(For SI Blog Reader and ardent Kamal Haasan fan prasath.j)
There was a time, really, when Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Haasan attracted crowds for his movies.
Even in America, Tamil movie fans lined up to watch Kamal’s movies.
We still remember going to Clearview Cinemas (now Anil Ambani’s Movie City) on Oak Tree Road, Edison (NJ) to watch Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu in August 2006.
Those days, Ulaga Nayagan’s stock was high and much to our dismay we couldn’t get tickets for the Friday show (Aug 25, 2006).
So we returned on August 26, Saturday. We came early and found ourselves a slot at the head of the queue.
But in a few minutes, the crowds started to gather and soon the line extended almost as far back as Mughal Indian restaurant at the other end (see photo below).
That must have been the pinnacle of Kamal Haasan’s popularity.
Kamal Haasan – Crowds, Before Ulaga Nayagan Became Ulaga Madayan
(Movie City, Oak Tree Road, Edison, NJ, August 26, 2006)
Well, all that was before Ulaga Nayagan turned into Ulaga Madayan with his trashy, eminently forgettable performances in Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu, Unnaipol Oruvan, Dasavatharam and Manmadhan Ambu.
Today, we ask ourselves the question – Does anyone give a damn for Kamal Haasan anymore?
Other than kosu (mosquitoes), does Kamal Haasan attract anyone to his movies?
RIP, Kamal Haasan.
Nobody, nobody cares for you any more.
And you richly deserve your miserable fate for all the garbage you’ve shoveled our way over the last four years.
Hell, if Kamal Haasan kicked the bucket today would anyone even notice.
Related SearchIndia.com Posts:
Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu Review – Disappointing
Dasavatharam Review – Breathtakingly Boring
Unnaipol Oruvan Review – Unnaipol Oru Madayan
Manmadhan Ambu Review – Ulaga Madayan Stumbles Badly
Once Upon a Time, Kamal Haasan Attracted Crowds added by SearchIndia.com on
View all posts by SearchIndia.com →
News in HT today. “Rana” will be Rajinikanth’s last movie.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Rana-could-be-Rajinikanth-s-last-film/H1-Article1-704138.aspx
Want to bet the over/under on how many idiots in TN will immolate themselves?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: Want to bet the over/under on how many idiots in TN will immolate themselves?
The infinitely
vicewise SI wrote the following ‘Rajinikanth’ post three years back, in August 2008, as if in anticipation of your comment today – Why do Tamils Burn Themselves?.2. You write: News in HT today. “Rana” will be Rajinikanth’s last movie….
As Vadivelu rightly said about Rana a few weeks back: Ranavavadhu… Ganavavadhu…. Maybe, the prescient Vadivelu knew something about Rajinikanth we all didn’t then. 😉
Perhaps, he’s trying hard to gain the status of a mass hero by acting in shitty movies.
But, nayagan and anbe sivam would work for me anyday. You can’t just rule him out after watching these two gems. I would boldly recommend these two films to an American.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Nayagan and Anbe Sivam were all right, by Indian standards or lack thereof.
@gk:
“Perhaps, he’s trying hard to gain the status of a mass hero by acting in shitty movies.”
There is no “trying hard to gain the status” aspect of this narcissistic charade he’s been carrying on for over 2 decades. According to a poster here called, “Filmlover” (refer to SI’s review of Manmadhan Ambu sometime around Dec, 2010/Jan, 2011), Kamal once thought that Tamil audiences that appreciate Jurassic Park and Titanic, would definitely appreciate Hey Raam. If that statement were indeed true, then I clearly see a man who has bought his cult of personality and is so blinded by it to the extent that he thinks RANK ENTERTAINERS like Jurassic Park and Titanic are in the same category as a Hey Raam and also thinks his production values are as good as Hollywood’s. Either way, he’s deluded and horribly wrong, and that has a lot to do with the blinders he has willingly put on for a while now.
“But, nayagan and anbe sivam would work for me anyday.”
Both are inspired from Godfather (even though Nayagan was based on real-life Varadharajan Mudaliar) and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, respectively. However I’d disagree with SI and say Nayagan was much more than “all right.”
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: I clearly see a man who has bought his cult of personality and is so blinded by it to the extent that he thinks RANK ENTERTAINERS like Jurassic Park and Titanic are in the same category as a Hey Raam and also thinks his production values are as good as Hollywood’s.
Production values and Kamal Haasan?
