Kamal Hassan is an Indian actor, politician, film director, screenwriter, producer, playback singer and lyricist. He is a multi-talented actor and his versatility has won him fans across the country. He has an enthusiastic interest in every aspect of film making and is known for his work. Seven movies in which he has starred have been sent in Oscars for Best foreign movie category which is highest by any Indian. He is trained in the classical Indian dance form of "Bharatanatyam".
Early Life of Kamal Hassan
Kamal Haasan was born on 7th November 1954 in the town of Paramakudi, in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu to D. Srinivasan, who was a lawyer, and Rajalakshmi, who was a housewife. He has two brothers, Charuhasan who is a National Film Award-winning actor and Chandrahasan and a sister, Nalini. He received his primary education in Paramakudi before moving to Chennai and continued his education in Santhome, Chennai.
Career of Kamal Hassan
He started as a child artist in the year 1960 with Tamil language film "Kalathur Kannamma", for which he won the President`s Gold Medal. His breakthrough as a lead actor came in the year of 1975 with the movie "Apoorva Raagangal", directed by K.Balachander. After a seven-year break from films, he returned to the industry as a dance assistant under choreographer Thankappan. During this time, he made short appearances in some films. His first appearance came in the year of 1970 film "Maanavan". His first full-fledged role came in K. Balachander`s Tamil film "Arangetram" (1973). Balachander cast him as the antagonist in his "Sollathaan Ninaikkiren" (1973). He then went on to do supporting roles in films such as "Gumasthavin Magal" (1974), "Aval Oru Thodar Kathai" (1974) and "Naan Avanillai". The same year, he played his first lead role in the Malayalam film, "Kanyakumari".
In Tamil cinema, he had his breakthrough as a lead actor in Balachander`s "Apoorva Raagangal". Then in 1976, Balachander cast Kamal as a womaniser in "Manmadha Leelai". In 1977 he starred in his first Kannada film, "Kokila" and also appeared in a Bengali film, "Kabita". He also played two parts in 1978 Telugu film "Sommokadidhi Sokkadidhi". He then made his debut in Hindi cinema with "Ek Duuje Ke Liye". In 1983 he appeared in "Sagara Sangamam", directed by K. Vishwanath. Then he appeared in "Saagar" and the film went for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1985 from India. He left Bollywood for the time being after "Geraftaar" and "Dekha Pyar Tumhara". Kamal then appeared in Mani Ratnam`s 1987 film "Nayakan" which went for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1987 Academy Awards and is on the Time`s All-Time 100 Movies list. In 1988, he appeared in his silent film "Pushpak".
In 1998, he appeared in Singeetham Srinivasa Rao`s romantic comedy, "Kaathala Kaathala" opposite Prabhu Deva. In 2000, he appeared in the comedy film "Thenali". In 2004 he appeared in a movie "Vasool Raja MBBS". In 2008`s film "Dasavathaaram", he played ten roles and the film was released in several languages. "Dasavathaaram" was the first Tamil film distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. His next film after "Manmadhan Ambu" was 2013`s "Vishwaroopam" which was released in Hindi also as "Vishwaroop". After 2 years of Vishwaroopam" s release, "Uttama Villain" was released in 2015 followed by the bi-lingual "Thoongaa Vanam" and "Cheekati Rajyam".
In his earlier career, he choreographed in "Naan Yen Pirandhen", "Sivaji Ganesan" in Savaale Samaali" and "Jayalalithaa" in Anbu Thangai films. In May 2014, he was appointed as the official Indian delegate to the 67th Cannes Film Festival.
Kamal Hassan as a Producer
Debuting as a producer, he made his 100th film appearance in 1981 in "Raja Paarvai". In 1986, Kamal produced another film "Vikram" and collaborated with Kodandarami Reddy for "Oka Radha Iddaru Krishnulu" and then K. Vishwanath in "Swathi Muthyam". He then produced and starred in "Unnaipol Oruvan". Some of the popular other films produced by him are "Virumandi", "Thevar Magan", "Apoorva Sagodharargal", "Vishwaroopam" etc. His production company"s name is "Rajkamal International" which has produced several of his films.
Kamal Hassan as a Director
Kamal Hassan debuted as a director with the Hindi movie "Chachi 420". In 1997, he started directing an unfinished biopic of Mohammed Yusuf Khan, "Marudhanayagam" which was a forty five minutes film. He then directed his second film "Hey Ram" which was India`s submission for the Academy Awards of the year 2000. Then he directed "Virumaandi" which won the Best Asian Film Award at the "Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival". After "Dasavathaaram" he directed a film titled "Marmayogi".
Kamal Hassan as a Writer
Kamal Hassan has written a lot of his films, including "Raja Paarvai", "Apoorva Sagodharargal", "Michael Madhana Kamarajan", "Nala Damayanthi", "Virumaandi", "Dasavathaaram", "Manmadhan Ambu" and "Vishwaroopam" etc. He also has written songs for his films and the lyrics for a single in "Hey Ram", songs in "Virumaandi" and "Unnaipol Oruvan" and the album for "Manmadhan Ambu". Kamal publishes the magazine "Mayyam", by the Kamal Haasan Welfare Association and his views are also been published as "Thedi Theerpom Va".
Awards and Honours of Kamal Hassan
He is on the academic advisory council for International school of Film and Media. He is one of 20 film celebrities recognised by Coca-Cola India with the launch of the 24th edition of the Limca Book of Records in 2013. Following are the awards and honours of Kamal Hassan:
•Padma Shri
•Padma Bhushan
•President`s Gold Medal for Best Child Actor
•Three times National Film Awards Winner
•Nineteen times Filmfare Awards Winner
•Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema
•Living Legend Award
•Kalaimamani Award
•Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
•S. S. Vasan Award
Personal Life of Kamal Hassan
Kamal Hassan married the dancer Vani Ganapathy in 1978 but after ten years they divorced. Then he got married with Sarika but they divorced in 2004. He has two daughters namely Shruti Haasan and Akshara Haasan. He is involved in social-service activities as well. He received the first "Abraham Kovoor National Award" for his humanist activities and worldly life. He launched a children`s cancer relief fund in 2010. He was also nominated by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the "Swachh Bharat" Campaign.