated real name, still he would not be in trouble.

3) Effeminate: In the whole Kathak dancer Kamal scenes, his effeminate quality is brought out better through the following dialogues.

When he picks the phone, he always says “”Mrs. and Mr. Vishwanath’s residence”.
As an extension of that, while cooking meat he says: “Manavaatiye Manaalan-in baagyam” as opposed to the traditional “Manaalane Mangayin Baagyam”
Also, when Deepak says to Nirupama “Athaan daily saapudaraye avar samayala”, it clearly shows that Nirupama exploits him for being effeminate by making him cook every day, abstaining from sex etc. This further substantiates the “It was a marriage of convenience” statement further!
4) In the “Unnai Kaanathu song”, there are 2 shots – one from other side of glass and the other some distance away- In both the cases, the audio’s volume would reduce, such a brilliant practical take! During the line ‘Vidhai illaamal Vaer illaye’, Vish imitates DNA structure with his fingers.

In Unnai Kanadhu song, when the line “Unnai kaanamal” comes 4 times continuously before the first pallavi, Vish is shown as imitating removing his ornaments – necklace and bangles.This one actually indicates பசலை நோய் (தலைவனை காணாது உடல் இளைத்தல்), the reference of bangles loosened and removed indicates the separation. This reference can be found in most of our ancient literature which talks about தலைவனை பிரிந்து வாடும் தலைவி. Also, in certain ideologies of Vaishnavam, Its assumed that Krishna/Vishnu is the ONLY Male and ALL the devotees are female. So we can take that meaning too! This kind of meaning is present in many ஆழ்வார் பாசுரம்.

In the scene after Unai Kaanathu, Vish hears the phone call and hence asks them to avoid falling on this feet as he rushes away, but while he picks the call and talks, they still somehow manage to find his feet and touch the same with great difficulty, he gestures 2 girls not to touch but they do and even then the 3rd one still falls on this feet, nice detailing!

5) Statue: In Wiz/Vishwanaths residence we can see a black two sided statue, with one side as king and the other side as queen. In the kathak sequence, the statue is placed against the mirror showing both sides of the statue in the same frame. It represents the role of Wiz in the movie- with double identities (Effeminate dancer and as the RAW agent). When the male and female are together, it indicates that they are holding a secret. In the second half first sequence, where Kamal’s identity is revealed, the combination is split indicating that he is no longer effeminate.

6) Winter Season: The season shown in the movie is Winter, with all scenes co relating it- Be it snow in window pane of Vish, the girls after practice putting on their jerkins/coats; in the same scene, Vish asks them to close the door when leaving and not give him pneumonia as a guru datshanai, Vish comes freezing inside the home when Deepak is inside , All characters wear winter clothings, the warehouse patients ask Farooq and team to close the door when Vish and Niru are dragged inside. I could not find even one scene where the attire did not resonate with the season!

7) In the Obama Democratic National Convention speech video, Obama says “Taliban’s momentum has been broken” indicating Osama’ death. In the bottom of the screen, you can see a news flash saying “Petroleum prices increased by 3%”. Fantastic satire.

8) Dinner sequence nuances:

In the initial dinner scene where Colonel Jag comes, Asmita asks Vish “ Nirupama dinnerku varamattaanu Akashvani sollicha?” and Vish says “Exactly”, this indicates that they might have used radio technology for bugging Nirupama’s office;
Most objects in Vish house have a concept relating to a tree or branch – Observe the stands near to the phone, observe the sequence when Niru comes in late in the night, you can see the objects. Also, a pink bag is seen hanging in the stand when the students leave the home after the class; Later in the dinner scene, when Asmita and Dawkins elave, they are found placing the jacket next to the pink bag, brilliant attention to details
In the same sequence, the MI6 agent Dawkins says “Hope it doesn’t turn out to be a wet job tomorrow”. In secret service (CIA/MI6/KGB) terms, wet job means murder or assassination. Infact when the next day starts, its infact wet and they have a job in hand to be accomplished! Amazed!!! As Dawkins leaves with Ashmita, he looks at Wiz and says: “Goodnight Cuckold“. The word means ‘the husband of an adulteress, often regarded as an object of derision.’ It’s another allusion to the fact that everyone has figured out that Niru is cheating on Wiz.
Infact, the MI6 agent Dawkins might be Kamal Haasan’s tribute to Richard Dawkins, a prominent biologist and author who is highly regarded by rationalists
9) Opening Scene isn’t a flashback, it leads to the future: The brilliance of Kamal Haasan’s script can be understood in this opening scene where Niru talks about her marriage to the psychiatrist. Within this, there are 2 sub scenes

A scene in Deep oncology research where Deepak tries to block Niru and talks something. This is when Nirupama tells about Deepak to the psychiatrist.
A scene in the downtown where Peter is talking in phone to Niru that he is going to follow Wiz. This happens when Niru talks about her plan to hire a detective on Wiz
Both the above mentioned scenes might look like flashbacks of incidents that already happened. But if you observe closely, you can see that they are scenes that happen after Nirupama’s conversation with the psychiatrist. Co relate the scenes and dialogues and you would understand. The scene with Deepak is the one that happens before Deepak asks Niru out for dinner. They are wearing the same clothes. The call that Peter makes to Nirupama is after seeing Wiz heading somewhere (post his meeting on the street with Jag, Dawkins and Ashmita). Peter is wearing the same clothes when he is shown for the first time and Nirupama is also wearing the same red color night dress. We know that Wiz’s dance class is sometime in the evening. But it seems that he might have be having a morning batch as well. After the morning dance class is when he goes to the mosque. Here is the actual flow of events

Nirupama sneaks into bed late night. At that time, she is not shown as wearing the overcoat for her night suit.
She wakes up in the morning (not shown). When Peter starts to follow Wiz, he is shown as taking his cellphone and making a call. The conversation is not shown. It is clear that the conversation that he had is the one that is shown during Niru’s discussion with the psychiatrist. If you recollect from that Niru-Psychiatrist scene, you will see that when Niru attends Peter’s call, she still does not have the overcoat on and is attending the call sitting in the bed.
Wiz walks into the mosque.
A shocked Peter makes a calls to Nirupama. Now she is seen coming downstairs (recollect Niru going upstairs to the bedroom?) with her overcoat on to start the proceedings for the day.
From the timeline and also Dawkins’ action of reading a newspaper, it is evident that it is a morning. And from Peter’s statement “class mudinju” indicates that Wiz had a morning batch too.
10) We can see detective Peter’s visiting card lying next to the monitor in which Omar see’s Wisam’s photo. The card was last seen by Omar only.

11) In the scene where they are taken to the warehouse, Farooq asks Niru wat her husband’s real name is for which she replies Farooq. This is because in the previous scene, Deepak asks her why she sent her detective to Farooq’s place. Though Niru does not know Farooq earlier, this is a good example of instant recollection of names based on what we hear some time before!

12) Brood from the past: In the warehouse and the scene before, when asked for his name, Wisam quotes his name as “Taufeeq” and “Nasser”, these are the names from his dark past and for whose death he feels he is responsible for and the guilt has profoundly impacted Wisam that he recollects their name instantly.

In the scene where Niru talks to Deepak seeing detective Peter’s death news in television, she starts telling “My husband is” but Deepak interrupts and only after he comes to her home, she continues that convo telling her husband is a Muslim!

13) Transformation Scene nuances: The whole transformation scene (first action sequence) of Vish has been pictured between the moment two water drops fall from the wall. Nirupama is in a state of shock when she sees it all happening in a moment but then recollects all events transpiring between the fall of two water drops.

The water drops are shown at the start of this sequence, they are shown when they fall in Farooq’s eyes and even in the end of this sequence when all are dead, we could just hear a water drop fall (shows the tranquility of the place after all are dead)!)

14) Before the transformation scene, Vish wears a yellow top and suddenly you see him wearing a checked shirt with the yellow top in tatters and he falls down to the floor. It implies that Farooq and other guys have keep beating him and his yellow top is torn; Quick and crisply shot!

15) Farooq is hurt in the knuckles by Wisam’s teeth when he tries to hit him on his face. This is the reason why Farooq is not able to hold the gun properly and get a clean shot at Vish when he transforms and attacks Farooq’s men.

Salim tells Farooq to shoot Wisam in his legs. He also instructs Farooq to kill Deepak “Illai illai…mudikka sollittaaru”. At this point Deepak asks “naan polaamdhane?” for which Farooq smiles. We don’t hear what Salim says but it is apparent that he instructs Farooq to shoot Deepak, as he ends the call with “kaal-la illai…thalaila”. I bet many of you would have missed this last line;

Also, in an earlier scene, Salim asks Omar if Deepak can go for which Omar replies yes. But Salim misses conveying this information to Farooq and in the meanwhile, things turn crazy and they feel the need for eliminating Deepak!

16) And just like how Wizam says “ketta kudiye kedum”, Farooq whose hand is already injured, gets his hand chopped off as well. A co relation that I bet is so easy to miss!

Similarly, While Niru tries to call the cops and Deep avoids it calling her a fool, Deep says avangale varattum, Later he tells “Nalla kaalam Illai, thank god”, so symbolic of what is going to happen to him as its not good time for him and hes going to die in the next scene! Superb!

17) In the scene where Vish tells Nirupama to hear 2 gunshots and count to ten after taking the car, she infact starts counting 1, 2 for two gun shots and continues counting from 3 instead and hearing repeated gunshots counts faster too, A panic mind so realistically captured!

18) After Farooq hits peter we hear a long foghorn, so the warehouse must be near the sea. When wizam shows the location of warehouse to Tom (FBI), we find that in the map, it is actually near the sea

Nuances relating to Afghan Scenes

1) Wisam Intro Scene: Not sure how many could read through the paper ad in Wisam’s introduction scene. It reads

“Border of Indian Nationals in kashmir; Conspiracy to murder Indian nationals outside India; Attack on a Kashmir Government Office”; Also in Nationality, it shows “Indian?”- a satire on how the nationality is in question for people living in Kashmir

2) In the scene where Wisam, Omar and Salim travel to Afghanistan, its shown very clearly that the flag transitions from Pakistan to Afghanistan flag clearly indicating the infiltration mode (even for people who missed reading the name of the places at the bottom and the dialogue that Nasser says over the move in to Afghanistan); A shot of both the flags in shown then indicating clearly its the border

3) Dr Clara: In the scene where Dr Clara arrives to treat Mrs Omar, we find the wordings “Medisin sans frontiers’. Translated into English, this French word means, “Doctors without borders”.

4) Weapons Over Love: This is another little gem of a scene: Omar tests a blindfolded Nasser about various weaponry. The moment Omar hears about the NATO strikes, he along with Salim leave the place not bothering to remove the blindfold.

It’s Khadija, Omar’s wife, who comes along and removes the blindfold. It illustrates the difference in perspectives of the father and the mother of Nasser

5) In the scene where the young Jihaadi Mamoo is first introduced to Wisam as a young Jihaadi, he bangs at Wisam while Wisam expecting a gentle embrace! Shows a subtle difference in styles, cultures and between old and young practitioners!

Also, in the scene where they take group photos with Nasser, Nasser is seen talking to Mamoo; It shows how Mamoo is preached to be a Jihaadi by the top guys!

6) Ban Entertainment: If you observe in the Afghan portion in the scene where small children are seated near guns in the shop and they weigh bullets, youu can find a very old film poster- this shows very clearly how entertainment is banned here and how they are miles away from whats happening in real world as far as entertainment (and even in all things) is concerned- the same thought was shown in the scene where the boys are punished for dressing up as girls and dancing

7) Swing & Swaying: There is a scene shown where Wisam tries to push the Swing for Omar’s small son, who says “I am not a child” and walks away from the swing, But the older Mammu sits and asks Wisam to push the swing. This indicates the contrast of the characters. While the younger boy is more mature, has his own interest and does not want to be swayed by others, the older Mammu wishes to be swayed by others and not surprising ends as a suicide bomber; In the same scene, light flashes on his face but his eyes are closed (conveying that he doesnt wish light in his life!)