God, look at the makeup in Dasavathram. Uggghhly
@SI: “Production values and Kamal Haasan? God, look at the makeup in Dasavathram. Uggghhly”
So what? Dasavatharam was Ass-car worthy and that Kamal winning the Ass-car is an honor (or ‘kaanar’, as they say in TN) for the Ass-car, instead of the other way around….as the average Kamal fan-boy would say.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Kamal winning the Ass-car is an honor (or ‘kaanar’, as they say in TN) for the Ass-car, instead of the other way around
Unless there’s a miracle, it looks like the end of the innings for both Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth – Hit-wicket (Kamal Haasan) and Hurt-retired (Rajinikanth).
Marks the end of an era in Tamil films in many respects. The last big stars from the 70s and 80s. The last big stars to strike a pan-Tamil Nadu appeal (now it’s all Vijay fans, Ajith fans, Simbhu fans, Kombhu fans…). The last big stars to deliver several memorable movies.
@SI: If Kamal Haasan kicked the bucket today would anyone even notice?
First person to notice would be SI, betcha!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yeah, maybe we’ll have an extra Chota Peg. 😉
I think SI has to first define the yardstick to judge the talent of an actor. At times,it lashes out those buffoons who are crowd pullers like vijay for delivering unpalatable masala scraps and at times,it lashes out an actor of someone like kamal’s calibre for occasionally (or i would say rarely) delivering scraps like Dasavatharam, MA etc.
When kamal makes an anbe sivam, mahanadhi or guna, nobody cares to go to theatre; would rather watch it in pirated DVDs and pseudo hail it as cult classics. Eventually, these films fail miserably at the box office much to the agony of producers (most of those experimental films were produced by himself – that’s another sad story!) Enna ulagamada ithu!
why not SI ask these so called crowd pullers like rajni, vijay etc to produce those cult classics? In fact when rajni was asked this question in one of his interviews, he said ” Why should I?To think of a story line for me is not my job.its the job of story writers and directors. i am a hero(masala)” He was trying to justify he would continue to deliver masala scraps like kuselan, robo etc and be a part of scrap cinemas/crowd pullers rather than sensible cinema.Indians are fond of icon bashing rather than constructive criticisms. Obviously, the Indian crowd would turn the blame game to someone who at least attempts to make a meaningful/sensible cinema. Now SI also joins the party of icon bashing and try to kill the instinct of those who attempt to take such initiatives. In fact, SI should ask this question to itself.
“Given a choice between two in a game, who would SI blame – the loser/participator or the audience(who doesnt even attempt)?”
I am sure, SI’s answer would be” Blame the loser/participator; kill his instinct & hail the inactive audience”
Coming back to SI’s question of “why kamal is not a crowd puller?” i think SI knows the answer.
Obviously, Indian cinema is not a fair level playing field like hollywood, where an actor does not have to be a star to attract crowds.There is no distinction between crowd pullers & sensible cinema.You can still be a will smith/marlon brando doing sensible cinema and set box office on fire.The question holds good not only for kamal but also other actors/SI’s favourites (naseeruddin, irfan, manoj bajpai, pankaj kapur etc…cant remember their experimental films,if at all any?).My point is why kamal alone be blamed.
infact throw this question to indian audience ” why actors are not crowd pullers in indian cinema and the so called charismatic stars/monkeys like srk,akshay,salman etc continue to dominate box office?”
You wont find an answer. Until then,be prepared to watch height of inanities like dabang winning a national award!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. By involving himself with shoddy productions like Dasavatharam, Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu, Unnaipol Oruvan, Manmadhan Ambu, Kamal Haasan has proved that he doesn’t care a fig for the paying audience. He’s merely looking out for himself.
Movies can broadly be of two kinds, the arty/avant-garde/indies and the commercial/masala, with the latter category frequently featuring big stars. Both have a place in the world. What we find offensive in a film is if it’s a crude piece of garbage that’s not in the least entertaining or, worse, if it’s stolen like a lot of Indian films often are.
2. Naseeruddin Shah was a delight to watch in A Wednesday. Kamal Haasan made a jackass of himself with his affected mannerisms and phony accent in Unnaipol Oruvan.
3. We agree with you that for the most part, the Indian audience is not encouraging of non-trashy films. And that is a tragedy.
