I felt there is very little for Kamal in this movie. I don't mind if Venkatesh/SarathKumar kind of heroes remake this movie.Quote:
Originally Posted by bill4u
I felt there is very little for Kamal in this movie. I don't mind if Venkatesh/SarathKumar kind of heroes remake this movie.Quote:
Originally Posted by bill4u
Prakash Raj will be perfect for this plot.
Kamal would have noticed a great platforme for performence in Drisham Remake :
- Initial scenes as the Cable TV Operator (should be funny when Kamal essaying them)
- As a budget Padmanaban styled Familyman (Humour lingering in the air - thanks to Crazy Mohan if he is signed in)
- Encounter with In-laws (eventhough not much dialogues, your body language plays a big impact on the scene - timid, guilty, love, sadness & agony)
- Learning the bad news
- Tea Kadai scene after the crime
- Re-*spoilers* the day
- Introgation scene
- Climax - the best that Kamal always likes to do - Thanking God (you got to watch the original or wait for the remake to understand what I am trying to mean here).
Talking about Drisham, its a decent flim, quite enjoyable if you have limited patience. Take away Mohanlal, it immediately turns into a B-Grade crime cinema. So, Kamal would be a label for the remake, someone else, the adaptation will fall behind in the line of other unsucessful malayalam-remake attempts.
mappi good analysis. tempting me to watch Drshm once again. any movie with UN as hero will be a treat to watch and has the potential to become BO hit. but the point is i cant imagine KH in place of Mohanlal in the remake, somehow it doesnt gel. any one like prabhu, PR or second line actor is enough for the script. (but i would watch it fdfs no doubt:-D)
Skimmed through your initial part. Dont want to know the details but read your last paragraph - gave me some picture on what to expect .. I'm only looking forward to that 'great platform for performance' part where he excels ... He hasnt done that in a while - deep emotions, acting and melodrama.Quote:
Originally Posted by mappi
I'm not sure what you meant here .. but Mohanlal is an actor par-excellence. I have seen quite a few of his performance movies ... if Kamal excels in acting, Mohanlal blends as the character itself ... Very natural without much effort. Only someone like Kamal can do what Mohanlal has done .. dont see anybody else .Quote:
Originally Posted by Unmai Vilambi
bill..i meant in this particular remake. dont get me wrong..versatility of mohanlal is not in question here. the script is so simple it needs no super stars imho.
This article, dated 1987 is taken from a post in MGR thread. Some people still have a doubt whether Pesum Padam was a successful movie or not.
https://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.ne...png?1407994680
courtesy: Mayil magazine, malaysia
HH..thanks for the clip. i know for sure pushpaka vimana was a BB movie. at that time i was in bangalore and seen house full boards and huge crowds even around 100 days in urvashi and pallavi theaters. but i doubt it did good business in TN.
i remember KH in one article before release of apoorva sahodargal mentioned he doesnt know what tamil fans will like, after many of his super duper BB of his other language movies like indrudu chandrudu, pushpak, swati muthyam floped in tamil release.
Neenga sonna moonume Thamizhlayum hits dhaan. Swati Muthyam (Sippikkul Muthu) 100 days - though not a blockbuster like Salangai Oli, it ran very well. Indiran Chandiran, 100 days. Again, the Telugu Original was a blockbuster. Pesum Padam thamizhlayum nalla odina padam. Nayagan's 200 day run did not affect it at all. Proof-ku dhaan andha clipping potten. Hindi'la dhaan konjam sumaara pochu nenaikkeren. Im not too sure about that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Unmai Vilambi
Sippikkul Muthu ran 100 days in all major cities.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0...h673-no/51.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-k...2B%2Bindia.jpg
Indiran Chandiran - 100 days (single show). For a dubbed movie, this is a big feat.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-C...iran100cf1.jpg
ஆஹா சூப்பர் ஸார். அந்த மூன்று படமும் மிக சிறந்த படம். அவை தமிழ் நாட்டிலும் வெற்றி அடைந்ததை குறித்து மிக்க மகிழ்ச்சி. என் சந்தேகம் தீர்ந்தது. எப்பிடித்தான் உடன் பழைய போஸ்டர்ஸ் உங்களுக்கு கிடைக்கிறதோ!
http://baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/...aster-of-arts/
BR talks to KH,not on films but Music.Part 1,Good writing
:clap: thanks cf. this man is a real Ashtaavadaani
Kamal can actually be a MohanLal (if he wants to) in being natural.Quote:
Originally Posted by bill4u
But of late he deliberately does not do it.
