Thaindian News

Bangalore, Aug 10 (IANS) In his five-decade-long career he has acted in more than 150 films in different Indian languages, directed movies and won several awards. Kamal Haasan, one of the finest actors of Indian cinema, completes 50 years in showbiz this year and fans are busy preparing to celebrate his remarkable journey.
“Kamal Haasan completes 50 years of his meritorious journey in the film industry. He has acted in the films of all the four South Indian languages and even in Hindi and Bengali films. No other actor in the country has achieved such distinctions in his career and created milestones for himself. Kamal fans all around are planning to celebrate this event in a grand manner,” said Prakash, secretary of the Kamal Fans Association in Karnataka.

He says that they are co-ordinating with Kamal’s fans in Chennai to organise an event Aug 12 - the day his first film was released way back in 1960.

Kamal gave his first short in 1959 for the film “Kalaththoor Kannamma” when he was only five years old. Produced by AVM Productions and directed by Bhim Singh, the film was released Aug 12, 1960. While Gemini Ganesan and Savitri played lead roles, Kamal featured as a child artist and had even sung a popular song “Ammavum Neeye Appavum Neeye” in it.

Kamal had won the best child actor National Award for his performance in his debut film.

He also won the best actor national awards for “Moondram Pirai” (1982), “Nayagan” (1987) and “Indian” (1996). In 1988, he won the Best Actor Filmfare Award for “Pushpak”, a black comedy that didn’t have any dialogue. Apart from that, he has won several honours like Nandi awards and Tamil Nadu state film awards.

He also has the distinction of being the actor with the most number of films submitted by India for the Academy Award in Best Foreign Language Film category.

According to sources, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC) is organising a big event to felicitate Kamal. Though the preparations have started, the SIFCC is contemplating have the felicitation first in Chennai and then in other south Indian metros.

Kamal’s fans wanted him to release “Unnai Pol Oruvan”, a remake of the critically acclaimed Hindi movie “A Wednesday”, Aug 12. But the release has been delayed by post-production work.

Actor-director Ramesh Arvind, who has worked with Kamal in films like “Sathi Leelavathi”, “Panchathanthram”and “Mumbai Express” in Tamil and “Rama Shaama Bhaama” in Kannada, says “If there is one multilingual talent in the Indian film industry who truly deserves a big felicitation for completing a golden jubilee in filmdom, it is only Kamal”.

“He is an inspiration to generations of artists and directors. He has created his own benchmarks in several segments of filmmaking including acting, writing scripts and direction. He started his career as a child artist in films to become one of the most versatile artists in the world.

“He is a universal hero in every sense of the term. I will be waiting for the big day of this event to personally congratulate him,” said Arvind who took up direction on Kamal’s advice.