4. BTW, we’ve dedicated the above post to you with a note below the headline. We wanted to do it before we published it but it slipped our mind earlier. 😉
@prasath: “When kamal makes an anbe sivam, mahanadhi or guna, nobody cares to go to theatre; would rather watch it in pirated DVDs and pseudo hail it as cult classics”
First of all, I think neither qualifies as a “cult classic” but most important of all, I find your argument a false dichotomy that you think that “GOOD ACTING” must be always found in serious dramas and not anywhere. It’s not like someone put a gun to Kamal’s head and told him not to ‘act’ in his entertainers. The problem is that, HE FAILS AT ACTING IN HIS ENTERTAINERS. Would you state that RDJ’s performances in Sherlock Holmes or Tropic Thunder or Iron Man (the first one, not the second) were in any way poor, even those these movies were rank entertainers? How about Johnny Depp vis-a-vis Jack Sparrow? Here were two actors, having fun while playing their characters in these entertainers and most importantly, PLAYING THEIR PART WITHOUT OVERT HISTRIONICS. However, Kamal is so self-absorbed an individual that he cannot let his entertainers speak for themselves and has to absolutely make himself ubiquitous in every frame and ham it up, which makes the ordeal quite tiresome. Seriously, was that attempt at speaking all 4 south-Indian languages at the end of “Panchatantiram” even remotely necessary? Was it even necessary to make his character in Anbe Sivam look THAT grotesque? Did he really need for himself to be cloned 10 times over in Dasavatharam?
He may have been “tailunted” at some point in his career, but the man’s efforts on the screen have been found more than wanting for a good while now.
@ StrYngLad74: “However, Kamal is so self-absorbed an individual that he cannot let his entertainers speak for themselves and has to absolutely make himself ubiquitous in every frame and ham it up, which makes the ordeal quite tiresome”
Absolute nonsense. Why? Let me explain.
1) Have you ever looked at an art of self indulgent artist? They go deep, very deep and the art forms an experimental
study to find answers to their doubts. A self indulgent artist is a person who perceives art as a medium to
explore his (and only his) perceptions of reality. If you want one, watch Lars Von Trier’s Anti Christ. That is self
indulgence and classy indulgence at that. Kamal is not but there are very few movies where he was absolutely
self indulgent, for example: Mahanadhi, Guna and Anbe Sivam. (who ever said that it is a remake of Planes,
Trains and Automobiles, they live in a universe where Casablanca is equated to Gone with the Wind because both
movies are about love, black and white and set in the backdrop of a war)
2) Kamal was trying to become a whore like Rajani, where Rajani would stoop to that level of playing “Hey Hey Super Star ” at the intro of his movies. Only thing is that Rajani was an absolute whore and did not care for his
feelings and all he thought that he was giving pleasure to people just like a whore does. He did not care about the
artistic merits of his subject (the movie) or anything, all he did say was ” I like to give pleasure to my fans”.
He murdered his artistic pursuits to give pleasure to fans. I remember Chiranjeevi (who could have been a fantastic
actor ever produced by Telugu Cinema, better than S.V.Ranga Rao) feeling sorry for himself that he did not dare
to act in movies like RudraVeena later.. But Rajani has no shame.
Kamal is a confused lot. He does not know whether he is creating movies for himself or for the people. He tries
to create movies for the people but fails miserably ending up with a crappy piece in the end, because he did not
leave his brain completely to the public service.
3) Kamal is the one who wanted to study Gandhi and created Hey Ram out of it, that is self indulgence in thoughts.
When self indulgence is coupled with aritistic integrity you get movies like Hey Ram, even though the Indians did
not get tickets to the movie as the movie was not entertaining.
When ever kamal was truly self indulgent he produced master pieces. Only when he tried to produce movies
so that public could enjoy he failed miserably.
It’s the lack of self indulgence in thoughts that Kamal is in the worst phase of his acting life. All he now wants is
acceptance, acceptance from the public, shouting slogans of “Ulaga Nayagan” from the public but he doesn’t
know and probably can’t make a movie like that.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Interesting points, particularly the notion that self-indulgence is the driving force behind great cinema.
The same could be said of writers (Henry Miller), painters (Picasso) and sculptors (Henry Moore) too.
I believe that In India there is a lack of ticket buying audience for artistic cinema. “Hey Ram” to a large extent and “Anbe Sivam” to a smaller extent belong in that category. Kamal made these good movies with budgets disproportionate to the market worthiness and released it with insufficient publicity. I am probably over-simplifying it but in summary he made some poor choices with his movies despite lot of goodness.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: I believe that In India there is a lack of ticket buying audience for artistic cinema.
Not completely true these days.
Indian movie business is currently in a great flux for a variety of reasons (greater exposure to good foreign movies thanks to H1B/L Visas and the Internet resulting in higher expectations in some quarters, rising prosperity among the hitherto poor giving them access to movies, higher production costs, the urge to make movies for the global diaspora and more).
On the one-hand, you have the run of the mill crowd churning out the same stuff while on the other end of the spectrum you have directors like Anurg Kashyap, who make movies like Dev D that we are inclined to believe are not flops (business-wise).