I am afraid that in Drishyam also Nammavar, though he is a middle class, not educated guy, may speak English with foreign accent (like in UPO :( )
Kamal has to put some effort to blend in as a commoner/uneducated/middle class compared to Mohan Lal for whom its a piece of cake ... When Mohan Lal walks with his 'Mundu' on the street, it will be hard to distinguish him from a commoner. You're very right, UN's English will give it away! Of course, the ultimate product will be pretty good and UN will make it happen, no doubt.
If you have seen ML's Kreedom and compare it with Ajith's remake, you'll see what I mean. Not to say the remake was not good but the original Kreedom was so natural/realistic and Ajith's remake was more cinematic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unmai Vilambi
Sandiyar irukka Bayamen :-)
It should take lot of guts to compare MohanLal and Ajith :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by bill4u
(no offence to anyone)
Some of Lal's expressions cannot be done by anybody ! People who watch Malayalam movies will agree.
But Lal has limitations compared to Kamal.
Yes; MohanLal is "seen" as a common man. Many of his heroic characters also are based on common man background.
What I meant is Kamal, if he tries, can look natural as a common man; but I do not think he will try.
And for me, as I have watched the Malayalam version, anything less than it will be a disappointment (and also a hit on my ego/worship on Kamal)
Filmfare has rated our KamalHaasan's Hindustani as the No. 1 Patriotic movie.
http://www.filmfare.com/features/top...ml#descArticle
They have their strengths. That 'common man' hero thingy is ML's forte .. thats were KH needs to put an effort but there're a bunch of things ML can't do what UN has accomplished. It also depends on how Jeetu J navigates it taking into account KH's strengths. We'll see.Quote:
Originally Posted by pushpak
After Vijay's sister, its Kamal's daughter
After finishing ‘Uttama Villain’ the Padma Bhushan actor Kamal Haasan is steering ahead to start working on a remake film after a gap of five years. In the Tamil remake of Malayalam super hit film ‘Drishyam’ the star will be reprising the role played by Mohan Lal in the original. The Tamil version has been tentatively titled as ‘Papanasam’.
The Tamil film that will be directed by Jeetu Joseph, whose brainchild is his original film, will have dialogues penned by famed writer Jeyamohan, marking the first time pairing up of the two veterans in their respective fields. While media reports suggest that Gauthami will be making a comeback playing Kamal’s wife in the film, but the team keeps us guessing and are yet to announce who will be roped in for the role played by Meena in the original.
However, sources close to the makers reveal that Kalabhavan Mani will be playing the corrupt cop and Nivedha Thomas, who acted as Vijay's younger sister in the super hit film 'Jilla' and Jai's love interest in 'Naveen Saraswathi Sabatham' will be playing Kamal’s elder daughter’s character which brings about a turning point in the film.
‘Papanasam’ will have a music score by Ghibran who will be working third time in a row with Kamal after ‘Viswaroopam 2’ and ‘Uttama Villain’. The film is set to start rolling soon.
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/t...le/112054.html
Kalabhavan Mani who has not acted with Kamal before, is a nice choice for the cop's role. I was thinking that he would rope in Pasupathy, but KM will look more menacing in that character.
Thanks Ravi, that's one of my all time favorites. Joyful, cheerful and very melodious. He must have enjoyed singing it. It shows in his voice. I've never seen the video though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfGiS-ZX5ss
+1, Kalabhavan Mani is one of the actors I would like Kamal to use. Not related to this movie, but I love to see Vivek to act with Kamal as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by hattori_hanzo
the ensemble cast of UV consists of vivek also i think.
It was reported earlier that Kamal and Vivek are coming together for a movie. When Kamal was interviewed by Vivek, he said there is a surprise in store for him. But later we never heard anything from Kamal. Neither did Vivek. Teaser too doesn't have him. UV, how do you know?
Me too. But not in a Crazy Mohan kind of comedy. I was wishing for a Kamal-Vadivelu combo. It did happen in Kadhala Kadhala but it was disappointing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinemarasigan
HH, i also read the similar reports and thought vivek is being cast.
Vivek is not there in UV... All are rumours onlyQuote:
Originally Posted by Unmai Vilambi
அன்றைய ஆனந்த விகடன் திரைவிமர்சனத்தில் பல தடவை 100 க்கு 50+ மதிப்பெண்கள் பெற்று சாதனை படைத்தது உலகநாயகனின் படங்கள் மட்டுமே!!!
