Two time National Best Actor Award winner and 17 (yes !!) time Filmfare award winner, Padma Shri Kamal Haasan was born on Nov 7, 1954 in Paramakudi in Ramnad District of Tamil Nadu in a freedom fighter family. His elder brothers Charu and Chandra were both actors (stage as well as film). Kamal made his debut in films in "Kalatthur Kannama", a movie starring two good artistes, 'Gemini' Ganesan and Savitri and held his own against them. Then he did some child artiste roles for some time before he decided that adolescence wouldn't allow him to do any more such roles. He learnt the classical dance form of Bharata Natyam and became quite good at it. Then he joined the Film Institute where he developed many friends who would direct him in later years like Santhana Bharathi (Guna, Mahanadhi etc.).
He re-joined the film industry as an assistant dance director and soon his talents for acting were discovered by one of Tamil Nadu's most imaginative and creative directors, K.Balachander. He introduced Kamal as a rebellious man who falls in love with a much older woman in "Apoorva Raagangal". The other highlight of the film was that this was the debut film for Tamil cinema's other megastar, Rajinikanth. More such rebellious roles followed and soon Kamal was in danger of being typecast in such roles. Among his memorable films of the period were "Avargal" with Sujaatha where he plays a ventriquolist (Kamal learnt ventriquolism to perfection !), "Aval Oru Thodarkathai" etc.
Just when it seemed that he was being typecast, he did roles like "Sakala Kala Vallavan", "Guru" etc. which gave him a star image. Then Bharathiraja made "Padhinaaru Vayadhinile" which starred him, Sridevi and Rajinikanth. The movie went on to become one of the biggest hits of Tamil cinema and Kamal's status as a star increased.

Other movies which he did during this time were "Raaja Parvai", where he plays a blind violinst excellently, "Meendum Kokila", a family drama with Sridevi, "Sattam En Kayyil", "Sigappu Rojakkal", where he plays a psychopath, "Kalyanaraman" ,where he plays a retarded man. He entered Hindi films with "Ek Duje Ke Liye", a blockbuster which was a remake of another Kamal starring Telugu movie "Maro Charitra". However he couldn't do very well in Hindi, for whatever reasons. Saagar directed by Ramesh Sippy remains his only other hit Hindi film.

Then as the 80's went on, Kamal shifted to more serious roles and had lots of opportunities to show his superb acting talent. "Moonram Pirai" by Balu Mahendra fetched him his first National Best Actor Award. "Saagara Sangamam" was an indication of how good Kamal was at classical dance. For this film, he learnt other dance forms too apart from Bharata Natyam which he already knew. "Vikram" was a James-Bondian like adventure which bombed. "Swathi Muthyam" by K.Vishwanath was another film where he played a mentally retarded fellow and he did really well in the film.
Then came Nayagan. It was one movie which changed the face of Tamil cinema. Directed by today's hottest director, Mani Ratnam, Kamal played an underworld don (based on Varadaraaja Mudaliar and having lots of shades of "The Godfather") which fetched him his 2nd best actor award. This film was a runaway hit.

Other movies during this time were "Sathya", "Indiran Chandiran", "Apoorva Sagotharargal" (the previous 2 he plays double roles and in the 2nd movie he plays a dwarf and a normal fellow effortlessly !!!), "Punnagai Mannan" where he does an imitation of Chaplin, "Pesum Padam", a superb film which has no dialogues at all !!, "Michael Madana Kama Rajan" which is a rollicking comedy and has Kamal playing quadruplets. The climax scene is a tribute to Chaplin's "The Gold Rush". He also played a scheming man who is out to avenge his downfall against the Chief Minister in the Malayalam film "Chanakyan". Incidentally this film also had the Malayalam actor Jairam. He comes for a short period of time as a mimic (which, I believe he is in real life too !)

Amongst his movies in the early 90s are Guna, where he plays a semi-psycho infatuated with a goddess, "Devar Magan" where he plays a village landlord who has to take up the place of his father (brilliant performance by 'Sivaji' Ganesan) though he has returned from abroad, "Mahanadhi" where he plays a village farmer lured by a cheat into shifting into the city and conducting a business and the trials and tribulations he goes through. In the last few years he has also done a couple of movies where he has cameo appearances, "Magalir Mattum" which is a really good family movie (his role is approx 10 minutes !) and his production "Sathi Leelavathi" where he jodifies with Kovai Sarala (!). Though not such a short role as in "Magalir Mattum", he isn't the hero ! A recent Telugu movie released "Shuba Sankalpam" dubbed into Tamil as "Paasavalai". Directed by K.Vishwanath, it does justice to Kamal's great histrionic talents.

Kamal then ventured is into dialogue writing for his production, Kurudhi Punal. "Kurudhippunal" is a remake of a Hindi film, "Drohkaal". In "Kurudhi Punal", Kamal plays a honest police officer who is forced to be in cahoots with terrorists because of their threats to his family. It is an excellent movie and has been chosen to be the Indian entry in the foreign language section at the OSCARS. Kurudhippunal fetched Kamal his 16th Filmfare Best Actor award !! His next movie Indian had him in a double role (father and son) and boy, the make up is splendid. Indian is 1996's nomination for the OSCARS in the Foreign Film category. This, I think, is Kamal's 7th movie to go to the OSCARS. "Moondraam Pirai", "Saagara Sangamam", "Saagar", "Nayagan", "Devar Magan" and "Kurudhi Punal" being the remaining. Kamal's latest avatar is as Avvai Shanmugi where he plays a 60ish year old woman ! Well there is just a helluva lot more I can say about Kamal but then I'll end by saying that he is probably Tamil Nadu's best contribution to Indian films in recent times and can lay claim to be one of India's best and most versatile actors.

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