In these uncertain times, even established stars like Akshay Kumar struggle to deliver a hit. His crappy Singh is King was a hit but the equally distasteful De Dana Dan, Blue, Thank You, Tees Mar Khan and Chandni Chowk to China kissed the dust. Go figure.
In our not-so-humble opinion, this flux, which could last more than a decade, may signal the exit of more than a few Indian film-makers.
I should have been more specific. I had only the Tamil film industry in mind. Bollywood has been more progressive.
@ Naveen: “I should have been more specific. I had only the Tamil film industry in mind. Bollywood has been more progressive”
No. All the Hindi multiplex movies depict (leaving a few out) highly urbanized indian society or higher middle class indian society. (This may be because most of the film makers are from that part of indian society). Where as in Tamil, I see a lot of experiments going on. I don’t expect movies like Azhagar sami Kudirai in Hindi. Tamil movies actually explore deep down philosophical questions in movies too. (for example, Naan Kadavul)
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: All the Hindi multiplex movies depict (leaving a few out) highly urbanized indian society or higher middle class indian society.
You forgot the Bollywood pandering to the diaspora.
So many prominent Hindi films are set in the U.S., UK or Australia.
Here are just a few recent examples:
Patiala House, We are Family, Kurbaan, Blue, My Name is Khan, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Singh is King, Salaam Namaste, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Ta Ra Rum Pum.
Surely, we must have missed a few.
@Twig:
“1) Have you ever looked at an art of self indulgent artist? They go deep, very deep and the art forms an experimental study to find answers to their doubts. A self indulgent artist is a person who perceives art as a medium to explore his (and only his) perceptions of reality. If you want one, watch Lars Von Trier’s Anti Christ. That is self indulgence and classy indulgence at that. Kamal is not but there are very few movies where he was absolutely self indulgent, for example: Mahanadhi, Guna and Anbe Sivam. (who ever said that it is a remake of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, they live in a universe where Casablanca is equated to Gone with the Wind because both movies are about love, black and white and set in the backdrop of a war)”
I’ll keep this very short. If you don’t see a difference between GOOD self-indulgence and BAD self-indulgence (ever seen “Brown Bunny”?), or a difference between the way Kamal and von Trier approach their films in terms of self-indulgence, I’d suggest rethinking your rebuttal.
“2) Kamal was trying to become a whore like Rajani, where Rajani would stoop to that level of playing “Hey Hey Super Star ” at the intro of his movies. Only thing is that Rajani was an absolute whore and did not care for his feelings and all he thought that he was giving pleasure to people just like a whore does. He did not care about the artistic merits of his subject (the movie) or anything, all he did say was ” I like to give pleasure to my fans”. He murdered his artistic pursuits to give pleasure to fans. I remember Chiranjeevi (who could have been a fantastic actor ever produced by Telugu Cinema, better than S.V.Ranga Rao) feeling sorry for himself that he did not dare to act in movies like RudraVeena later.. But Rajani has no shame. ”
I don’t think his whoring out has anything to do with my argument. He whored out a lot…Kalaignan, Shoora Samharam, Singaravelan, etc. etc. are all “whore movies.” Even Anthony Hopkins has his stock of “whore movies.” Ever seen “Bad Company” “MI-2” or “The Rites”?
“Kamal is a confused lot. He does not know whether he is creating movies for himself or for the people. He tries to create movies for the people but fails miserably ending up with a crappy piece in the end, because he did not leave his brain completely to the public service.”
No, he’s making crappy movies…PERIOD. Please don’t make these arguments from authority on his behalf. You don’t know if he is indeed leaving his brain in or taking it out completely out of his “whore movies.” Those three “whore movies” I mentioned are flops.
“3) Kamal is the one who wanted to study Gandhi and created Hey Ram out of it, that is self indulgence in thoughts.
When self indulgence is coupled with artistic integrity you get movies like Hey Ram, even though the Indians did not get tickets to the movie as the movie was not entertaining. When ever kamal was truly self indulgent he produced master pieces. Only when he tried to produce movies so that public could enjoy he failed miserably.”
Nonsense!
A Taare Zameen Par, despite being an off-beat film, succeeds because the producer and director gives much of the meat to the child and his family and relegates himself to a secondary, maybe even a tertiary role.
A Hey Raam fails because its producer/director/writer feels the need to shove himself in front of our faces, without allowing other characters to develop.
“It’s the lack of self indulgence in thoughts that Kamal is in the worst phase of his acting life. All he now wants is acceptance, acceptance from the public, shouting slogans of “Ulaga Nayagan” from the public but he doesn’t know and probably can’t make a movie like that.”