8) In the “Thuppakki engal tholile” song, when they shoot at Bush’s photo, first the team members shoot. Then Omar shoots Bush’s right eye. When Wisam shoots, he raises the gun a little higher than Omar and shoots Bush’s left eye. In the pic you can see Bush’s left eye at a slightly higher elevation. Ultimate perfection!!

9) In the scene where the innocent Afghan people are killed and Anu Vidhaitha Boomiyile song starts, if u notice clearly, on left of frame, you would find a Mickey mouse article; Mickey is a pride of the Western Branding, but also shows there might be an American or European casualty inside and it is indeed true as we find the French doctor Clara found dead.

10) Another way of looking at the scene where the doctor Clara is dead . In the same scene, we find a young boy dead and Wisam removes the gun from his hand. Next, he is seen attending to the doctor Clara. While everyone around is badly bruised and experiences the debris from the bombings, the doctor just has a shot in her temple!! Any alarm bells ringing for you – Ya, the young boy could have indeed shot the doctor as a retaliation for someone in his family being killed !!

11) One more scene where the info is quick to grasp- the NATO bombing scene by the suicide bomber Mamoo; A paper shown in that frame states that the NATO base is a hub for counter terrorism and intelligence operations and among the dead was the agency’s base chief

12) Symbolism: In the scene where Taufeeq is introduced to Wisam, Omar talks about Taufeeq to Wisam and tells Taufeeq is very useful. While saying that, Omar eats something and throws the tissue away symbolically indicating that Taufeeq could be used for their benefit.

13) In the scene where Osama appears, Wisam in anticipation of seeing Osama appear from underneath goes back (since he is shorter than Salim) but the sight of the hugely tall Osama appearing makes Kamal retract and come forward, such a beautiful scene and the nuance is well captured!!!!

14) Imtiaz: If we observe carefully, Imtiaz- the other guy who helps Wisam in Afghan sequences actually appears in most of the Afghan sequences. He is present even in the first Afghan scene where they take a photo near the horse; He prays along with Omar and team, he is even taken to the Osama hideout place but stopped near the entrance. He is also the one who is driving the car that takes an injured Omar at the end of the first half.

15) Munnavar: The guy who is supposed to collect parcel from the antique shop Munnavar is even shown in the scene where Osama comes; Infact this is the scene which exposes the key strategic guys of Al Queda- Munnavar, Osama, the ISI guy who assists and a Mullah Omar look alike; Munnavar is gonna collect the parcel from antique shop, so Munnavar has got to do a lot with strategizing and disbursing the content in parcel based on the need, which place is gonna be attacked, where and whom it needs to go etc! So there’s more to the parcel than what meets the eye!

16) Osama- The real Target: And coming to the golden goose, Not sure how many understood that the whole effort was to catch Osama bin Laden! Prior to the day of Taufeeq’s arrival, Omar tells Wisam that a tall Sheikh is coming, it is very obvious that through the tracker, the attempt is to reveal Osama; It is substantiated when Wisam is seen enquiring about Osama all the time, how he would escape, who would take care of him etc, Smart direction at its zenith!



Nuances relating to US Raw Agent Scenes

1) Contrasting perspectives within RAW: Vish, Asmita and Jags work for the same mission

But in the dinner ending scene when Obama talks about Osama, Asmita takes the side of Americans while Both Vish and Jag take a sightly pro Afghan stand (Vish-” Ipdiyaa peethikarathu, manushanga saava ipdiyaa deepavali aatam kondaadarathu”), Jag (obama ratings a etha vendaama, athu asarangaloda annan thambi pondaati pillai kitta kelu) while Asmita says “nambalukku enna kavalai”

Even though they are in the same mission, they have different perspectives on whey they approach the task! The reason could be that Jags and Vish were part of this operation since the start while Asmita might have been roped in recently, this also shows the grounded balanced perspective that Wisam and Jags have over Asmita!

2) The Nigerian terrorist Abbasi is seen shaving his public hair

Underlying Thought: Muslims purify corpses by washing the skin and nails and sometimes by shaving the pubic hair. But suicide attackers are deprived of a proper burial, since there are usually no remains. To compensate, the attackers shear themselves ahead of time, both to guarantee some level of cleanliness at the time of instant incineration and to prove extreme devotion to personal purity. An alternate explanation is that suicide terrorists adopted the no-hair practice from the Pashtun tribesmen of Afghanistan, who shave their bodies before going into battle. Hair removal is mentioned in Islamic law as a method of maintaining personal hygiene.

3) Explaining Faraday Shield: Not many understood the Faraday shield concept in the climax; The dirty bomb could be detonated directly or through a call made to the phone placed in the device. Nirupama fears that someone could activate the device by placing a call hearing the gun shots. In essence, Omar tries to activate the device even when within a plane. A simplest Faraday shield would be a microwave oven. A microwave needs to be powered on only for heating the food inside by emitting microwave. The shield around the microwave prevents that emission from affecting you. This shield is just a metal shield and does not work on power. It just prevents radiations. That’s why when Omar calls, he gets a number not reachable message indicating that the Faraday shield has indeed worked
4) Wisam is airlifted by the army once he is shot by Omar (would be shown in detail in part 2, a preview was shown at end of part 1). Prior to that, you can see Wisam running with flares, which is to indicate his location to the helicopter.

5) Before boarding the private jet, Salim is shown asking the flight attendant (no dialogues here…but he points to his mobile) if he can use his mobile phone from within the aircraft. This is obviously to detonate the dirty bomb if needed

6) Attention to Details: The number that Omar dials to detonate the dirty bomb starts with “201” which indicates an area code within NY. When Salim opens his purse to take out money to pay the toll, on the left, you see a group photo with Wisam and Omar’s family. On the right, you see a New Jersey state driving license. Brilliant attention to details.

7) A panic struck Nirupama is unable to come to grips with Vish’s transformation and seeing everyone playing a double role. She thus misinterprets the house warming fire as something burning inside the house when infact Colonel Jags is shredding confidential materials (Irundavan Kannukku arandathellaam Pei!)

Also, in the same scene, Niru packing her bag is shown! Everyone would expect her character to change suddenly. But, as a woman and a home maker, she focuses on packing her clothes even in this situation.

8) When Wisam, Nirupama, Jag and Ashmita are about to enter the basement, you can see a photo of Vaamana avatar on the side wall. Vaamana is the Vishnu Avatar who was known for Vishwaroopam in mythology

9) Video Surveillance: In the scene where Vish is led to the lab, Niru says to left and Vish tells “Ya I know”, it shows very clearly they have even video surveillance of this place and maybe even insiders too

10) When Nirupama asks “Neenga nallavara kettavara?”, for a split second Kamal Haasan gives the Velu Nayakkar expression to the same question asked in the movie ‘Nayakan’

11) In the first scene of people with geiger counters in the park, there is no one with guns. Later based on Wisam’s input, they shoot down some pigeons. The shooting is not shown but you can now see 2 men with guns with the team that has the geiger counters.

12) Abbasi and Fund Transfer Explanation: I think many missed out the Nigerian terrorist Abbasi part and the funds exchange portions of it

In the scene where Wisam, Asmita and Niru search the computer at Deep Oncology research for customer names, they find Abbasi’s name. A huge shipment is to be delivered to him from India and seeing the amount transferred to him, its clear he is gonna explode the largest dirty bomb planned (as per an earlier scene, the apartment is not dirty bomb as per Wisam).
The source of funding is mentioned as Nigeria; Since no customer exists in Nigeria, Nirupama says it must be Yemen (This is because Deepak told her earlier in the first half scene when they keep the money in the safe that these money come from customers in Yemen, Middle East).
13) And in Deep Oncology office after Wisam asks “Endha kadavul?”, when they move to another room, we can see a statue of a 4 horse chariot. I think it is Arjuna’s chariot. Rings a bell? Virata paruvam.

14) In the climax scene, there are 2 instances where transitioning happens btween Abbasi and Omar! First the window of Abbasi is shown with FBI targetting it and when you assume its his window, it immediately transitions to Omar’s window with Omar seeing saleem’s car arriving! In a similar way, it transitions back from Omar and salim praying to Abbasi praying, well shot!

15) Blood bath: The blood oozing out of Nigerian terrorist Abbasi’s body is not symbolic. It is a classic example of superior pyrotechnics used by a thinking director – just imagine someone shot a few times at various body parts, first the blood comes out and is free flowing however since he has fallen in a position where his shirt and outfit prevents free blood flow, it acts like a dam and once the quantity of blood surpasses the resistance made by the outfit, which obviously takes a few seconds, they ooze out with such flow

16) Reflections have been used brilliantly throughout the film like

In Unnai Kaanadu song, reflection on audio player and reflection of New York skyline including a temple like US building in the glass
Nirupama’s reflection in the laptop screen when she is talking to the psychiatrist
Reflections of the boys getting flogged in Wizam’s and Omar’s sunglasses in thupakki engal tholilae song
Reflection of a house being blasted on Omar’s sunglasses during war scene
Omar’s home on fire reflecting in his sunglasses
When nirupama gets in van of the NEST team, reflections of FBI people climbing upon the metal stairs
When Omar waits for Salim in the end, Salim’s reflection on the tv set when he arrives
17) Abbasi’s window curtain is shown open when he shaves. He doesn’t close the curtains. When Abbasi returns after buying chicken, the 2 NEST guys are seen talking about Abbasi. In the background you see Abbasi’s apartment, where the windows have the curtain open. When Wisam and Tom arrive at the scene, we see the apartment window’s reflection in the NEST van, with the curtains still open. Abbasi is later shown closing the curtain when the FBI team uses the dragonfly spycam. Fantastic continuity.

18) A lot of the actions/props are shown atleast twice in the film. Sample illustration:

A burnt Mickey mouse doll in the village that NATO attacks; Mickey mouse on Nirupama’s t-shirt which she wears during the transformation scene
Pigeons in Afghan; Pigeons in NY
Omar imitates shooting Wisam in the head; Later he imitates shooting his son and Salim in the head
Wisam is shown doing a parkour doing an early morning time or evening in the Thupaaki engal tholile song; He does another parkour in daytime in the VR-2 trailer
Everyone knows well about the shooting on the head imitation by Omar. But most would have missed Salim’s shooting imitation. He first does it at the start of the training song when he, Wisam and Omar pickup heavy stones and throw it forward. He imitates shooting using a machine gun at the ground; Any guesses on when he is shown doing it again? He does it again at the end of the film in the VR-2 trailer when Wisam is shown doing a parkour stunt for the second time.After Wisam jumps down from the wall, you can see Salim charging in imitating the same machine gun shooting action. He is shown from the back though without revealing his face, but the same action of shooting imitation that he does earlier in the Thupaaki engal tholile song, reveals that it is Salim for sure.
Swing scene of Mamoo and Nasser; After Mamoo’s death, Nasser is shown in the swing.
Wiz’s hands tied in the warehouse; Wiz’s hands tied up to a chair in the VR2 trailer


Now if you feel that you have missed out a huge chunk of it, do not worry; Kamal Haasan films always need a repeat watch to appreciate its beauty! You would be surprised that a seemingly commercially appearing film like Vishwaroopam has many layers to it like Hey Ram did! Have great fun watching it again!



https://karlara.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/nuances-in-visharoopam/

[irir123]

Look at this -

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/piku/?search=piku

Kamal's films OUGHT TO HAVE THIS KIND OF A REACH AND CRITICAL ACCLAIM…

To get mentioned by reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes itself is a big deal - and to have garnered 83% Fresh rating is super cool!


Nammaalu yendha range la irukka vendiyavaru? adhukku badhila, his films are getting caught in producer/financier chaos - kodumai...

[uruzalari]

saw in FB

4147

[venkkiram]

saw in FB

4147

மையத்திற்கே கருத்தா? இதெல்லாம் இங்கேயே பேசப்பட்டிருகிறது பல ரசிகர்களால். எனிவே.. நல்லதொரு தொகுப்பு இது.

[uruzalari]

மையத்திற்கே கருத்தா? இதெல்லாம் இங்கேயே பேசப்பட்டிருகிறது பல ரசிகர்களால். எனிவே.. நல்லதொரு தொகுப்பு இது.

I am a relatively new hubber.... was sure it would have been discussed before but I guess there will be at least a few who were unaware.

