Kamal Haasan - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

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learned to play the mridangam.[17] The role won him his second Filmfare Award.[18]

Late 1970s
In 1976, Balachander cast Kamal as a womaniser in Manmadha Leelai; this was followed by Oru Oodhappu Kan
Simittugiradhu (directed by S.P. Muthuraman), which won him his second consecutive Regional Filmfare (Tamil) Best
Actor Award. Kamal later appeared in the Balachander drama Moondru Mudichu. Avargal (1977) concerned the
women's movement; for this role, he learned ventriloquism.[19] It was remade in Telugu as Idi Katha Kaadu (1979),
with Kamal reprising his role. 16 Vayathinile, in which he played a village bumpkin, won him a third consecutive Best
Actor award. In 1977 Kamal starred in his first Kannada film, Kokila, the directorial debut of friend and mentor Balu
Mahendra. That year he also appeared in a Bengali film, Kabita, a remake of the Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai.
In 1978 Kamal made his Telugu film debut with a lead role in the cross-cultural romantic Maro Charitra, directed by
Balachander. His fourth consecutive Filmfare Award resulted from Sigappu Rojakkal, a thriller in which he played a
psychopathic sexual killer.

In the 1978 Telugu film Sommokadidhi Sokkadidhi, Kamal played two parts. This was also his first collaboration with
director Suresh Madhavan. He appeared in the musical Ninaithale Inikkum, a snake-horror film (Neeya?) and
Kalyanaraman. At the end of the 1970s he had six regional Best Actor Filmfare Awards, including four consecutive
Best Tamil Actor Awards.

Hindi film industry (1980s)

Kamal's films during the 1980s included 1980's Tamil-language Varumayin Niram Sivappu, in which he played an
unemployed youth; he made a cameo appearance in Rajinikanth's 1981 Thillu Mullu. Kamal made his debut in Hindi
cinema with Ek Duuje Ke Liye, the remake of his own acted Telugu-language film Maro Charitra directed by K.
Balachander (which earned him his first Filmfare Hindi-language nomination). He made his 100th film appearance in
1981 in Raja Paarvai, debuting as a producer. Despite the film's relatively poor box-office performance, his portrayal
of a blind session violinist earned him a Filmfare Award.[20] After a year of starring in commercial films, Kamal won
the first of three National Awards for Best Actor for his portrayal of a schoolteacher caring for an amnesia patient in
Balu Mahendra's Moondram Pirai, later reprising his role in the Hindi version, Sadma.[15] During this period he
focused on Bollywood remakes of his Tamil films, including Yeh To Kamaal Ho Gaya and Zara Si Zindagi. In 1983 he
appeared in Sagara Sangamam, directed by K. Vishwanath. His portrayal of an alcoholic classical dancer won him his
first Nandi Award for Best Actor and his second Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Award.

After 1984's multistarrer Raaj Tilak, Kamal appeared in Saagar (released 1985), winning the Filmfare Best Actor
Award and nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award. The film was India's representative for the Best Foreign
Language Oscar in 1985.[15] He left Bollywood temporarily after Geraftaar [21] and Dekha Pyar Tumhara to feature in
Japanil Kalyanaraman (a sequel to his 1979 Kalyanaraman).

In 1986, Kamal produced the technically brilliant Vikram and collaborated with Kodandarami Reddy for Oka Radha
Iddaru Krishnulu and then K. Vishwanath in Swathi Muthyam, playing an autistic person who tries to change society;
it was India's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in 1986.[15] These Tollywood films found
him a large audience in Andhra Pradesh, and many of his later Tamil films were dubbed into Telugu.[22]

Following Punnagai Mannan (in which he played two roles, including a satire of Charlie Chaplin as Chaplin
Chellappa) and Kadhal Parisu, Kamal appeared in Mani Ratnam's 1987 film Nayakan. He received his second Indian

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Kamal Haasan - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamal_Haasan