16 வயதினிலே - 62.5
நாயகன் - 60
மகாநதி - 60
இளமை ஊஞ்சலாடுகிறது- 59
கல்யாணராமன் - 57
சிகப்பு ரோஜாக்கள் - 53
மூன்றாம் பிறை - 53
ஓரு கைதியின் டைரி- 53
வறுமையின் நிறம் சிவப்பு - 50+
வாழ்வே மாயம் - 50
பேசும் படம் - 50
மீண்டும் கோகிலா - 50
உன்னால் முடியும் தம்பி - 50
அபூர்வ சகோதரர்கள் - 48
http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6d40f70c.jpg
Ragu - Good one. Thanks for the post ..
thanks raghu. guna? only 48 for AS:angry2: that deserves more than 60 for the sheer idea of appu character. but overall UN used to get vgud reviews from all tamil magazines.
can some one post AV vimarsanams of thalaivar movies plz?
I vaguely remember AV review for Aboorva sagotharargal.......... it went something like.......... (they meant like this..don't remember the words used) oru pulichu pona pazhi vaangara kathai ya ivlo suvaiya padaikka mudiyum nu athu kamal ah la mattum than mudiyum.........
The waiting room of Kamal Haasan’s office in Alwarpet turns out to be the best place for an interview. There are a bunch of photos mounted on easels, marking in black and white and sepia the roles that he has essayed over decades. They invite drama into the frame, indicate the stature of the man sitting in front, and they lend the right context and mood to the conversation. Symbolically, celluloid strides in the room, as a righteous presence, listening along with us to Kamal Haasan as he speaks with authority, launches a scathing attack on those who strive to silence cinema.
He is probably Indian cinema’s loudest and most consistent opponent of “post-censor censorship”. “It should be called ‘censorism’,” he suggests with a laugh. “I don’t know why, may be I have not voiced myself well, I have been targeted many times. There was a film called Sandiyar: etymologically, politically, ethnically, they were wrong when they said the name had to be changed. Today, another movie called Sandiyar was recently released.”
“There was an agitation against Mumbai Express: because part of it is an English word. There is no Tamil word for Mumbai Express. I am sure all those who were against it, even they wouldn’t say ‘I love you’ to their lovers in Tamil. Many don’t even thank in Tamil,” he says. Righteous indignation creeps in as he goes on: “It is ridiculous to take a free ride on a vehicle that is available. Somebody has to put a stop to this.”
“If you take Hey Ram, much before its release, a senior politician perceived it as an anti-Gandhi film based on the poster and wanted it stopped. Au contraire, the modus operandi of the film was to mirror the technique of Mark Antony’s funeral oration. It starts with the praise of Brutus, but moves to the defence of Caesar.”
The conversation naturally veers toward, as it must, Vishwaroopam. “I was confident that when they saw it, there wouldn’t be a problem. But, they sort of hyped themselves into a mood of negation… I still stand by the film — it said nothing wrong about Indian Muslims. The only good Muslim is an Indian even if they say that all other Muslims were bad, which I disagree with, in the film.”
He’s on a roll: “I am trying to do my best. If I am wrong, I correct myself. I am right, I stand by it. I don’t regret the fight in Vishwaroopam, I have lost a lot of money. It was a very costly battle, in fact. But I don’t think it should be allowed to happen. We used to think that the Censor Board should be abolished, but seeing how things are going, maybe it should stay on for some more time, until sense prevails.”
Does he think there is any validity for social boycott of films in a liberal democracy? “None. In every religion, there are people who lack sense, and people who are good and rational… Cinema itself is a voice; striving to silence it amounts to fascism. I am attacking everyone who does not allow the arts to flourish,” he replies.
Is all this happening because people are taking cinema too seriously? He doesn’t hesitate for a moment, “No. The politicians are taking cinema too seriously. The people don’t take cinema seriously. As a matter of fact, they have stopped taking even politicians seriously.”
What is the solution: legally and politically empowering the censor board? “The whole system is corrupt. The best way is, to quote a Gujarati gentleman (Mahatma Gandhi), ‘Don’t cry for change. Become the change.’ That’s the only answer.”
But, there is a responsibility for the film maker too. A consummate performer like Kamal is more than aware of that; in fact, he’s clear that as film makers recording conflicts and contentious subjects, “we need to be responsible, have a civic/social sense when we talk through films. It should not be used as a platform for something else.”