His self-indulgence is exactly why his movies suck donkey d!ck and they’ve done so for well over a decade and change.
If Dasavatharam, VV, Anbe Sivam aren’t examples of self-indulgence, I don’t know what is.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Twig will likely respond later. But here’s our two cents:
1. From the perspective of the artiste, there’s only one self-indulgence, a fierce commitment and adherence to his art as per his own lights ignoring all other considerations (seemingly, an impossibility in large settings).
None of that Good self-indulgence or Bad self-indulgence, which are ex post facto views of critics on the end product rather than on the process.
More often than not, what critics consider bad self-indulgence is actually the subset of quality (such as character development and other production values).
We’d go as far as to say that self-indulgence in an artiste is not correlated to the ultimate success or failure of the project.
Raj Kapoor’s unwavering commitment to Mera Naam Joker is an apt illustration of artistic self-indulgence that did not pan out commercially. The movie almost sank Raj Kapoor and only the stupendous success of his following movie Bobby pulled him out of the financial pits that Mera Naam Joker had cast him into.
2. Also, the Taare Zameen Par argument above lacks heft.
To argue that Taare Zameen Par, despite being an off-beat film, succeeds because the producer and director gives much of the meat to the child and his family and relegates himself to a secondary, maybe even a tertiary role ignores the theme of the film that focused on the initial trauma of a dyslexic kid and his subsequent flowering under the aegis of a sensitive teacher. The script demanded the limelight to be cast on the kid first and foremost and only secondarily on the teacher.
It’d have looked bizarre for director Aamir Khan to have thrust himself into the film any more than he did.
You seem to be embracing the artistic notion of ‘self-indulgence’ literally in this instance.
“If you don’t see a difference between GOOD self-indulgence and BAD self-indulgence (ever seen “Brown Bunny”?), or a difference between the way Kamal and von Trier approach their films in terms of self-indulgence”
— no, there is no good self indulgence and bad self indulgence. I have seen Brown Bunny and I completely (yes) liked it. It is an example of self indulgence so much to persuade beautiful Chloe to suck Gallos di**. 🙂
What about Sathi Leelavathi? Did he thrust himself upon in every frame?
Hey Ram? which character you want to develop more? it was 3 hour movie, the journey of
archeologist to Gandhi killer wanna be was clearly shown. The movie was from Saket Ram’s
perspective. Except for a slow screen play the movie had everything in it.
As I said, Kamal is looking for public acceptance and he probably doesn’t know what to do
In short, all his films were pathetic and flop because he is looking for public acceptance and
nothing else. I’d wish him to be make movies which gives him a kick irrespective of a public
liking it or not.
But then the South Indian Market had to be huge. Damn lazy and cowardly south indian
ancestors, why didn’t you colonize other parts of the world and forcibly made Tamil an official
language in those parts? It would have solved many issues. The market would have been great,
Piracy should not mattered, artists would have load lots of money for a single movie (this will
avoid an artist to make 8 movies per year). It’s all our south indian ancestors fault. 🙂
I being an “ardent fan of him” is too strong a word.
All that I tried to substantiate in the above note is that he is better of the worst indian lot( Read: upto the goddamn indian standards).That needn’t hide the fact that his recent ventures like dasa,MA etc are absolute garbage.He is not even worthy to perform a light boy role in Hollywood production system.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: I being an “ardent fan of him” is too strong a word.
On 2010/12/24 at 4:17 am, you wrote:
And after all the encomiums you’ve heaped on Kamal Haasan (he can cry, he can laugh, he can run around trees, all truly great feats, of course) you dare to say that you are not an ardent way of Kamal.
Whatever weed you’re smoking, can we have a drag please? 😉
Ha!Ha!Ha!
That’ s probably becoz Indian cinema has set such low standards in acting that when you find some thing like kamal’s performance, you associate that to be oscar-worthy.My point is why he should alone be blamed when he is not even enjoying the luxury/status of box-office kings like rajni, vijay, ajith etc who does not even know the a,b,c’s of acting. Does he deserve a fourth/fifth ranking in gollywood box office inspite of giving some memorable performances like sadma, nayagan etc? (read indian standards).
StrYngLad74 says “HE FAILS AT ACTING IN HIS ENTERTAINERS”
Chachi420, Panchantantram, Pushpak, Appu raja, MMKR, Vasool raja – what genre would you give to these films?
Were they not entertainers to you with his impeccable comic timing and flawless crazy mohan’s dialogues?