[Cinemarasigan]

saw in FB

4147

Thanks Boss. Happy to see this in the morning...

[Adox]

saw in FB

4147

good one. what a movie ... nice to reminiscence.

[Russellpei]

Kaarirulae from Avam sung by Kamal Haasan in Sundaramurthy KS's music. (lyrics by Karky)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UctvCWF9nAI

[Adox]

AM Ratnam Confirms Indian 2, Says The Project Will Start Soon!

Once a close associate of Kamal Haasan had said that the Ulaganayagan had expressed his interest to work on the sequel to his 1996 blockbuster film Indian along with director Shankar. Since the two (Shankar and Kamal) subsequently became busy with their own respective projects, the idea of creating Indian 2 was stalled momentarily. AM Ratnam Confirms Indian 2, Says The Project Will Start Soon! It was only stalled momentarily alright, for producer AM Ratnam has come up with a news that will bring smile to the faces of countless Kamal Haasan fans. The Andhra based producer who ventured into Tamil cinema through Indian has confirmed that Indian 2 is definitely on and that he has already spoken about it with Shankar, according to a report. Currently, since both Kamal and Shankar are busy, the pre production works for Indian 2 will begin next year and the film will be made in Tamil and Telugu, AM Ratnam has assured. Apart from producing Ajith's Thala 56, the Yennai Arindhaal producer will also be distributing the Telugu version of Enthiran 2 post which, he will bankroll Indian 2 come next year. Indian, at the time of its release, had become the highest grossing Tamil film ever until it was surpassed by Padayappa, three years later. It was also nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 1996 Academy Awards. If the talks on Indian 2 materializes, Shankar will be joining hands with Kamal after almost two decades. Stay tuned for further updates on the project.

Hope this happens ..
http://www.filmibeat.com/tamil/news/2015/am-ratnam-confirms-indian-2-says-the-project-will-start-soon-184498.html

[Cinemarasigan]

Filmbeat guys are writing whatever they dream... Anyway it will be good if it materializes...

[kumarsr]

AM Ratnam Confirms Indian 2, Says The Project Will Start Soon!
.......
Hope this happens ..
http://www.filmibeat.com/tamil/news/2015/am-ratnam-confirms-indian-2-says-the-project-will-start-soon-184498.html

The below is much more believable...And let us pray it happens this time at least...

Mani Ratnam, Kamal Haasan to work together again?
15 hours ago
by Subhash K Jha

It is now 28 years of Nayakan aka Nayagan, the 1987 Tamil film written and directed by Mani Ratnam (who turned a year older on June 2) and starring Kamal Haasan. The cult classic based on the life of gangster Varadarajan Mudaliar was given pride of place in Time Magazine’s ‘All time 100 Best Films’ for 2005.

Strangely though, after this critically acclaimed project, the two movie maestros never really came together. However, all that is about to change now. We’ve learnt that Kamal and Mani will be reuniting to do their next film although it doesn’t have anything to do with Nayakan.

Rumour has it that after Nayakan’s runaway success, both actor and director became too big in stature to be accommodated in one film despite being family. Fact is, Mani is married to Kamal’s elder brother Charu Haasan’s daughter Suhasini.

Kamal and Mani spoke at length and decided their collaboration would have to happen ‘now or never’.

Says Kamal, “All I will say is, the answer to the question that haunts both of us — why not another film together after Nayakan? — will soon be answered. Nayakan is no doubt the most influential film of my career. I suspect Mani feels the same.” We hear the upcoming film is likely to be a Hindi-Tamil bi-lingual.

[Chikatiloan]

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/entertainment/bollywood/Even-six-years-ago-I-was-only-thinking-of-Saif/articleshow/47533023.cms

Even six years ago, I was only thinking of Saif’
Says Kamal Haasan who is currently planning his Bollywood comeback.

Kamal Haasan is gearing up for a big Bollywood comeback with a film titled Amar Hain which he will not just act in but also direct. Buzz is, Saif Ali Khan has been approached to play the parallel lead.

Confirming this, Haasan told Mirror that he has been working on this project for almost six years and some of his friends in Mumbai, like Sriram Raghavan, were aware of the script. "I put it aside because of prior commitments and strangely, even when I wrote it around six years ago, I was only thinking of Saif Ali Khan," he asserts.

The actor-filmmaker points out that in an ensemble cast film, it isn't about who is playing the hero or who has the bigger part. "It's the might of many actors which makes a film work. Saif has an important and equal role. His character is the good man so he is the hero of the film," says Haasan.

He admits that he has several other actors in mind too but refuses to divulge names. He simply says that the producers have given him a free hand.

Has he received a go-ahead from Saif? "We are working on it. The producers have spoken to him. I am yet to speak with him, but he is aware of this project," avers the 61-year-old icon.

The story moves from Mumbai to North India and then the rest of the world. The film will be shot in Mumbai, Delhi, London, Dubai, Jordan and parts of the US. Haasan is quick to add that it is not a period drama but today's story, touching on politics, finance and the underworld. "It's definitely not a comedy, it's more of an action film with lots of emotion, an ensemble piece like The Untouchables," he informs.

Speaking about his character he says that it's an interesting dark role. "I won't be singing duets but there is love and hate. You can't call him an antagonist because he simply expresses another point of view," Haasan reasons.

There are also two important female roles for which he is considering actresses from Mumbai. "I will spend three months prepping for it after I wrap up my current project, Thoongavanam, in August," he says.

Vishwaroopam had stirred a huge controversy delaying its release. Will Amar Hain which touches on rajneeti again draw unwanted attention from political parties? "No, it's above all that. And while it is close to the truth, it doesn't point to any personalities or parties. It's all hypothetical, an entertainer with lots of drama and action," he signs off. .

[radiochandra1977]

Page number 111 . Oh ! How symbolic !!!

[Chikatiloan]

Page number 111 . Oh ! How symbolic !!!

ha ha..mahanadhi dialogue "unakku nammam thaan"..
But i guess amar hain(Thalaivan irukindraan) will be his next for sure but cast,crew and director were rumours..

[kumarsr]

KH should keep quiet for sometime and not mention things to media that are not fully finalized. Regarding TV also, no need to constantly release any news, especially since it is targeted to be completed over the next 3-4 months. They should open up once the movie is in final stages. Last 1 or 2 months, go big on publicity. Announce a release date at that time which does not change. All else will fall into place nicely.

[venkkiram]

When Baahubali materializes in such a grand manner, why not Maruthanayakam?

Anyway... as I mentioned here before , Maruthanayakam is a movie Kamal planning to direct and act closer to 20 years back and the current Kamal won't fit for the leading role as I feel the time is already over. Either he needs to alter the script according to his current screen age or direct the movie by employing some one else to take the lead role. Best option, let Kamal's Maruthanayakam stay forever the dream project, plot so that at least fans like us will enjoy talking it forever.

[pushpak]

When Baahubali materializes in such a grand manner, why not Maruthanayakam?

Anyway... as I mentioned here before , Maruthanayakam is a movie Kamal planning to direct and act closer to 20 years back and the current Kamal won't fit for the leading role as I feel the time is already over. Either he needs to alter the script according to his current screen age or direct the movie by employing some one else to take the lead role. Best option, let Kamal's Maruthanayakam stay forever the dream project, plot so that at least fans like us will enjoy talking it forever.

He said that the younger role portions all were shot; so growing old will not be a problem !

[irir123]

அவர் வயசு பத்தி கவலை இல்ல - எங்களுக்கும் வயசாகுது இல்லையா? அந்த வயச சொல்றாருன்னு நினைக்கறேன்

[rsubras]

May be maruthanayakam will become a real period film...... younger portions are shot when he was young and the old age portions will be shot when he reaches that age ......

[kumarsr]

When Baahubali materializes in such a grand manner, why not Maruthanayakam?

Anyway... as I mentioned here before , Maruthanayakam is a movie Kamal planning to direct and act closer to 20 years back and the current Kamal won't fit for the leading role as I feel the time is already over. Either he needs to alter the script according to his current screen age or direct the movie by employing some one else to take the lead role. Best option, let Kamal's Maruthanayakam stay forever the dream project, plot so that at least fans like us will enjoy talking it forever.

Reasons are simple:
1. commercial viability for large budget project is a must. Kamal's recent record has not been that great. It is very risky to go for very high budget
2. At release time, Kamal's films face huge issues. Vishwaroopam, Manmadhan Ambu, UV all had issues (major and minor, some of them self-inflicted). Problem faced by UV specifically was more financial related and it continues still. I think they are finding it difficult to release Papanasam for similar reasons.

[Nasc]

Reasons are simple:
1. commercial viability for large budget project is a must. Kamal's recent record has not been that great. It is very risky to go for very high budget
2. At release time, Kamal's films face huge issues. Vishwaroopam, Manmadhan Ambu, UV all had issues (major and minor, some of them self-inflicted). Problem faced by UV specifically was more financial related and it continues still. I think they are finding it difficult to release Papanasam for similar reasons.

you mean distributors are not buying it for the price asked for?

[Saai]

Reasons are simple:
1. commercial viability for large budget project is a must. Kamal's recent record has not been that great. It is very risky to go for very high budget
2. At release time, Kamal's films face huge issues. Vishwaroopam, Manmadhan Ambu, UV all had issues (major and minor, some of them self-inflicted). Problem faced by UV specifically was more financial related and it continues still. I think they are finding it difficult to release Papanasam for similar reasons.

Kamal has the best track record in recent times for big budget movies - Viswa and Dasa both blockbusters. His overall recent track record itself is good..

[kumarsr]

you mean distributors are not buying it for the price asked for?

No, not like that. But, issues faced during VR release is not fully sorted out yet. It came up during UV release also. UV release had other financial issues, mainly relating to Lingu.

But consider Papanasam. It is one of the smallest/quickest movie that Kamal has done in the last several years. Even faster than UPO. There were some minor delays when he fell sick etc. But movie was completed in record time.All work completed long time back. Yet, it looks like it is a struggle to release it due to the many past financial issues. Now UV's BO result may be adding to this, who knows. In effect, when something that needs to be completed and released in 4-5 months ends up taking 10 or 12 months, you can imagine what it does to the financial investors. Time is money.

The solution to all this is to make at least 2 movies per year. When one of them becomes a box office hit followed by another, it will resolve all issues. That is precisely what he is trying to do.

[venkkiram]

No, not like that. But, issues faced during VR release is not fully sorted out yet. It came up during UV release also. UV release had other financial issues, mainly relating to Lingu.

But consider Papanasam. It is one of the smallest/quickest movie that Kamal has done in the last several years. Even faster than UPO. There were some minor delays when he fell sick etc. But movie was completed in record time.All work completed long time back. Yet, it looks like it is a struggle to release it due to the many past financial issues. Now UV's BO result may be adding to this, who knows. In effect, when something that needs to be completed and released in 4-5 months ends up taking 10 or 12 months, you can imagine what it does to the financial investors. Time is money.

The solution to all this is to make at least 2 movies per year. When one of them becomes a box office hit followed by another, it will resolve all issues. That is precisely what he is trying to do.

How you conclude that its because of financial issues of Kamal, Papanasam gets delaying? I sense some negativity in your view.

[Adox]

Not sure what to make out here .. are the distributors more reluctant to purchase Papanasam at the quoted price due to UV's performance in domestic markets ? Do we have any additional info. on this ? At any rate, Papanasam is more likely a winner in the BO and I'm positive it'll release in July.

[kumarsr]

How you conclude that its because of financial issues of Kamal, Papanasam gets delaying? I sense some negativity in your view.

I am not saying it is financial issues of Kamal specifically....but there are definitely a set of issues that crops up in the process of releasing Kamal movies, which are finance related.

I can't think of any other reason why a movie which had wrapped up shooting in October 2014 is still waiting for release. The director of Papanasam has gone on to make another movie which will be releasing soon. We all know that the Hindi version is releasing in July (official date announced). So no negativity. May be some frustration...

[radiochandra1977]

2 hours chit chat with the God of Indian cinema. Am I blessed .!!!!

