Kamal’s silent symphony and more about him!
Kamal’s silent melody. The movie itself is a symphony. Who else but great Beethoven composes ‘Moonlight sonata’(Quasi una fantasia) for this masterpiece. If you haven’t seen this movie, you’re missing something extraordinary. They don’t make movies like this anymore!
hopefully it doesn’t bore you for its length. The music may sound out of life to some but its very special to me..sorry if it disappoints!
Apologies regarding the slightly dark video(the slides that is), couldn’t help it!
one of the best silent movies I’ve seen! I rank it high among other silent films like ‘M’ (thriller), ‘Metropolis’ (sci-Fi), ‘nosferatu ‘(horror), ‘battleship potempkin’ (War), ‘The great dictator’ (comedy) and ‘Un chien andalou’ (surreal short film). This one is the best silent ‘drama’ and it’s stands out as a great motion picture as well. It’s a story about an unemployed youth kidnapping and impersonating a rich guy for few days and how he meets a girl. But it doesn’t last long. The movie has a comical feel to it but it’s climax is emotionally touching. I inserted a frame of a speeding train which is an allegory to Moondram pirai (’Sadma’ in hindi), another great film with a similar climax but gut wrenching! The unemployed youth here brought back memories of ‘Varumayin niram sivappu’ days. a KB-kamal classic!
SS Rao (another Kamal favorite) brings the best out of kamal in playing a subdued role besides being comical at times. The film that testifies Kamal haasan as one of the ‘best actor’ (don’t confuse the term if you watched Filmfare awards) from our country! He has acted in six languages, including the four South Indian languages - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and North Indian movie industry via Hindi and Bengali films. And now in a film with no language. Kamal haasan - A legend, a term which is bastardized a lot that I seldom ‘overuse’ FYI. He will be in my elite list of great actors which includes De niro, Mifune, Mastroianni, O’Toole, Brando, Fonda, Van Sydow and few others! Maybe he does a few crapfest (not to mention the masala crap) but no one can question his acting.
His brilliance is unparalleled with right balance of entertainers and avant-garde movies. Kamal Haasan is in a league of his own with roles ranging from a rural retard, innocent idiot, an unemployed youth, cheated businessman, serial killer, deranged misogynist psychopath, blind musician, an underworld don, an undercover cop (and honest cop and a vigilant officer…can go on in just naming his cop roles), crippled philanthropist, a wrongly accused prisoner who seeks revenge, a classical barathanatyam dancer, quadruplets, dwarf circus clown, corrupt politician, old radical righteous freedom fighter, a ventriloquist and what not!
He can get into the skin of a character and never ceases to leave it. Is there anyone who could pull off the wide variety of roles with handful of entertainers besides invoking the effect of the character! No matter what roles he plays, you feel for it from hating him in his darker roles to cry for him in emotionally poignant ones. So please get few dvds of his classics and enter the world of acting utopia. All hail the master!
Making films is another feather in Kamal’s cap. Kamal’s vision in creating few masterpieces (yeah penning the script) from Raja paarvai to Mahanadhi or directing pre-independence Hey ram to rural Rashomonesque village epic, Virumandi (he somehow spoils the movie with a terrible climax..other than that the movie is exceptional).
A rightful dose of everything is required to make an actor who could play out a young 6 year old orphan in “kalathoor kannama” or as an unemployed youth in “Pushpak” or to being a disabled altruist in ‘Anbe Sivam’. It requires a LIFETIME, dear friends!
No matter what, Kamalji you rock! God bless!
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kamal is a great actor..but the best??:-?
Depends and varies from person to person. I find him repulsive in few movies like Alavandaan or VV quite recently. BTW a very nice video. Brought back memories of the movie!
You failed to mention Ilayaraja’s music. I still remember those interludes in a sort of nostalgic way.
thanks! I wish more people liked the video!
I really like “Pushpak” that was one of his best. for me his best role was in “Mahanandi”(telugu)suprisingly he wrote story and screenplay for that film. as far as his recent movies i liked anbe sivam and i guess story was written by kamal. He is definetly one of the best actors of all time.
Kamal rocks !
Sadma,Velu Nayakan,Pushpak,Appu-raja
all represent the class of KAMAL.
He gets indulgent sometimes with movies
like Abhay.
But that can be excused for the sheer briliance
he brings to the nuances of acting.
A die hard kamal fan
Awesome post. Loved Pushpak…and the video is amazing. Especially the music chosen for the video.
Great work Thilak and thanks for bringing back memories…its an eternal masterpiece. #:-s^:)^
Hate to be the ‘um,actually’ guy here, but…
um…actually, L.Vaidyanathan scored the music for ‘Pushpak’.
@Manoj, LOL!!! I’ve avoided being the ‘um, actually’ guy this time, as I’ve been playing that role quite often these days.
@all
Glad you guys like it.
I didn’t mention the composer. Thank you Manoj, I didn’t know L.Vaidyanadan composed. I also thought it would have been Ilayaraja.
I was disappointed by the video but considering the pace in which I did, i guess it has come out well. The music didn’t connect with the slides as I would have liked to. Again an amateur’s work, will try improving on it!
And I brought in new characters into the flow especially Amala’s dad in that funeral scene suddenly. That’s crappy work.
The whole video must have been irritating with crossfading. I overused it a lot and thought people would find it repulsive
Especially moments when Kamal’s varied emotions, like when he gives a romantic look at amala or when he comes to say Goodbye to her in the end. I failed to freeze those priceless moments..