I don’t claim his entertainment/humour quotient is as good as johnny’s but he is neither that bad too.
@ prasath.j: “He is not even worthy to perform a light boy role in Hollywood production system.”
yes, in the same generalization as an Indian or persons with indian blood or not even worthy to be a maid
or a butt cleaner to an average american.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
butt cleaner to an average american?
Language, language, SI is a family-friendly blog. 😉
“Chachi420, Panchantantram, Pushpak, Appu raja, MMKR, Vasool raja – what genre would you give to these films? Were they not entertainers to you with his impeccable comic timing and flawless crazy mohan’s dialogues?”
Yes, they are entertainers, as are ‘Sathi Leelavathi’, Singaravelan, Kadhalaa Kadhalaa, etc., but save for Pushpak (which, thankfully, was a silent movie), we weren’t spared of HIS HISTRIONICS in any of those offerings. He just finds it necessary to contort, bawl, laugh, or even fart in a manner that is best described as OTT.
@prasath, via SI: “KAMAL is the most complete actor Indian cinema has ever seen. He is the best method actor available to Indian film industry till date.”
The man wouldn’t know method-acting if it slapped him across his face. Case in point- both his characters in Thevar Magan and MMKR are supposedly London-educated entrepreneurs, who speak in a (horrible) American accents. The less I speak about his character in “Unnapol Oruvan” vis-a-vis method-acting, the better and in “Varumayin Niram Sivappu,” the man looks pretty well-fed for someone deep in poverty and hunger.
Method-acting and Kamal….puhleeze! He can put on a horrible make-up and do his itty-bitty histrionics, but he doesn’t research his roles well at all.
“He is not only good in crying”- Ironically, that made me guffaw.
“can anyone of them romance with today’s heroines singing duets running around trees without looking awkward?”- Sorry to burst your bubble, but the aging dwarf is starting to look EXTREMELY AWKWARD prancing around with 18 y.o. school-girls in HIS high-heels. Only an “ardent fan-boy” would be oblivious to this fact.
@StrYngLad74,via SI:
It’s all about comparisons.Have a good second look at my comment.
I just said kamal’s on-screen romances didn’t look that AWKWARD had naseeruddin romanced with today’s heroines.
Agree or not, kamal is miles ahead when compared to naseer to play a lead role in a movie with his not so aged physique.
I think he has stopped running around trees singing duets a decade ago.I don’t remember his last awkward duet.
btw, Curious to know who is (StrYngLad74) your benchmarked indian actor?
“I just said kamal’s on-screen romances didn’t look that AWKWARD had naseeruddin romanced with today’s heroines. Agree or not, kamal is miles ahead when compared to naseer to play a lead role in a movie with his not so aged physique.”
To which I already said “Sorry to burst your bubble, but the aging dwarf is starting to look EXTREMELY AWKWARD prancing around with 18 y.o. school-girls in HIS high-heels. Only an “ardent fan-boy” would be oblivious to this fact.”
Your comparison argument is a classic moving the goalpost fallacy. Kamal looks awkward as a romancing lead hero…period! As does Rajinikanth. If only you fanboys took your goggles off.
“I think he has stopped running around trees singing duets a decade ago.”
He’s running around NYC or some exotic location these days. Either way, he’s prancing.
“I don’t remember his last awkward duet.”
That would be a subjective assessment. Like I said, you have your goggles on. You still view him as a “Ilavarasa Nayagan” or something like that.
“Curious to know who is (StrYngLad74) your benchmarked indian actor?”
Sorry, I am not going to be baited into a nonsensical actor vs actor discussion. I benchmark performances, not actors. A Mithun Chakraborty can do a “Lafangaa” or “Ladaai” kinda movie in his trademark manner, and then absolutely pwn everyone with a “Mrigyaa” or “Tahader Katha” or “Swami Vivekananda” and win 3 National awards for the same.
Hmm.. didn’t expect a SI post on Kamal when he is nowhere in the news.
If we exclude box office success as a parameter then only MMA flopped but then a successful movie does not necessarily equate to a good movie. Even the most ardent Kamal fan would agree that Dasavatharam was a cruel joke on our senses. It remains as one of the most unwatchable movies in my book. MMA wasn’t bad initially but he made a mess of it with his brand of originality… not to forget copying without permission, his phoney accent in UPO was a joke!. His acting in VV was quite ok for most part but maybe it is just me…
Kamal has been on a rather long ego trip. He is now Pretentious, Over-indulgent, and Narcissistic. He forces himself into multiple departs of film making and ends up making poor choices e.g. Main lead, story, screenplay, dialogues, lyrics, Background singer, Ghost Direction and Ghost Casting in MMA. The only other person I know who does all this in a single movie is that Joker TR.