[dell_gt]

2 hours chit chat with the God of Indian cinema. Am I blessed .!!!!
Ur truly gifted sir!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Nasc]

2 hours chit chat with the God of Indian cinema. Am I blessed .!!!!

very much...but I sometimes feel if I would be able to have a constructive conv with him and not ending up wasting his time ..i know apart from cinema nammavar is well read and i shud be knowledgeable enough to continue a conv with him. i was surprised when he mentioned abt higgs boson as godly particles and as being there in everything ..when he was talkgin abt IR. the man is simply an encyclopedia

[Cinemarasigan]

2 hours chit chat with the God of Indian cinema. Am I blessed .!!!!

You have the blessings of your God(KH) as well as other invisible Gods.. Please summarize your chit chats for the benefit of others..

[Cinemarasigan]

very much...but I sometimes feel if I would be able to have a constructive conv with him and not ending up wasting his time ..i know apart from cinema nammavar is well read and i shud be knowledgeable enough to continue a conv with him. i was surprised when he mentioned abt higgs boson as godly particles and as being there in everything ..when he was talkgin abt IR. the man is simply an encyclopedia

+1, in fact he touches many topics other than cinema whenever any fan meet..

[Adox]

IT'S OFFICIAL - KAMAL HAASAN AGAINST SAIF ALI KHAN

Below is an official press note on Kamal Haasan's Bollywood film Amar Hai where he shares the screen space with Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan.

Legendary actor-director, Kamal Haasan is set to make a Bollywood film ‘Amar Hai’, an action thriller produced by Virendra K. Arora and Arjun N.Kapoor. Slated to be a dual hero subject, the film will see Saif Ali Khan sharing the screen space with Kamal Haasan in this poignant story that touches upon the modern-day politics, finance and the underworld.

“Amar Hai is special to us in many ways” said the producers. "One, it is that iconic project which is set to mark the much-awaited comeback of Kamal Haasan to Hindi cinema. Two, the film will see Kamal Haasan wearing multiple hats, that of an actor and a director on a story penned by him. And three, from the outset of scripting this film since the past 6 years, Kamal Haasan has had Saif Ali Khan in mind for the lead role and the actor has been clued in about his involvement in the mega project."

The story travels from Mumbai to North India and traverses some picturesque international cities as the plot progresses. The producers along with the film’s mastermind Kamal Haasan are exploring shooting locations in Mumbai, Delhi, London, Dubai, Jordan and parts of the US.

Kamal Haasan fans will see the legend play a multi-layered character ​in the film. “My character though not that of a conventional antagonist would present a point of view that is far from ordinary” said the icon. Saif Ali Khan will reportedly play the lead protagonist opposite Kamal Haasan. Two female actresses are soon going to join the ensemble cast.

The producers add

"As producers, our company is producing 4-5 films for the year 2015-2016, however, for us Mr. Kamal Haasan's film is extremely special and close to our hearts. To work with a legend, a creator and a meticulously disciplined filmmaker, we have traveled a beautiful journey together. His mastery and skill as a filmmaker add to his uniqueness.

Recently, we have approached and are in talks with Mr. Saif Ali Khan to be the leading man of the film as it could be a sparkling combination. Saif, known for his dapper looks and charming persona, is certain to mesmerize the audience and fit into the character."

http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-cinema-news-15/kamal-haasan-and-saif-ali-khan-to-work-in-a-film-titled-amar-hai.html

[radiochandra1977]

Its not yet confirmed. Unarchi vasam vendaam.


Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

[Adox]

Oh ok ok ..

[ramdas2005]

2 hours chit chat with the God of Indian cinema. Am I blessed .!!!!
Awesome, @Doctor: do you get a chance to convey the fan's(hubbers) thoughts that are discussed in the hub, in terms of expectations/what we would like to see etc...

[radiochandra1977]

No. He is receptive only to general topics

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

[ramdas2005]

No. He is receptive only to general topics

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

Thank you @Doc.

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/kamal-haasan-saif-ali-khan-team-up-for-amar-hai-769776

Actors Kamal Haasan and Saif Ali Khan are all set to team up for the Hindi action-thriller Amar Hai, which will be helmed by Mr Haasan himself and will explore the relationship between modern-day politics, finance and the underworld.

The film will be jointly produced by Virendra K Arora and Arjun N Kapoor.

"Amar Hai is special to us in many ways. One, it is that iconic project which is sure to mark the much-awaited Kamal Haasan foray into Hindi cinema. Two, the film will see Kamal Haasan wearing multiple hats, that of an actor and a director on a story penned by him.

"And three, from the outset of scripting this film since the past six years, Kamal Haasan has had Saif Ali Khan in mind for the lead role and the actor has been clued in about his involvement on the mega project," the makers said in a statement.

The story travels from Mumbai to North India and traverses some picturesque international cities as the plot progresses. The producers, along with Kamal Haasan, are exploring shooting locations in Mumbai, Delhi, London, Dubai, Jordan and parts of the USA.

Talking about his role, Kamal Haasan said, "My character, though not that of a conventional antagonist, would present a point of view that is far from ordinary."

Kamal Haasan is currently shooting for Tamil thriller Thoongaavanam and is awaiting the release of another thriller Papanasam.


http://behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-cinema-news-15/kamal-haasan-and-saif-ali-khan-to-work-in-a-film-titled-amar-hai.html

Below is an official press note on Kamal Haasan's Bollywood film Amar Hai where he shares the screen space with Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan.



Legendary actor-director, Kamal Haasan is set to make a Bollywood film ‘Amar Hai’, an action thriller produced by Virendra K. Arora and Arjun N.Kapoor. Slated to be a dual hero subject, the film will see Saif Ali Khan sharing the screen space with Kamal Haasan in this poignant story that touches upon the modern-day politics, finance and the underworld.


“Amar Hai is special to us in many ways” said the producers. "One, it is that iconic project which is set to mark the much-awaited comeback of Kamal Haasan to Hindi cinema. Two, the film will see Kamal Haasan wearing multiple hats, that of an actor and a director on a story penned by him. And three, from the outset of scripting this film since the past 6 years, Kamal Haasan has had Saif Ali Khan in mind for the lead role and the actor has been clued in about his involvement in the mega project."

The story travels from Mumbai to North India and traverses some picturesque international cities as the plot progresses. The producers along with the film’s mastermind Kamal Haasan are exploring shooting locations in Mumbai, Delhi, London, Dubai, Jordan and parts of the US.



Kamal Haasan fans will see the legend play a multi-layered character ​in the film. “My character though not that of a conventional antagonist would present a point of view that is far from ordinary” said the icon. Saif Ali Khan will reportedly play the lead protagonist opposite Kamal Haasan. Two female actresses are soon going to join the ensemble cast.


The producers add

"As producers, our company is producing 4-5 films for the year 2015-2016, however, for us Mr. Kamal Haasan's film is extremely special and close to our hearts. To work with a legend, a creator and a meticulously disciplined filmmaker, we have traveled a beautiful journey together. His mastery and skill as a filmmaker add to his uniqueness.

Recently, we have approached and are in talks with Mr. Saif Ali Khan to be the leading man of the film as it could be a sparkling combination. Saif, known for his dapper looks and charming persona, is certain to mesmerize the audience and fit into the character."

[radiochandra1977]

Not confirmed yet. I repeat. Believe at ur own risk.

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

[Cinemarasigan]

Though it is not confirmed officially by KH, the news is all over NI news websites and twitter...

[radiochandra1977]

Nambinaar keduvaar ...... KH

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

[Poornima]

return to Malayalam.

Kamal Haasan To Play The Lead In Roshan Andrews & Bobby-Sanjay Movie

Kamal Haasan, the veteran actor will play the lead role in Roshan Andrews & Bobby-Sanjay team's upcoming Malayalam movie. The scenarists duo is currently working on the script for the Kamal Haasan film. Prem Prakash, the actor-producer who is also the father of Bobby and Sanjay, announced the news in the popular radio show Balcony, which is being aired on Club FM. The movie will start rolling in the initial months of 2016. The project is produced by Gokulam Gopalan, under the banner Gokulam Movies. The rest of the cast, technical crew and further details regarding the project, are expected to be announced soon. Kamal Haasan last appeared in Malayalam in Saji Surendran's Four Friends. The actor, has acted in a lot of Malayalam films, but has been staying away from the mainstream Malayalam cinema since last 25 years. Roshan Andrews is currently on a high with the success of 36 Vayadhinile, which is a remake of How Old Are You. He will soon start filming for the upcoming Prithiviraj-Nyla Usha starrer Nale Ravile, which is also penned by Bobby-Sanjay. Bobby-Sanjay, who has already established themselves as the most promising scenarist duo of M'town, is celebrating the success of their latest flick Nirnaayakam, directed by VK Prakash.

Read more at: http://www.filmibeat.com/malayalam/news/2015/kamal-haasan-in-roshan-andrews-bobby-sanjay-movie-186148.html

[radiochandra1977]

Sutham

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

[venkkiram]

Nambinaar keduvaar ...... KH

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

After Thoongavanam, Its "Thalaivan Irukiraan" for Ulaganayagan.

Along with Ulaganayagan, Saif ali khan to featur with him, also top most actor from Tollywood & Mollywood to featur in "Thalaivan irukiraan"

In Tamil its "Thalaivan Irukiraan" and In hindi its "Amar Hai"

Doctor!

Nikkil Murugan @onlynikil tweeted all above today. Still unauthentic one?

[radiochandra1977]

Yes. Not confirmed yet

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

[venkkiram]

நிகில் பையனக் கூட நம்பக் கூடாதா?

[radiochandra1977]

Nambakkodiyathu ....... kamalum kamalum. Nambakkodaathathu ....... nikulum akilum


Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

[irir123]

return to Malayalam.

Kamal Haasan To Play The Lead In Roshan Andrews & Bobby-Sanjay Movie

Kamal Haasan, the veteran actor will play the lead role in Roshan Andrews & Bobby-Sanjay team's upcoming Malayalam movie. The scenarists duo is currently working on the script for the Kamal Haasan film. Prem Prakash, the actor-producer who is also the father of Bobby and Sanjay, announced the news in the popular radio show Balcony, which is being aired on Club FM. The movie will start rolling in the initial months of 2016. The project is produced by Gokulam Gopalan, under the banner Gokulam Movies. The rest of the cast, technical crew and further details regarding the project, are expected to be announced soon. Kamal Haasan last appeared in Malayalam in Saji Surendran's Four Friends. The actor, has acted in a lot of Malayalam films, but has been staying away from the mainstream Malayalam cinema since last 25 years. Roshan Andrews is currently on a high with the success of 36 Vayadhinile, which is a remake of How Old Are You. He will soon start filming for the upcoming Prithiviraj-Nyla Usha starrer Nale Ravile, which is also penned by Bobby-Sanjay. Bobby-Sanjay, who has already established themselves as the most promising scenarist duo of M'town, is celebrating the success of their latest flick Nirnaayakam, directed by VK Prakash.

Read more at: http://www.filmibeat.com/malayalam/news/2015/kamal-haasan-in-roshan-andrews-bobby-sanjay-movie-186148.html


Filmibeat in full form - adichhu pinnraainga! innum enthandha mozhiyilellaam Kamal nadikkapporaarnu seithi varappogudho?

[Cinemarasigan]

return to Malayalam.

Kamal Haasan To Play The Lead In Roshan Andrews & Bobby-Sanjay Movie

Kamal Haasan, the veteran actor will play the lead role in Roshan Andrews & Bobby-Sanjay team's upcoming Malayalam movie. The scenarists duo is currently working on the script for the Kamal Haasan film. Prem Prakash, the actor-producer who is also the father of Bobby and Sanjay, announced the news in the popular radio show Balcony, which is being aired on Club FM. The movie will start rolling in the initial months of 2016. The project is produced by Gokulam Gopalan, under the banner Gokulam Movies. The rest of the cast, technical crew and further details regarding the project, are expected to be announced soon. Kamal Haasan last appeared in Malayalam in Saji Surendran's Four Friends. The actor, has acted in a lot of Malayalam films, but has been staying away from the mainstream Malayalam cinema since last 25 years. Roshan Andrews is currently on a high with the success of 36 Vayadhinile, which is a remake of How Old Are You. He will soon start filming for the upcoming Prithiviraj-Nyla Usha starrer Nale Ravile, which is also penned by Bobby-Sanjay. Bobby-Sanjay, who has already established themselves as the most promising scenarist duo of M'town, is celebrating the success of their latest flick Nirnaayakam, directed by VK Prakash.