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...cle6339409.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/d...N_2058720f.jpg
His classical odyssey
Forget the actor. That was the brief. After 50 years of acting, that’s the only facet of Kamal Haasan people think about. Sometimes, maybe, they think of Kamal Haasan the writer or Kamal Haasan the director. But it’s almost always the actor. So one evening this April, in Bangalore, I asked him about the other things: the singing, the poetry, the photography, and the dancing, especially the dancing. He was in the city filming ‘Uthama Villain’, but it was the day of the elections, so there was no shooting across the State. Dressed in a white linen ensemble and looking extremely relaxed, he told me, “This kind of exposure to the arts you can get only in two places – either a Brahmin household or a community dedicated to art. I didn’t have a choice. I was born into this Brahmin atmosphere.”
He spoke about a house in Paramakudi filled with music. His mother Rajalakshmi played the violin. Elder brothers Charuhasan and Chandrahasan were singers. “So it was an environment of music,” he said. “Like others hum cinema songs, classical music would be running through my mind.” But as far as the others in the family were concerned, he was about as talented as his father Srinivasan, who couldn’t sing at all and, therefore, had decided to become a patron of the arts. The house was on a two-acre tract of land, and half of it became a sort of open-air auditorium where artists would be invited to perform. MLV. Madurai Somu. A young Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan.
Kamal Haasan spoke about his sister, the family’s only daughter, who was sent off to Thanjavur to train in classical dance in a gurukulam, when she was five. “When she was eight, she returned to find a surprise, a very late-born brother. That was me. I was not planned. Everything else in the family was planned. The eldest son would be a lawyer. The second son would also be a lawyer. The daughter was going to be a classical dancer.” They even named her Mrinalini, because his father was a great fan of Mrinalini Sarabhai.
Listening to Kamal Haasan speak is like sitting down for a screenplay narration. The tone is steady. The tale is dramatic. Then, when you least expect it, there’s a splash of comic relief.
Listening to Kamal Haasan speak is like sitting down for a screenplay narration. The tone is steady. The tale is dramatic. Then, when you least expect it, there’s a splash of comic relief. He narrated the stretch where he – we should probably name this character in the flashback; let’s call him by the diminutive Kamal – was cut off from art for a while when his mother was diagnosed as a chronic diabetic and had to be sent to Chennai, where her elder brother lived. Kamal accompanied her. “I was about three. They enrolled me in Holy Angels. I had this uncanny knack of running away. I’d pick up a taxi and come back home.”
Kamal turned five. He became an actor. And music and dance returned to his life when his sister came to Chennai. He used to escort her on the bus for veena classes, and there, to keep him out of mischief, he’d be given a small veena to play. “In a way,” Kamal Haasan said, “I could say that music is my sister’s strong influence.”
He said that he was not a keen learner of the arts. He just picked things up by ear, karna parampara, rather than actual practice. But he used to talk like he was going to perform at The Music Academy the next day. “All that was leaning towards acting, not playing the veena,” he laughed.
What you cannot do, you tend to dislike. It was too much hard work.
The story Kamal Haasan told that evening kept going back and forth in time, a jumble of memories – like this one from when Kamal was seven or eight. He was friends with Palghat Mani Iyer’s son, an accomplished violinist, who thought Kamal was a budding veena genius. “He took me around saying that this guy is a genius, he knows everything. But I couldn’t play. I could only talk about it. I didn’t know how to get out of it.” So Kamal had this fear. There was disdain too. “What you cannot do, you tend to dislike. It was too much hard work.”
Then, this one from when Kamal was 10 or 12. He joined T.K. Shanmugam’s theatre troupe – Kamal Haasan respectfully called him Annachi – where he was trained in swordfight and stunts and even dance. “That’s where I suddenly thought: Maybe I can shake a leg.” That is possibly the understatement of the century.
This was the scene on stage: the mother is dying, and she wants her son (played by Kamal) to sing one last song for her. Shanmugam Annachi, never one to let the show not go on, urged Kamal from the wings: “Go on! You know the words. Sing!”