Despite being someone who generally likes Kamal’s movies, I don’t expect Kamal’s forthcoming movie Vishwaroopam to be any better and I am not looking forward to it at all. There is no evidence of his ego trip coming to an end. But, I think he still has it in him to give some good performances if he can abandon his path of self-destruction, his need for big budgets and tendency to force his personal agenda on the audience. Although not comparable with Rajinikanth’s, Kamal has a huge fan following and he is not without charisma. A good movie needs a good script and not a big budget.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: A good movie needs a good script and not a big budget.
In India, you may ask for anything except, except a good script.
2. You write: Hmm.. didn’t expect a SI post on Kamal when he is nowhere in the news.
Kamal…Nowhere in the news? Was that a Freudian Slip?
For an Indian entertainer, even if he/she be a so-called entertainer, not to be in the news is like a death sentence slapped on him/her.
3. As for Manmadhan Ambu, for a star of Kamal Haasan’s pedigree to even go near
the likes ofthings like Trisha is in horrible taste.@Naveen: “Kamal has been on a rather long ego trip. He is now Pretentious, Over-indulgent, and Narcissistic. He forces himself into multiple departs of film making and ends up making poor choices e.g. Main lead, story, screenplay, dialogues, lyrics, Background singer, Ghost Direction and Ghost Casting in MMA.”
Which is what I’ve been trying to get Prasath to understand. The man has been on this narcissistic trip since he left Balachander’s stables and formed his own Rajkamal productions.
Kamal, along with Balachandar, Bharathi Raja, Balu Mahendra, Mahendran, Ilayaraja are the persons who saved
Tamil cinema from the onslaught of Hindi Cinema in the late 70’s and 80’s. Maniratnam is like a kid to all those
greats.
I will always have respect for all of them till I die. Music had feelings, emotions were real, struggles were
convincing, Love was pure, heroines had elegance… man those must be the real golden days. This is not nostalgia considering that I’m a boy of the nineties.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Having lived in Tamil Nadu during the so-called ‘Golden age of Tamil Cinema’ that you extol above, we don’t recall Hindi films ever being a threat to Tamil cinema in that period.
The only three Hindi films that we recollect having penetrated the calcified skull of the Tamil consciousness were Bobby, Sholay and to a much lesser extent Qurbani.
It was not uncommon to hear Tamil lads humming a bastardized version of Hum Tum (Bobby).
So your point that Kamal, along with Balachandar, Bharathi Raja, Balu Mahendra, Mahendran, Ilayaraja are the persons who saved Tamil cinema from the onslaught of Hindi Cinema in the late 70’s and 80’s rings hollow.
Perhaps, boys of the Nineties should restrict their bloviating to more current topics lest their eagerness lead them astray into crippling minefields. 😉
At best, Kamal, along with Balachandar, Bharathi Raja, Balu Mahendra, Mahendran, Ilayaraja may be said to have saved Tamil cinema from itself.
Even the argument of Remakes (Naalai Namathu etc) won’t wash because a few remakes then or now, be it in Bollywood or Kollywood, don’t change the big picture. If two or three Tamil/Telugu/Malayalam pictures are remade in Hindi, it doesn’t mean that Bollywood has turned into a subsidiary of the Southern film industry.
Yes, you could be right.
As I said being a boy of the nineties, I could watch only the best from the 70’s and the 80’s and may be that might have created a wrong impression to generalize the overall quality of that period. But still the movies from those era are still the best till 2011.
Hindi Cinema being a threat to Tamil cinema? It happens sooner or later if a particular film industry is not up to the mark. Consider Bengali cinema or Marathi Cinema till early 2000’s. Gone are the days of Satyajit Ray or Bimay Roy, all the Bengalis have now is Hindi cinema or sub standard Bengali movies. If Tamil cinema did not possess the whatever quality they had in 80’s “Hum Tum” would have been sung by rural Tamils instead of just semi urbanite or urbanite Tamils.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
There was a lot of Tamil junk too in that era – Pilot Premnath (Sivaji Ganesan), Hitler Umanath (Sivaji Ganesan) and the like.
No, we are not kidding about Pilot Premnath and Hitler Umanath.. We’re still waiting for a refund from Sivaji’s family for those two nightmares that may have rewired the circuits in our brain for the worse. 🙁
I will search & watch those two movies :))
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You will not be the same person ‘after’ experiencing these two ‘wonderful’ movies from the 1970s and 1980s.