Read more at: http://www.filmibeat.com/malayalam/news/2015/kamal-haasan-in-roshan-andrews-bobby-sanjay-movie-186148.html

This news is credible.. Roshan has mentioned that he will be directing KH in the next year in TOI interview..

[radiochandra1977]

Jambulingamey jadaatharaa

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

[Poornima]

Filmibeat in full form - adichhu pinnraainga! innum enthandha mozhiyilellaam Kamal nadikkapporaarnu seithi varappogudho?


This news is credible.. Roshan has mentioned that he will be directing KH in the next year in TOI interview..

not just filmibeat. this has been doing the rounds for a while. with prem prakash's confirmation, there's enough reason to treat this as something on course, IMO.
sanjay-bobby are very good writers and barring the disastrous Casanova and more recent efforts that drifted to a bit of preachiness, they've consistently maintained good standards -- Traffic, Ayaalum Njaanum Thammil and Mumbai Police among their best.
kamal with roshan and sanjay-bobby sounds very, very promising.

[Cinemarasigan]

Jambulingamey jadaatharaa

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

Doctor, would like to know what KH think about these kind of new going on in rounds.. Other than Amar Hai, has KH mentioned any of his projects?

[irir123]

Doctor, would like to know what KH think about these kind of new going on in rounds.. Other than Amar Hai, has KH mentioned any of his projects?



The more the juicier the news/rumors the better for anyone in showbiz - நடக்கட்டும் நடக்கட்டும் - கமல் படம் நேரத்துக்கு வருதோ இல்லையோ, இந்த மாதிரி entertaining news வர்றது நமக்கெல்லாம் 'திண்ணையில குந்திகினு சீட்டு ஆடுற'சந்தோசம் தானே?!

[avavh3]

Jambulingamey jadaatharaa:lol:
unga lollukku alaveillaya..
lets hope the news about his various new coming movies are true. man pushing 61 should act two movie in one year before entering "guest-role" status.

[Cinemarasigan]

The more the juicier the news/rumors the better for anyone in showbiz - நடக்கட்டும் நடக்கட்டும் - கமல் படம் நேரத்துக்கு வருதோ இல்லையோ, இந்த மாதிரி entertaining news வர்றது நமக்கெல்லாம் 'திண்ணையில குந்திகினு சீட்டு ஆடுற'சந்தோசம் தானே?!

:lol:

[Adox]

Mohanlal joins hands with Kamal Haasan

Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan are two legendary actors in Indian Film Industry. Both of them are National Award winners, and they are known for portraying any kind of characters with finesse on screen. Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal have previously worked together in ‘Unnaipol Oruvan’. The movie was the remake of ‘A Wednesday’, and the performance of these legends were well received by the audience upon the release of the movie. The recent news about the duo is regarding their possible outing again.

Earlier, we have reported that Kamal Haasan will direct a bilingual movie which is titled ‘Amar Hai’ in Hindi and ‘Thalaivan Irukiran’ in Tamil. The movie will have Saif Ali Khan in the lead role, and it is expected to portray some harsh realities in the Indian Politics. Now, it has been rumored that Mohanlal is also a part of this project, and he will reportedly do a negative role in the movie.

Kamal Haasan is also doing the role of an antagonist in this movie. As per reports, steady talks are going on with a Telugu Superstar to do a prominent role in this flick. Official confirmation on this regard is yet to come.

http://movieclickz.com/tamil-cinema-news/mohanlal-joins-hands-with-kamal-haasan/

[kumarsr]

Kamal Haasan Speaks To Subhash K Jha On His New Hindi Film Amar Hai

You had spoken to me about Amar Hai two years ago. Is it finally happening?
Yes. This is the same Amar Hai I was working on 3 years back. Its an ensemble cast. I am in the process of casting.

Is Saif Ali Khan playing the other main lead along with you?
Yes, the producer Mr.Arora has reached out to Mr. Saif Ali Khan and the discussions are on. Looks like both Mr. Saif and the producers have expressed mutual interest. I am waiting for their discussions to be concluded to move in with aesthetics

The film addresses contemporary political issues. How much of present day politics would we see in the film?
It is as you already know is a Mumbai-centric story. It is planned as a double version In Hindi and Tamil. The Tamil title is also well known among those clued into Film industry news. It is “Thalaivan irukkindraan” in Tamil

This would be your first film in Hindi after many years.Do you look forward to your return to Bollywood as much as your Hindi-speaking fans?
I am more excited than my supporters / fans. The justification for my excitement is that I know the script and they dont yet know it.

Tell me about the rest of the cast and crew of Amar Hai?
I am yet to cast the other major actors from Andhra, Kerala and Karnataka. I am also carefully choosing the technical team. The cinematographer will be Mr. Sanu Verghese who is the DOP for the current project that I am doing. He was the DOP for Vishwaroop as well.

Almost every film of yours is embroiled in controversies. Do you see trouble for Amar Hai?
More than politics it is about the financial world and the underworld. Nothing though is unconnected to the powers to be, are or was. Even Vishwaroop or even Chachi 420 had a sprinkling of cast or communal politics. Only when you make a dreamscape film or a surface skimming wafer thin romance can you avoid the realities of life. Religion, crime politics and money are the ever present elements that constitute the social structure. I guess it’s always been so.

So how much of the present day politics would be there in Amar Hai?
My story will have only as much politics as a Godfather, Untouchables or Traffic has. I will be directing the film

[Cinemarasigan]

He is giving interviews to NI media like this for quite some time. God only knows why he is not announcing when he will start the project...

[kumarsr]

He has given some indication of the timeline below. He does not say which year though.

"I will spend three months prepping for it after I wrap up my current project, Thoongavanam, in August," he says.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Kamal-Haasan-Even-six-years-ago-I-was-only-thinking-of-Saif/articleshow/47538581.cms

[Raajjaa]

-deleted with warning-

[Raajjaa]

மதுரையில் சட்டம்,சலங்கை ஒலி இரண்டு படங்களும் அடுத்து அடுத்து ரிலீஸ் ஆகி(10 நாட்கள் இடைவெளியில்)இரண்டு படங்களுமே 100 நாட்கள் ஓடியது. வேறு எந்த நடிகருக்கும் இந்த மாதிரி ஓடி இருக்கா என்று தெரியலை.

[Russelldwp]

மதுரையில் சட்டம்,சலங்கை ஒலி இரண்டு படங்களும் அடுத்து அடுத்து ரிலீஸ் ஆகி(10 நாட்கள் இடைவெளியில்)இரண்டு படங்களுமே 100 நாட்கள் ஓடியது. வேறு எந்த நடிகருக்கும் இந்த மாதிரி ஓடி இருக்கா என்று தெரியலை.


நண்பரே


உலகிலேயே ஒரே நாளில் தான் நடித்த இரண்டு படங்களை துணிச்சலாக வெளியிட்டு அந்த இரண்டு படங்களும் தமிழகமெங்கும் 100 நாள் ஓடியது சிவாஜிக்கு மட்டுமே. இச்சாதனை இரண்டு முறை படைத்தவரும் அவரே. இன்னும் 500 ஆண்டுகள் ஆனாலும் எவராலும் கனவில் கூட நினைத்து பார்க்க முடியாது.


1. இரு மலர்கள் மற்றும் ஊட்டி வரை உறவு - வெளியான நாள் -01.11.1967

2. சொர்க்கம் மற்றும் எங்கிருந்தோ வந்தாள் - வெளியான நாள் - 29.10.1970


மேற்கண்ட நான்கு படங்களும் சென்னை, மதுரை திருச்சி கோவை சேலம் என பல ஊர்களில் 100 நாட்கள் கண்டவையாகும்

[venkkiram]

சலங்கை ஒலி ஒரு டப்பிங் படமென்பது கவனத்தில் கொள்ளவேண்டிய ஒரு விஷயம்.

[Russelldwp]

சலங்கை ஒலி கமல் அவர்கள் தீட்டிய வைரங்களில் ஒன்று


அந்நாளில் மதுரை மதுவில் பாரத்து ரசித்தேன். சுவையான அனுபவம்

மேலும் மதுரையில்அப்போது ரஜினி கமல் போஸ்டர் சண்டை வேடிக்கையாக இருக்கும்


இரண்டு ரசிகர்களின் போஸ்டர்கள் படிப்பதற்கு சுவாரஸ்யமாக இருக்கும்

[Karikalen]

Salangai Oli was the first Tamil film that i watched in India during my first trip to South India in 1983. Watched it in Tiruchi on its 50th day in a packed house. Remember writing in my diary that night that Kamal is the heir to Sivaji. So moving was his acting. I was pack packing South India and ended up watching Sattam in Coimbatore before returning to Colombo.

Whenever i think of Salangai Oli i remember the great city Tiruchi.

[Raajjaa]

In 80s Kamal salary in Bollywood.

http://i60.tinypic.com/9lis5s.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i58.tinypic.com/2q24oxl.jpg

[Raajjaa]

-deleted with warning-

I just posted 55th week ad poster. what is the problem?

[Raajjaa]

http://i59.tinypic.com/ftlqpx.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i57.tinypic.com/9zw1v.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i62.tinypic.com/2w40cbl.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i62.tinypic.com/dvobae.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i62.tinypic.com/2s7yuer.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i57.tinypic.com/214nped.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i61.tinypic.com/20as8wy.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i61.tinypic.com/10o2zrd.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i61.tinypic.com/2irc48.jpg

[Avadi to America]

Old photo Kamal & MGR

[Avadi to America]

another old kamal photo

[dell_gt]

Thank you Rajja and Avadi sir for the wonderful posters'

[dell_gt]

http://i57.tinypic.com/214nped.jpg

My 1st movie in big screen.. :)

[avavh3]

thanks for old pics. those days...
punnagai manna was A certified? :roll:

[Raajjaa]

இது எந்த படம்? அதுவும் 18 சென்டர்களில் 200 நாட்களா?

http://i58.tinypic.com/2ms1nhs.jpg

[pushpak]

இது எந்த படம்? அதுவும் 18 சென்டர்களில் 200 நாட்களா?

http://i58.tinypic.com/2ms1nhs.jpg

Ek Duje Ke Liye original

[Russelljpv]

Maro Charithra - Telugu

[Raajjaa]

தெலுங்குகாரர்கள் நம்மளை விட சினிமா பைத்தியங்களா இருப்பாங்க போல. 18 சென்டர்ல 200 நாட்கள். நம்ப முடியவில்லை.

[Avadi to America]

http://i61.tinypic.com/20as8wy.jpg

I remember watching Sathya in VCR... One of my friends family owned video shop and i used to go to watch movies... Working in video shop was a dream job at the time...

[Avadi to America]

last week i was watching Nammavar in youtube...though it was a revisit but the movie was interesting and songs are good... it was interesting to see srividya..

[avavh3]

VR2 or Thoonga Vanam, which will release first?

when amar hain goes to floors?

what are his future projects?

two movies in a year is enough for me:-D

[Adox]

Interesting interview. He answers questions on UV, controversies and remakes etc.

Actor Kamal Haasan's new film Papanasam has opened to positive applause from critics and audiences. With director Jeethu Joseph giving a new sheen to the remake of Malayalam film Drishyam, Papanasam also marks Kamal playing a very ‘common man’ with none of the fuss or burden of stardom.

But then, Kamal has of late never been using his stardom for box office success, instead focusing on writing, and acting in movies that challenge him as an actor and give him the satisfaction of impactful story-telling. His films therefore do not come with the ‘art versus commercial’ tag, rather they are lauded for touching a chord with audiences.

Papanasam follows the success of Uttama Villain, a film Kamal wrote that remains close to his heart, and is readying for his third film this year, Thoongavanam, also being made in Telugu. This year is one his busiest in recent memory. The last time he had three releases in a single year was in 1994 with a diverse a repertoire that included Mahanadhi, Magalir Mattum and Nammavar.