National Award for his performance; Nayakan (inspired from Hollywood movie The Godfather [23]) was submitted by
India as its entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1987 Academy Awards, and is on the Time's All-Time 100
Movies list.[24] In 1988 Kamal appeared in his only silent film to date: Pushpak, a black comedy,[15] Unnal Mudiyum
Thambi (a remake of the Telugu film Rudraveena) and Sathya (remake of Hindi film Arjun) in 1988. Kamal's all four
films of 1989 were major success, Apoorva Sagodharargal, where he played a dwarf,[15] then Chanakyan, an original
Malayalam film, later the blockbuster Vetri Vizha (where he played an amnesiac) and finally Kamal played two parts in
Indrudu Chandrudu, winning the Filmfare Best Actor and Nandi Awards for his performance. By the end of the 1980s
Kamal was successful in the Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi film industries, with Filmfare Awards in each
industry and two national awards.[22][25][26]

1990's
In 1990, Michael Madhana Kamarajan saw Kamal build on Apoorva Sagodharargal by playing quadruplets. It began
as a collaboration with writer Crazy Mohan for future comedy films.[27] Kamal won successive Best Actor awards for
his portrayal of deranged, obsessive protagonists in Gunaa and Thevar Magan (which was remade in Hindi as 1997's
Virasat). He was credited with the story for the latter, and won his third National Film Award for Best Feature Film in
Tamil as a producer. The film was India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. A series of films followed:
Singaravelan, Maharasan, Kalaignan, Mahanadi, Nammavar, and Sathi Leelavathi (based on the British film She-
Devil). Produced by Kamal, it featured himself alongside Kannada actor Ramesh Arvind and comedian Kovai Sarala.
Kamal resumed his collaboration with Kasinadhuni Viswanath in the Telugu film, Subha Sankalpam, and starred in
the police story Kuruthipunal (remake of govind nihlani's movie Drohkaal [28]) with Arjun Sarja. Kamal's success in
the latter was followed by his third National Film Award for Best Actor for Indian.[29]

'The Week', in its 13 September 1992 edition, reported that Chiranjeevi charged Rs.1.25 crores per a film and which is
the highest ever remuneration for any Indian hero then. In 1994, Kamal became the first actor to charge 1.5 crore per
film. The highest paid Indian actor from 1970 to 1987 was Rajesh Khanna.[30]

After Indian Kamal played a woman in the comedy Avvai Shanmughi (inspired by Mrs. Doubtfire),[31] which was a
box-office success. He chose Shantanu Sheorey to direct the Hindi remake of Avvai Shanmughi, Chachi 420,[32] but
after dissatisfaction with five days of shooting Kamal took over as director.[33][34] In 1997 Kamal began directing an
unfinished biopic of Mohammed Yusuf Khan, Marudhanayagam; a forty five minutes of film and a trailer was
shot.[35] Marudhanayagam was expected to be the biggest, most expensive film in Indian cinematic history and his
magnum opus; a number of well-known actors and technicians had been signed, and it was launched at a public
ceremony by Queen Elizabeth during her 1997 visit to India.[36] Although the film failed to materialise due to budget
constraints, Kamal expressed an interest in reviving the project.[37] In 1998, he appeared in Singeetham Srinivasa
Rao's romantic comedy, Kaathala Kaathala opposite Prabhu Deva. The film was a commercial success and was
dubbed in Hindi as Mirch Masala, which was never released.[38]

2000–2009
After a two-year hiatus from Indian cinema, Kamal decided against reviving Marudhanayagam. He directed his
second film, Hey Ram,[39] a period drama, told in flashback, with a fact-based plot centering on the partition of India
and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Kamal produced and choreographed the film, writing its screenplay and
lyrics; it was India's submission for the Academy Awards that year.[40] Hey Ram was a box-office failure in India but
was successful worldwide. Also in 2000, Kamal appeared in the comedy Thenali (inspired from Hollywood movie

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