In fact those vital moments of tranquility in between was completely lacking in the video. It was like a fast-forwarded powerpoint presentation at times, extremely boring for those who don’t know the plot of the movie! I’m surprised that no one noticed it or thinking twice about saying it.
Anyways thank y’all for being sweet (or sugarcoated). Thanks!
BTW sorry about few grammatical errors and I failed to spell check the article before I posted…
I wonder why nobody mentioned the comic roles by Kamal. Movies like Micheal Madana Kamarajan, Avvai Shanmukhi, Tenaali, Pammal K. Sambandan and Panchatantram have repeat viewing value only because of the terrific work by Kamal. They would not have worked if the roles were done by someone else. Hope he betters all his previous work in Dasaavatharam.
Venky you bring up a great point. As great a dramatic actor Kamal may be, his most memorable movies, or at least the ones I watch over and over are the comedies. The sheer variety in his comedy is just amazing. I did not like Pammal K Sambandham but Michael Madana Kamarajan is just him at his best. He plays a palghat cook in this one, an old woman in Avvai Shanmughi, a Sri Lankan Tamilian traumatized by war in Thenali, and a player in Panchatantram. Just look at the variety. Also dont forget Sathileelavati, Magalir Mattum. Great comedies.
Know I’m gonna take a beating here, but: ‘Michael Madan..’, along with Hrishida’s ‘Chupke Chupke’ and Priyan’s ‘Kilukkam’ are the finest comedies India has ever produced IMHO. I think AB, Kamal and Mohanlal have the most amazing comic abilities, which is why they are such complete actors (though AB does not have the same kinda roles to boast of as the other two).
Ranjit, no beatings yaar. What you say is very true. I would add Hrishida’s Golmal to that list. However, I must disagree on the AB point. AB has done some memorable comic roles that only he could ever pull off. Namak Halaal, Amar Akbar Anthony, portions of Laawaris, Hera Pheri, and even Chupke Chupke.
@Vijay: I didn’t meed AB’s comic roles, really….more the entire spectrum of roles that Kamal or Lal have. AB has plenty of charismatic roles, but very few challenging ones.
About the video: Slideshow of a movie - very original idea. This novelty itself makes the clip worth watching. On the downside, the clip is slightly sluggish. You might have intended to keep the pace slow and smooth but the clip is sluggish, atleast to me.
About the article: Was an interesting read. Do you really have to rave about Kamal?
am not a kamal fan at all.. i luv a lot of his movies n find some quiet opst… he s great at his job.. but the prob is he knows it too well n does not put in his best sometimes.. [like vv..pammal k... i expectd more from him..]..
but it was a gud article… n like venky pointed out.. u forgot to mention his comedies which i luv the most…
@Rama,
I don’t have to, but its just that I’m a fan-boy. Nothing wrong in accepting it.
the climax scene of pushpak where amala leaves her addresss on a paper n kamal losses it on a ditch n after tht him going again to his routine(job search) is very touching.the background score interwined with the sound of car horne was also nice.
Anbe Sivan reminded me of “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”(Steve Martin, John Candy) and it’s hindi version “Hum Dono”(Rishi Kapoor, Nana Patekar).
Actually, wasn’t ‘Hum Dono’ more like ‘Rainman’, than ‘Planes, Trains & ..’?
‘Anbae Sivam’ was probably ‘inspired’, yeah, but still it had a terrific screenplay. For quite sometime now, I have had this strange wish (and I know I’m gonna get banged upon here): that Kamal gives up acting and devotes his attention to screenplays and direction. As an actor, he’s hardly doing anything challenging of late, really!
Kamal is doing an interesting film called “Dasavatharam” directed by K.S Ravikumar. Kamal plays 10 characters in this film, most number of characters played by a single actor in a single film ever till date. Currently confirmed roles of Kamal Haasan in the film are a young Vaishnavite, a 130 year old man, an old spiritual woman, a beautiful young lady, a rural tourist guide, an army man and an English detective.
yaar, i was just reading some weeks ago on anbesivam(from wiki), and i did come across this Planes,trains… and found the concept similar, that of 2 strangers not liking each other but having to put up with one another… the two seemed to be as similar as ‘Dil hai Ki manta nahi’ and Planes, trains… Anbe sivam is obviously more than just about 2 people not liking each other and starting to like each others company… it was about the ideology-”Love is God”+socialism+so much more…besides its probably like Yuva
being similar to Amerros Perros.
seriously it had a nice screenplay/script… probably the best script(in terms of final product… unlike Hey Ram which seemed to b the flawed genius type) by Kamal…
Ranjit, i dont think that he should quit acting… i mean i havent seen Vettayadu Velliyadu/Virumandi but come on… i thgt he was amazing as an actor in Anbe Sivam…
agreed though, that he can, probably now, contribute much more to Indian Cinema, and probably Cinema in general, by just focussing on scripting/directing…
but i dont think that he WILL do it or he SHOULD do it… coz he is still capable of doing much better(unconventional/untried/or simply amazing) stuff…
[...] watching the video, you might be interested in reading the creator’s thoughts at PassionForCinema. Posted in Past, videos, [...]
[...] After watching the video, you might be interested in reading the creator’s thoughts at PassionForCinema. [...]
How could one forget Kamal’s GUNA? mmmmm..his performance in Guna is something one can never stop talking about…