In many ways, there is a continuity and evolution some 21 years later as Papanasam talks of an equally disturbing theme as Mahanadhi, where he played a villager fighting child-trafficking.

Haasan spoke to City Times about his new film, and more.

In the past few years, you have been focused on doing original films, written or directed by you. Why then did you choose to do a remake?

In my career I have done several remakes, including blockbuster films such as Munnabhai MBBS (made in Tamil as Vasool Raja MBBS) or of relatively lesser known films such as Govind Nihalani’s Drohkal (Kuruthipunal). If I was not convinced of Papanasam, I would not have accepted the movie.

With Papanasam, it is also a sort of return to Malayalam, if you may, working with several actors and technicians from Kerala...

I have never seen Kerala as another state or people to whom I have to ‘return.’ Across my body of work, I have been associated with a number of technicians and actors from the state. I do not make any deliberate choices about these things; it is the talent that matters.

Your role in Papanasam is bound to be compared with Mohanlal’s in Drishyam...

In classical music, different musicians sing the same keerthanas. What you look for is not how one performs over the others; it is how each musician interprets the song. That is how I see it. Every actor brings to a role his or her character and individuality.

Are you more relaxed now as compared to when you were preparing for the release of Uttama Villain? You sounded rather tense then...

(Laughs) Not at all. I was running a fever then. I am equally at ease now as when I was promoting Uttama Villain. I have outgrown the era of stage fright (before the release of films).

But there is a difference. Unlike any of your recent films, Papanasam has not raised any controversy so far other than a minor one about you not wearing a helmet while riding a bike. Does that surprise you?

Now that Uttama Villain has been released, tell me, what were all those controversies about? It all just shows the absurdity of people who use films as a free platform for controversy. It is so silly. In fact, there were controversies even when Vasool Raja released. But tell me, how many doctors use their profession to serve people without consideration of money? What is wrong in pointing out a social wrong? It was the same scenario with Dashavatharam when some people started a whole smear campaign without understanding what we were saying and without even seeing the film.

How do you react to the controversy about you not using a helmet?

Cinema is a slice of life but that does not mean you copy everything you see in films. I believe that people understand how films are made; there are at least ten people to make sure that I do not suffer an injury when I am doing a scene that involves any risk – even if it is riding a bike without a helmet.

Drishyam, however, generated a major stir after its release with almost every crime committed in the state being attributed to the film and about how it has helped criminals in their planning. Do you see a similar backlash now with Papanasam?

Cinema is often a mirror that brings out the ugliness of society. You cannot blame your reflection because that is what you are.

I think it is absurd to put any form of art – be it cinema or literature - in the dock for social evils. If so, take our epics with stories of mass murders and bride burning. Are you going to blame the epics? Are you going to say, they are to be blamed for what then happens in the society?

Let us set aside the epics. Which film was the reason we had Hitler? Which film was the reason we had Genghis Khan build pyramids with skulls and play Lego with human bodies? All these controversies are by people who want to take a free ride to popularity and films give them a very strong popular platform to do so.

Almost 20 years ago, you did Mahanadhi, a film in which you played a villager – a role similar to your part in Papanasam – and spoke of the very disturbing issue of child-trafficking. Papanasam has a similar milieu...

The similarity ends with the milieu of the villager... everything else is different. Papanasam is about a modus operandi. This also takes us back to the earlier question of films versus life.

Such films, even for example Indian, embody the pedestrian dream; there might be anger and fury within people against the system but no one goes out and takes revenge just after watching a film.

You have had a busy year. What can we expect of your next film, Thoongavanam?

It is going to be a racy thriller that will give you an adrenaline high.

And lastly, now that the controversy surrounding Uttama Villain is done and dusted, do you agree with the observation that the film is autobiographical? After all, you have gone on record stating how much you dislike biographies and you will never write one...

Uttama Villain is not at all autobiographical; it is the lives of actors, several of them. You cannot differentiate or attribute the film to one actor.

[irir123]

what is this news about Kamal doing a film for Linguswamy with Singeetham Srinivas Rao as the director?

[Adox]

what is this news about Kamal doing a film for Linguswamy with Singeetham Srinivas Rao as the director?

Read that ... Believe its a small budget comedy movie with Crazy Mohan like Panchathantiram. Mostly to try relieve Lingu of his money problems.

Nammavar tries to help out folks in need if he could. PN was also to help out Sripriya who was in loses from her production of Malini Palayamkottai.

[rsubras]

Read that ... Believe its a small budget comedy movie with Crazy Mohan like Panchathantiram. Mostly to try relieve Lingu of his money problems.

Nammavar tries to help out folks in need if he could. PN was also to help out Sripriya who was in loses from her production of Malini Palayamkottai.

Nammavar and Maharasan were done for the same reason I suppose (I remember him saying Nammavar was a waste of his time and energy, not sure about the reason though)

[NOV]

Thamaya oh thamaya,
en thagappanin sayal nee,
achagamthan ondru inge, arthanggal vevveru..
(Brother oh my brother, you look like our father. We are from same root, but our life gives us different meanings.)

Thamakkai oh thamakkai,
thozhi tholainthe ponaye,
thunaithedi ponaye..
(Sister oh my sister, my friend. You walked away from me searching your love…)

Manavi oh kathali,
neethanda padiyellam nanthanda kumainthiduvai,
saathirathil sutchamanggal puriyumvarai.
(Wife oh my lover, you guide me, motivate me, help me and be a backbone for me to achieve goals in life which even you don’t do it for yourself.)

Magane oh magane,
en vinthitte vithaye, sediye, marame, kaade,
marupirappe maranasoukaryame, vaazh...
(Son oh my son, you are my soul, life. May you have blessed life)

Magale yen magale,
ennai pirinthum inbam kaanbaya,
illai kathalithe kanavanukkul ennai theduvaya...
(Daughter oh my daughter, will you be happy after marriage or will you search me in your loving husband ? )

Nanba oh nanba,
nee seitha natpellam,
nan seitha anbin palan,
ivvidamum avvithame...
(Friend oh my friend, your friendship is the results of my love)

Pagaiva oh pagaiva,
un aadaiyenum aganthaiyudan yen amanatthai keli seivai,
Nee udithinirkum aadaigale un amanatthin vilambaranggal,
Mathemendrum kulamendrum nee vaitthe thuni kadaigal nirmoolam aagividum...
Nirvaaname tanggum...
(Enemy oh my enemy, you laughing at me because im naked [being human]. Your dress just covering your nudity. Your religion and caste dresses will be gone one day, the nudity [humanism] only will last forever)

Vaasaga oh vasaga,
sagavaala sagavaasi, vaasi
Purinthal punnagai sei,
Puthirendral puruvam uyartthu,
Pithatral ena thondrin pizhayum thiruttu.
(Reader oh my reader [all humans], read everything and understand everything. Smile if you understand, question if you not, and correct it if you feel it’s wrong)

Aam, enathu kavi unathumthan.
Naalai un variyil naan teriven.
(My poem is yours, I will be live long in your poems)

[pushpak]

Nammavar and Maharasan were done for the same reason I suppose (I remember him saying Nammavar was a waste of his time and energy, not sure about the reason though)

Probably because it is a remake.

[NOV]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/10155283_778624538822953_9069641208439747917_n.jpg ?oh=d014040cc09ee1d77934498924e60e14&oe=56251AD7&__gda__=1444184787_2e0467c707316ffa9fd731f3d026c73 b

[avavh3]

wow nov sir. thanks

[Raajjaa]

இலங்கை வானொலியில் ஒவ்வொரு ஞாயிறு கிழமை காலையில் k.s. ராஜா என்பவர் அப்பொழுது வெற்றி கரமாக ஒடும் படங்களை தொகுத்து வழங்குவார். 300 நாட்களை தாண்டி ஒடிக்கொண்டு இருக்கும் குரு படம் என்று சொல்லும் பொழுது ஆச்சர்யமாக இருக்கும்.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2zzkobc.jpg

[Cinemarasigan]

தெலுங்குகாரர்கள் நம்மளை விட சினிமா பைத்தியங்களா இருப்பாங்க போல. 18 சென்டர்ல 200 நாட்கள். நம்ப முடியவில்லை.

Maro Charitra ran in Chennai itself for 600 days I think

[Cinemarasigan]

VR2 or Thoonga Vanam, which will release first?

when amar hain goes to floors?

what are his future projects?

two movies in a year is enough for me:-D

Thoongaavanam shooting will be over within July... Can be released after 2 months of post production work.

VR2 requires 2 to 3 weeks work to be ready for release... Not sure since the producer is in deep financial crisis..

[Karikalen]

இலங்கை வானொலியில் ஒவ்வொரு ஞாயிறு கிழமை காலையில் k.s. ராஜா என்பவர் அப்பொழுது வெற்றி கரமாக ஒடும் படங்களை தொகுத்து வழங்குவார். 300 நாட்களை தாண்டி ஒடிக்கொண்டு இருக்கும் குரு படம் என்று சொல்லும் பொழுது ஆச்சர்யமாக இருக்கும்.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2zzkobc.jpg

Saar I lived very close to the Concorde cinema. It ran for 1 1/2 years if my memory serves me right. A Sinhala housemate of mine saw it 7 times. The success of Guru was instrumental in the bringing in of quota for Tamil films in Sri Lanka. Only 4 new films were released in each year.

[avavh3]

was it so good a movie :shock:

i missed the movie but vaguely remember seeing the clip when he steals something by hanging upside down. may be that has inspired Mission Impossible :-D

[Raajjaa]

Thanks for the information karikalen.

தமிழகத்தில் இந்த படம் மிக பெரிய வெற்றியை பெறவில்லை. மதுரையில் குரு படம் குரு தியேட்டரில்(தியேட்டர் பேரும் குரு தான்) 100 நாட்கள் ஓடியது.

ஆனால் கமலின் திரை உலக வாழ்க்கையில் திருப்பு முனையான படம். இந்த திரைப்படத்தில் இருந்துதான் சிறுவர்கள் கமல் படத்தை விரும்பி பார்க்க ஆரம்பித்தனர்.

[pushpak]

Thanks for the information karikalen.

தமிழகத்தில் இந்த படம் மிக பெரிய வெற்றியை பெறவில்லை. மதுரையில் குரு படம் குரு தியேட்டரில்(தியேட்டர் பேரும் குரு தான்) 100 நாட்கள் ஓடியது.

ஆனால் கமலின் திரை உலக வாழ்க்கையில் திருப்பு முனையான படம். இந்த திரைப்படத்தில் இருந்துதான் சிறுவர்கள் கமல் படத்தை விரும்பி பார்க்க ஆரம்பித்தனர்.

Yes. This had the nan than unga appan da song, rite?
it was a craze among us...

[Raajjaa]

அது ராம் லட்சுமண் படம்.

[Raajjaa]

வட இந்தியாவில் படம் வெள்ளி விழா கொண்டாடியது என்று பேப்பரில் படித்த பொழுது அந்த விளம்பரத்தை பார்க்க ஆசை பட்டேன். இப்பொழுது நனவாகி இருக்கிறது.

மதுரையில் 45 நாட்கள் ஒடியது என்று நினைக்கிறேன்.

http://i59.tinypic.com/2yyxu75.jpg

[pushpak]

அது ராம் லட்சுமண் படம்.

yes yes.. got confused...

[RAGHAVENDRA]

ஒரு விழாவில் நடிகர் திலகத்துடன் கமலஹாசன்

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o528/imagivity/nt%20snaps/ntkamal01fw_zpsqio0lyyo.jpg

[Raajjaa]

1996ம் ஆண்டு குமுதம் தீபாவளி சிறப்பிதழில் பாலிவுட்டை கலக்கும் கமல் என cover story வந்து இருந்தது. அதில் TOP 10 பாலிவுட் ஹீரோக்களில் கமல் 4வது இடத்தில் இருந்தார். அப்பொழுது ஹிந்தியில் இந்தியன் படம் பட்டையை கிளப்பி கொண்டு இருந்தது.