BTW, between Pilot Premnath (1978) and Hitler Umanath (1982), Sivaji Ganesan also did Justice Gopinath.
Most likely, we were not blessed enough to see Justice Gopinath.
Source: IMDB
SI does pique curiosity by referencing these films regularly. don’t think they have DVDs of these films out there.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
They are horror-shows.
I think this post got more FDFS BO collections than MMA :)))
SearchIndia.com Responds:
😉
Rumor has it that some Tamil movie-fans were wonder-struck that Chennai native Trisha, a veteran of a gazillion Tamil movies, would dub for herself and gathered there to watch this astonishing miracle at the Manmadhan Ambu screening.
I think Kamal has some amount of acting chops, but really has needed adult supervision throughout his career.
Strong personalities like Balachander and Sringeetham Srineevasa Rao were able to rein him in and make him focus on delivering a solid performance within the confines of a decent script. That’s why most of his best work has come under such directors. The current crop of directors are younger by a generation at least, I doubt if they will be able to call the shots while working with Kamal. That would explain a travesty of a film like Dasa Avatharam.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Interesting points and likely valid too.
Also, keep in mind that good scripts are harder to come by for older stars. Not that good scripts are going abegging in the Tamil film industry.
“I think Kamal has some amount of acting chops, but really has needed adult supervision throughout his career. “ – Good point AC.
Even a good actor like Shivaji completely lost the plot when he acted in films not directed by senior film directors like Bhim Singh. Without proper guidance and mindset, every actor tends to get disoriented and start overacting. The best example is Shivaji. If you look at his career, his best films came from 1950 to early 1960s. After 1960, his career went through an eventual decline and saw him indulge in priceless overacting in films such as Kalthoon, Hitler Umanath, Mirudhanga Chakrvarty, Thanga Padakkam, and many others.
Kamal was the next example. While Shivaji went the overacting way, Kamal went into “What I think, I do” mode. He started incorporating his own ideas in films like Aalavandhan and Hey Raam, then influencing directors to do crap stuff and finally end in a godzilliac disaster like Dasavatharam.
Unless and until actors wake up to reality, this moronic trend of self-obsessed, half-baked films will continue to be churned out.
@StrYngLad74,via SI:
I agree. Yes ,He is now pretentious, Over-indulgent, and Narcissistic but certainly not over-indulgent by spilling unwarranted masala in his experimental films.For example, he did not insert a vadivelu comedy in ‘Hey ram” & neither did he plan an adrenalin- secreting action scene in Plane hijack scene in “Panchatantram”, since he knows comedy films defy all logic..Had “panchatantram” be an action thriller, he would have planned a perfect action scene.He is just wise enough, not to spoil the mood of the film whichever way it is.
“Dont spoil the mood of the film.Be it Comedy or action thriller?” – This rule holds good for every gollywood masala film director.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_(2010_Indian_film)
have u heard about this kannada movie,movie was superb but nayanatara as ushal rubbish,
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Unaware of this film. Kannada films rarely make it to the U.S.
Vadivelu! Shit, that bloody cowardly hole is still in hiding. May he never return to screen again
Kamal used to be #1 or mostly #2 in lists like this. He slides to #4 now.
http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-slide-shows/movie-4/top-25-upcoming-movies-1/viswaroopam.html
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Hey, did Ulaga Madayan (Kamal) go in for a face-job or should we render fool credit to Photoshop?
That pic is old… seems to be around Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu period.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
As the accompanying story says, the picture was taken during the release of Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu in 2006. Never seen such queues for Kamal Haasan’s movies again.
Although Dasavatharam was utter crap, there were even longer lines and more number of shows. When I went to sit through that torture there were 3 tamil and 2 telugu shows starting within 15 minutes each and all of them were houseful. During VV days the # shows, theaters were probably significantly less compared to when Sivaji or Dasavatharam releases and maybe thats why the lines were longer.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Plus the Kamal mystique still existed those days and was strong.
Now, he’s just another joker who makes an ass of himself starting on a Friday and lasting for a few days.
We’d be extremely surprised if Kamal Haasan can salvage his acting career now.
This was in Chicago
If his ego trip continues then he is a complete gone case. However, I think he still has the potential to give good performances providing he makes himself available solely as an actor to good directors. He should stop meddling with other departments. At his age it will be hard for him to give up his ego.. so you are probably correct.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Off-topic response:
BTW, we got Shatranj Ke Khilari yesterday from Netflix. Will probably watch it tonight or tomorrow.
I loved the dark humor in that movie. Review it if possible.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’ll definitely watch and likely review it as well as Charulata.