பாலிவுட்டை கலக்கிய ஒரே தென்னிந்திய நடிகர் கமல் மட்டும் தான். இனிமேலும் வேறு யாராவது வருவதற்கும் அறிகுறி இல்லை.

http://i61.tinypic.com/2ef821i.jpg

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

Thalaiver has okayed Lingu's own script itself for his next after thoongaavanam. So Lingu himself is directing thalaiver! Its titled "Mathi" and was written by lingu almost 10 years ago itself. It was then about to be produed by AM Ratnam but didnt happen.

If kamal has agreed means it shud be worthy! Of course he will either write dialog/screenplay or will heavily interfere and modify to make it his own! Hope Lingu gives a success as a director this time and thalai gives a commercial success to Lingu!!

[kumarsr]

Great news. I like this phase where we get to see 3 movies/year - all different variety.

[ramdas2005]

Nice to hear that @Sakala, hope it is confirmed officially. Is this the one to compensate for UV, also would crazy be on board if it is a comedy?

[dell_gt]

Thalaiver has okayed Lingu's own script itself for his next after thoongaavanam. So Lingu himself is directing thalaiver! Its titled "Mathi" and was written by lingu almost 10 years ago itself. It was then about to be produed by AM Ratnam but didnt happen.

If kamal has agreed means it shud be worthy! Of course he will either write dialog/screenplay or will heavily interfere and modify to make it his own! Hope Lingu gives a success as a director this time and thalai gives a commercial success to Lingu!!

this is great! but lingu suppose to direct SandzhaiKozli-2 ?

[jaypeenattu]

KamalHaasan's Box Office Prowess - An Analysis
This analysis of Kamal Haasan’s BO successes over the years is to serve as an eye opener for not only fans of Kamal Haasan but also other actors, people that calls themselves ‘industry trackers’ and analysts.
1971 – 1980
Kamal Haasan first established himself as the major star in the Malayalam Film Industry (MFI) with major hits like Madanatsavam, Eeta and others. Following his successes there, he planted a firm foot in the Tamil Film Industry during this period with monster hits like 16 Vayathiniley, KalyanaRaman and Sigappu Rojakkal were sandwiched by other major hits like Sattam En Kayil, Illamai Oonjalaadugirathu, Guru, Thayilamal Naanillai and Ram Lakshman amongst others.
In the same period, KH established himself as a major star in the Telugu Film Industry (TeFI) with the blockbuster hits like Sommakoduthi Sogakoduthi and Marocharitra. Aside from straight Telugu films, KH carved a huge market for himself with his dubbed Tamil films doing roaring business in AndhraPradesh.
KH was really riding the BO wave in 2 industries at the same time while continuing with his assault on MFI.
Other aspect of his BO successes was the emerging fan following for KH in Karnataka. Industry insiders used to wonder at his BO prowess that was truly spread across the whole of South India and admit that it was bigger than any other star had to that point including the legendary MGR.
His exalted star status during this period can be exemplified by these 2 instances –
1. KH was supposed to act in the remake of Yaadon Ki Baarat as one of the brothers and the initial ad said “Makkal Thilagam MGR and Kathal Ilavarasan Kamalahasan” inianthu nadikkum “Naalai Namathey”. For reasons not required now, it didn’t happen.
2. One more proof of his star status and fan following in the state of TN was the way MGR wooed KH to join the AIADMK. Their association grew from that and KH even had a song featured in late MSV’s Mangala Vaathyam, which referred to MGR and his party’s 2 leaves symbol (Vandina athu vandithaan, vaathyaru vandithan)
1981 – 1988
With South India truly conquered and under his domain, KH set his sights on the North of Vindyas and expanded his empire through the blockbuster Ek Duuje Ke Liye. For the first time ever, Indian cinema truly had an All India SuperStar in Kamal Haasan. As though the producers of Allavudeen and Arpudha Vilakku were prescient, they had advertised 1 year earlier in the popular Trade Guide magazine (featuring real box office numbers) saying “All India Super Star KamalaHasan in AAA”. It came true in 1981.
1982 started with the romantic tearjerker Vaazhvey Maayam. He topped VM in his next movie Moondram Pirai and even though both were super hits at the BO critics were claiming that KH might not command major success at BO. They were truly made to shut up with the astounding blockbuster that was Sakalakala Vallavan. TFI had never seen a movie become such a monstrous hit and that broke all previous records held. There was no questioning KH’s Super Star status anymore. He followed that with one of the classiest movies ever made in India with Sagara Sangamam, which turned out to be a monster hit in AP. More than any other movie, this gave KH the confidence that a classy movie can also set the cash registers ringing in a big way.
Blockbusters and Super Hits flowed like the river Cauvery of a bygone era across all languages in the form of Sanam Teri Kasam, Kakki Sattai, Swathi Muthyam, Saagar and whole host of others.
1989 – 1999
KamalHaasan broke all paradigms of commercial movie making with blockbuster hits like Aboorva Sagotharagal, Devar Magan, Indian, Avvai Shanmughi. Be it the use of available technology, novel way of story telling, retaining nativity KH showed his true mastery over the film medium which nobody before or after could achieve. For the first time, since KH took over the mantles from MGR and Sivaji, a true competitor emerged during this period with Rajinikanth having his first blockbuster hit in 1994 (Baasha).
Given the changing political trends in the state and KH avoiding politics like the plague and turmoil in his personal life sort of took a toll on his movie career in the next phase.
2000 – 2015
KamalHaasan made some memorable movies during this period like Hey Ram, Aalavandaan, Anbe Sivam and the recent Uttama Villain which did not achieve its potential at the BO. But he delivered stunning blockbusters with Tenali, Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu, Dasavatharam, Vishwaroopam and Papansam.
To put all this into perspective, let us look at his contemporaries from different industries.
Tamil – Rajinikanth was a late bloomer at the BO and owed his success to the media but has been struggling massively to succeed on his own terms since his last genuine hit in 1999 (Padayappa)
Telugu – Chiranjeevi has long been forced into retirement
Malayalam – Mammooty and Mohalal are still around but they are limited in both what they can do on screen and their box office clout
Even though KamalHaasan started on his film career well before the above-mentioned contemporaries, he is still on top of his game calling the shots and making movies on his own terms while delivering hits at the BO.
This is the true story and extent of KamalHaasan’s BO potential that our present day “analysts” refuse to acknowledge while followers of younger stars is unaware.

[dell_gt]

little flashback, add this person in twiter JEEVAHASAAN@jeevahasaan.. the collection belongs to him..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CKellNaUsAIEXZM.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CKelahqVEAAhPzK.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CKelOpDUAAAAaf3.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CKelAPBVEAAoeeS.jpg

[rsubras]

KamalHaasan's Box Office Prowess - An Analysis
This analysis of Kamal Haasan’s BO successes over the years is to serve as an eye opener for not only fans of Kamal Haasan but also other actors, people that calls themselves ‘industry trackers’ and analysts.
1971 – 1980
Kamal Haasan first established himself as the major star in the Malayalam Film Industry (MFI) with major hits like Madanatsavam, Eeta and others. Following his successes there, he planted a firm foot in the Tamil Film Industry during this period with monster hits like 16 Vayathiniley, KalyanaRaman and Sigappu Rojakkal were sandwiched by other major hits like Sattam En Kayil, Illamai Oonjalaadugirathu, Guru, Thayilamal Naanillai and Ram Lakshman amongst others.
In the same period, KH established himself as a major star in the Telugu Film Industry (TeFI) with the blockbuster hits like Sommakoduthi Sogakoduthi and Marocharitra. Aside from straight Telugu films, KH carved a huge market for himself with his dubbed Tamil films doing roaring business in AndhraPradesh.
KH was really riding the BO wave in 2 industries at the same time while continuing with his assault on MFI.
Other aspect of his BO successes was the emerging fan following for KH in Karnataka. Industry insiders used to wonder at his BO prowess that was truly spread across the whole of South India and admit that it was bigger than any other star had to that point including the legendary MGR.
His exalted star status during this period can be exemplified by these 2 instances –
1. KH was supposed to act in the remake of Yaadon Ki Baarat as one of the brothers and the initial ad said “Makkal Thilagam MGR and Kathal Ilavarasan Kamalahasan” inianthu nadikkum “Naalai Namathey”. For reasons not required now, it didn’t happen.
2. One more proof of his star status and fan following in the state of TN was the way MGR wooed KH to join the AIADMK. Their association grew from that and KH even had a song featured in late MSV’s Mangala Vaathyam, which referred to MGR and his party’s 2 leaves symbol (Vandina athu vandithaan, vaathyaru vandithan)
1981 – 1988
With South India truly conquered and under his domain, KH set his sights on the North of Vindyas and expanded his empire through the blockbuster Ek Duuje Ke Liye. For the first time ever, Indian cinema truly had an All India SuperStar in Kamal Haasan. As though the producers of Allavudeen and Arpudha Vilakku were prescient, they had advertised 1 year earlier in the popular Trade Guide magazine (featuring real box office numbers) saying “All India Super Star KamalaHasan in AAA”. It came true in 1981.
1982 started with the romantic tearjerker Vaazhvey Maayam. He topped VM in his next movie Moondram Pirai and even though both were super hits at the BO critics were claiming that KH might not command major success at BO. They were truly made to shut up with the astounding blockbuster that was Sakalakala Vallavan. TFI had never seen a movie become such a monstrous hit and that broke all previous records held. There was no questioning KH’s Super Star status anymore. He followed that with one of the classiest movies ever made in India with Sagara Sangamam, which turned out to be a monster hit in AP. More than any other movie, this gave KH the confidence that a classy movie can also set the cash registers ringing in a big way.
Blockbusters and Super Hits flowed like the river Cauvery of a bygone era across all languages in the form of Sanam Teri Kasam, Kakki Sattai, Swathi Muthyam, Saagar and whole host of others.
1989 – 1999
KamalHaasan broke all paradigms of commercial movie making with blockbuster hits like Aboorva Sagotharagal, Devar Magan, Indian, Avvai Shanmughi. Be it the use of available technology, novel way of story telling, retaining nativity KH showed his true mastery over the film medium which nobody before or after could achieve. For the first time, since KH took over the mantles from MGR and Sivaji, a true competitor emerged during this period with Rajinikanth having his first blockbuster hit in 1994 (Baasha).
Given the changing political trends in the state and KH avoiding politics like the plague and turmoil in his personal life sort of took a toll on his movie career in the next phase.
2000 – 2015
KamalHaasan made some memorable movies during this period like Hey Ram, Aalavandaan, Anbe Sivam and the recent Uttama Villain which did not achieve its potential at the BO. But he delivered stunning blockbusters with Tenali, Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu, Dasavatharam, Vishwaroopam and Papansam.
To put all this into perspective, let us look at his contemporaries from different industries.
Tamil – Rajinikanth was a late bloomer at the BO and owed his success to the media but has been struggling massively to succeed on his own terms since his last genuine hit in 1999 (Padayappa)
Telugu – Chiranjeevi has long been forced into retirement
Malayalam – Mammooty and Mohalal are still around but they are limited in both what they can do on screen and their box office clout
Even though KamalHaasan started on his film career well before the above-mentioned contemporaries, he is still on top of his game calling the shots and making movies on his own terms while delivering hits at the BO.
This is the true story and extent of KamalHaasan’s BO potential that our present day “analysts” refuse to acknowledge while followers of younger stars is unaware.

Throwing light on Kamal's achievements are well and good as he deserves each and every amount of praise for his contribution, but dwarfing and maligning his competitor's success (media creation, late bloomer etc.,) for the sake of glorifying his achievements is certainly not fair imho :)

[kumarsr]

Looks sharp and smart in this recent pic.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CKh5cGWUcAALirl.jpg

[Saai]

Papanasam has entered 100 Crore Club - Producer confirmed officially :)

[Adox]

Producers are Sri Priya and her husband right?

And Suresh Balaje ..

[Raajjaa]

ஒரு கைதியின் டைரி 100 நாளா? நம்ப முடியவில்லை.

இந்த மனுசன் தமிழ் நாடு,ஆந்திரா மட்டுமல்ல. பெங்களூரையும் ஒரு கலக்கு கலக்கி இருக்காருப்பா...

[irir123]

ஒரு கைதியின் டைரி 100 நாளா? நம்ப முடியவில்லை.

இந்த மனுசன் தமிழ் நாடு,ஆந்திரா மட்டுமல்ல. பெங்களூரையும் ஒரு கலக்கு கலக்கி இருக்காருப்பா...



Andha Oru நிமிடம், Uyarndha உள்ளம், Mangamma சபதம், Japanil கல்யாணராமன் - இவை கமலுடைய மொக்கை படங்கள் - சரியாக போகவில்லை - வசூல் ரீதியாக..

மத்தபடி அவர் ஒண்ணை அடுத்து இன்னொண்ணு hit குடுத்துட்டே தான் இருக்காரு.

[Raajjaa]

நான் சொல்றது பெங்களூரில். கமலுக்கு பெரும்பாலான தமிழ் ஹிட் படங்கள் பெங்களூரிலும் ஹிட் ஆகி இருக்கிறது. மற்ற நடிகர்களுக்கு 1 or 2 படங்கள் 100 days ஒடி இருந்தாலே அதிசயம்.

சிகப்பு ரோஜாக்கள்-200 days,நாயகன்-175 days, அபூர்வ சகோதரர்கள்-175 days etc...

[Raajjaa]

இந்த வருடத்தில் இருந்து 80s போல வருடத்திற்கு 3 படங்கள் கொடுத்தால் நன்றாக இருக்கும். வயசு 61 ஆகப் போகிறது.

[kumarsr]

Let's hope we hear something good on VR2. That + TV + potential Lingusamy movie would be a great line up.

[irir123]

அபஸ்வரமா ஒரு பாட்டு -(

நகத்தை கீருற மாதிரி ஒரு குரல் -((

ஆடவே வராம குலுக்கு குலுக்கி ஆடுற ஒரு நடிகை! - (((

திகில் முருகன் உடை அலங்காரம் செஞ்சா மாதிரி கமலுக்கு சொக்கா!! -)

சம்பந்தமே இல்லாம DRUMS உருட்டு உருட்டுன்னு உருட்டற மாதிரி காட்சி அமைப்பு -( - )

இதெல்லாம் கூட பொறுத்துக்கலாம் - ஆனா அந்த 'கோலா கோலா கோகோ கோலா' பாட்டிருக்கே - கொலை வெறி வராம மக்கள்ஸ் இதையெல்லாம் வேற பார்த்து வசிருக்கங்கன்னா பாருங்க!

Pre-நாயகன் வருஷங்கள்ல கமல் ரொம்ப பொறுமையா இந்த மாதிரி அமர காவியங்களில் நடிக்க வேண்டிய நிர்பந்தம்.

மனுஷர் எப்படிதான் இந்த fieldல இதையெல்லாம் ஜீரனசிக்கிட்டு காலம் தள்ளினாரோ?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93mwoGystcM

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

kamal sums up most crap in one single line!! "சினிமாவே பண்டிதர்கள் கையில இருந்துச்சி" ;) ;)

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

and i sometimes feel that though kamal is too fast and advanced in all aspects, sometimes i feel, if the whole of industry, and audience all moved in jet speed along with kamal, one day the whole industry will be totally advanced and almost near perfect but that may be boring / complicated at times. So in a way its better to move a bit slow, aka normal pace and improve the industry! in that way, some compromises and regular stuff et all are absolutely ok sometimes! kamal has done such compromises lot and lot of times and in a way it helped him too!

But, this cola cola kind of stuff are worse of the worsest!, no doubt!

[Cinemarasigan]

Kamal oru pakkaa masala padam edukkanum-nu innum pala rasigargal vEndikkittu irukkaanga... Our man is not listening... Let him come out with one masala movie next with the only aim of entertainment... Nadakkananum....

[irir123]

and i sometimes feel that though kamal is too fast and advanced in all aspects, sometimes i feel, if the whole of industry, and audience all moved in jet speed along with kamal, one day the whole industry will be totally advanced and almost near perfect but that may be boring / complicated at times. So in a way its better to move a bit slow, aka normal pace and improve the industry! in that way, some compromises and regular stuff et all are absolutely ok sometimes! kamal has done such compromises lot and lot of times and in a way it helped him too!

But, this cola cola kind of stuff are worse of the worsest!, no doubt!




that 'mangamma sabadham' came after the likes of 'Moondram pirai' 'Salangai oli' and around the times of 'sippikkul muthu/swathi muthyam' makes the contrast even more painful!

இதே படத்துல 'சொர்கத்தின் வாசல் எங்கே' - a Michael Jackson 'billy jean' ripoff song, with Madhavi wearing some of the most god-awful costumes ever -(

Kamal does his best filling the screen with as much grace as he can muster to this ungraceful song;

while Madhavi with her body weight distributed unequally all over (extra weight in the wrong places I mean) - கசக்கா முசக்கா stylela முக்கி முக்கி கால் கையெல்லாம் ஆட்டுனாலும், பருத்தி கொட்ட தின்ன குரங்குக்கு விக்கல் வந்தா மாதிரி உதறி தள்றாங்க - என்ன கொடுமை

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH-3bnzjy7A

[irir123]

Kamal oru pakkaa masala padam edukkanum-nu innum pala rasigargal vEndikkittu irukkaanga... Our man is not listening... Let him come out with one masala movie next with the only aim of entertainment... Nadakkananum....


வேணாம் - எதுக்கு நமக்கு இந்த வீண் ஆசையெல்லாம்? அவராவே இமய மலைக்கு சன்யாசம் போக வச்சுறாதீங்க !

[Russelljpv]

Mangama Sabatham.

It's interesting to remember this movie now. This is the last film Kamal acted under Balaji's production house. After this movie or during the making of the movie, Kamal had a big fight with Balaji and never acted in his production after that. Balaji was one of the major producer during that time. After 'Kadhal Parisu', he had big fight with R.M.Veerapan of Sathya Movies and never acted in that banner. During that time, RM Veerappan was very big shot in politics. After the flop of 'Paer Sollum Pillai', he had problem with AVM brothers and stopped acting in that banner. This may answer the irir123's question of how Kamal acted during the time. He was rebel most of the time and answers the current big question why he is having more enemies in the industry and media.

Now, Papanasam producer Suresh Balaji is Balaji's son.

Time heals the wounds.

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

TFI Blockbusters - An Analysis(KamalHaasan's BO prowess) Part1: http://tl.gd/n_1sn43ce (http://t.co/MlBEDpbwE1) Part2: http://tl.gd/n_1sn4ntl (http://t.co/NHGfykZmP9) by @Uttaman69 (https://twitter.com/Uttaman69) #MustRead (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MustRead?src=hash)

Inviting all the TFI's So called, SelfMade BO Trade Unalysts to take Tution from @Uttaman69 (https://twitter.com/Uttaman69) and get the Real Truth! :clap:

[irir123]

Mangama Sabatham.

It's interesting to remember this movie now. This is the last film Kamal acted under Balaji's production house. After this movie or during the making of the movie, Kamal had a big fight with Balaji and never acted in his production after that. Balaji was one of the major producer during that time. After 'Kadhal Parisu', he had big fight with R.M.Veerapan of Sathya Movies and never acted in that banner. During that time, RM Veerappan was very big shot in politics. After the flop of 'Paer Sollum Pillai', he had problem with AVM brothers and stopped acting in that banner. This may answer the irir123's question of how Kamal acted during the time. He was rebel most of the time and answers the current big question why he is having more enemies in the industry and media.

Now, Papanasam producer Suresh Balaji is Balaji's son.

Time heals the wounds.


Ok - it now makes sense why the music was by Shankar Ganesh even when IR was at his peak - the K Balaji - IR tiff!

[Cinemarasigan]

வேணாம் - எதுக்கு நமக்கு இந்த வீண் ஆசையெல்லாம்? அவராவே இமய மலைக்கு சன்யாசம் போக வச்சுறாதீங்க !

I don't want him to do many Masala movies, but long time he has not done pure masala movies... one in 10 years atleast..

[Raajjaa]

முன்பெல்லாம் சென்னை அண்ணா சாலையில் தமிழ் படங்களுக்கு கட் அவுட் எல்லாம் பிரம்மாண்டமாய் வைப்பார்கள். இப்போ வைக்கிறர்களா என்று தெரியவில்லை.

http://i57.tinypic.com/5cg6lh.jpg

[Raajjaa]

http://i62.tinypic.com/20z64xl.jpg

[Russellrqe]

http://i61.tinypic.com/2jb51s.jpg

[Russellrqe]

http://i61.tinypic.com/spkepi.jpg

[Russelljpv]

Ok - it now makes sense why the music was by Shankar Ganesh even when IR was at his peak - the K Balaji - IR tiff!

Kamal's problem with producers continued. He had problem with even Balachander after 'Unnal Mudiyum Thambi'.

In my village, we had a Fan's club for Kamal from 'Kakki Sattai' time. It wasn't a continuous affair. It's activities reflected the performance of Kamal movies. It worked actively on and off. After the flop of 'Sura Samkharam' and 'Unnal Mudiyum Thambi' (both got released in short interval), our fan club vanished. Club members lost interest because they couldn't find anything to talk big about their idol. Our fan club board also lost. Then came, 'Appoorva Sagathorargal', the entire club got super charged and more people also joined. During that time, it was honour to put the club's board in the theatre and you can show off to the people and with your name on it. During that time, it was a big thing. I don't know whether current generation can understand that.

We ordered for a new board on urgent delivery with lot of money and had to beg the Kamal fans associations head of our town to allocate space for us. It was his responsibility to provide the space for small clubs in theatre. He shouted at us for not putting on the first day and finally relented.

[Raajjaa]

Thank you varadakumar sir. If you have any more kamal and Rajini posters share here. share your old
memories too.

[Russellrqe]

http://i62.tinypic.com/69i0lw.jpg[/QUOTE]

[avavh3]

vetri vizha, kakki sattai madhiri masala movies are more than welcome:)

[joe]

பிலிம்ஃபேர் போன்ற விழாக்களுக்கு கமல் முடிந்தவரை செல்வதை தவிர்க்க வேண்டும் ..அவரை வைத்துக்கொண்டு நண்டு சிண்டுகளெல்லாம் செய்கிற அலப்பறைகள் தாங்கல :huh:

[Adox]

1st Tamil Movie to do ₹ 1 cr Biz!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CK0Qqh0UcAA8AKe.jpg:large

[Karikalen]

1st Tamil Movie to do ₹ 1 cr Biz!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CK0Qqh0UcAA8AKe.jpg:large

I read long ago in a Malaysian Tamil daily that MGR's Nadodi Mannan took INR1.1 crore.

[Cinemarasigan]

பிலிம்ஃபேர் போன்ற விழாக்களுக்கு கமல் முடிந்தவரை செல்வதை தவிர்க்க வேண்டும் ..அவரை வைத்துக்கொண்டு நண்டு சிண்டுகளெல்லாம் செய்கிற அலப்பறைகள் தாங்கல :huh:

+1.. True... Mostly he is pulled into these kind of functions to give away the Life time achievement awards. But he should be informed of the exact time these awards are given and be there only for that period of time and leave.

[dell_gt]

Haricharan Pudipeddi ‏@pudiharicharan 2m2 minutes ago
#KamalHaasan most likely to sell #Thoongaavanam rights to Thiruppathi Bros to compensate for the loss of #UttamaVillain

[joe]

I read long ago in a Malaysian Tamil daily that MGR's Nadodi Mannan took INR1.1 crore.

ஏம்பா அள்ளி விடுறதுக்கு ஒரு அளவு வேண்டாமா ? நாடோடி மன்னன் வெளியானது 1958-ல்

[Raajjaa]

எங்க வீட்டு பிள்ளை,உலகம் சுற்றும் வாலிபன், திரிசூலம் எல்லாம் சகலகலா வல்லவனை விட நன்றாக ஓடிய படங்கள்.

[avavh3]

^^^doing film for lingusamy is dropped?

[Cinemarasigan]

^^^doing film for lingusamy is dropped?

There are some talks going on that instead of doing a new film for 30C, selling Thoongaavanam itself for 30C so that KH need not spend time for making one more quickie...

[avavh3]

thats better

[dell_gt]

thats better

but, yea he need to be careful with the release.. if he mess up like UV, then its gona be another loss!