“I think I discovered myself as a singer in the TKS Nataka Sabha,” Kamal Haasan said. But it was an arduous, and somewhat accidental, discovery. The troupe was staging a play named ‘Appavin Aasai’. There were songs in it, but because no one knew if Kamal could sing; they played these songs on a Grundig spool-type tape recorder and asked him to lip-sync them on stage. Then, one evening, the tape snapped. This was the scene on stage: the mother is dying, and she wants her son (played by Kamal) to sing one last song for her. Shanmugam Annachi, never one to let the show not go on, urged Kamal from the wings: “Go on! You know the words. Sing!” And Kamal sang ‘Uzhaithu pizhaikka vendum’, which seems a rather odd song to sing in this situation. Anyway, as scripted, the mother died. The unscripted coda to the scene: a singer was born.
“That’s when I realised I could boldly sing before an audience,” Kamal Haasan said. “And it’s not like playback singing, where the mike is in front of you. The mike is at a distance.”
In a play named ‘Avvaiyaar’, Kamal played the young Murugan, singing folk songs while perched on a tree.
A number of names, famous and otherwise, popped up as supporting characters in Kamal Haasan’s flashback. S.G. Kasi Iyer, S.G. Kittappa’s brother, who composed the music for a dance drama on Lord Muruga’s Arupadai Veedu; he would compose perfect swaras for sound effects, to mimic, say, the opening of a door. Madurai Venkatesan, who taught Kamal the basics of Carnatic music. K.B. Sundarambal, who lived in the house behind Kamal’s and would make aappams and sing songs for him when he jumped over the wall to visit his classmate Ganapathy Subramaniam, her adopted son. (“In my naiveté, I used to sing ‘Pazham Nee Appa’ to her. And she tolerated my singing.”)
And Mylapore Gowri Ammal. “I had the great honour of lying on her lap, in the Ranganatha pose, as I watched my sister learn dance. She would sometimes play the taalam on my shoulder or cheek.”
http://thehindu.com/multimedia/dynam...L_2058727g.jpg
The Guru and his sishya: Classical singer Balamuralikrishna with actor Kamal Haasan.
Another famous name played a bigger part in Kamal’s musical education, and for that story, we must cut to the early 1980s. Kamal is a very busy actor. It’s been some 10 years since he sat in Madurai Venkatesan’s class. It’s been 10 years since he learnt any new music. He’s shooting in Bombay for ‘Karishma’, the Hindi remake of ‘Tik Tik Tik’. He has an accident. He breaks a leg. He has to buy two tickets to fly to Chennai, the extra one for the seat in front that has to be folded down so he can stretch the broken leg. The man in the adjacent seat observes his plight and asks him: “What are you going to do in the months it’s going to take for this to heal?”
That was M. Balamuralikrishna. Kamal said he didn’t know. Balamuralikrishna asked Kamal if he liked music. Kamal nodded. Balamuralikrishna said, “Instead of wasting time, why don’t you learn something from me?” Kamal thought he was joking – until Balamuralikrishna landed up at Kamal’s house the next day. Classes began with the sishya’s foot in the air. “My guru found me,” Kamal Haasan said.
Balamuralikrishna asked Kamal what he’d learnt. Kamal said he knew some 30-odd keerthanas. Balamuralikrishna asked him to sing. Kamal sang. Balamuralikrishna said, gently, “Let’s start at the beginning, with a geetham.” Kamal Haasan laughed at the memory. “So I knew what he thought of me. He wanted me to be good enough to give a public performance, but I wasn’t there yet. He still keeps asking me when I am going to sing on stage.”
When Kamal’s leg got better, Balamuralikrishna said, “We can shift the classes to my house.” Kamal began to hobble over to his guru’s house, where he’d sit on a sofa and learn music. Eventually, Balamuralikrishna asked him, “Is your leg okay? Can you walk?” Kamal said yes. Balamuralikrishna said, “Then you can sit on the floor and continue.”
Classes went on for about one-and-a-half years. I asked Kamal Haasan to name something he learnt. He thought for a minute and then launched into the Karnataka Kapi kriti, ‘Sri Raghurama Samara Bheema’. I thought he’d stop there, with this opening line of the pallavi, but he continued... ‘Sasi Mouli Vinuta Seeta Ramana... Mukendu Lalitha Hasa Pariyathi...' And then he sang the swaras... ‘Pa dha ni pa ma ri ri ga ma ri sa / pa dha pa sa ni pa dha ni pa ma ri ga ma...’ He stopped dramatically, after negotiating the sharp, colourful turn at ‘Ramana... ri ga ma.’
Kamal Haasan said he still remembered the song because he learnt it when he was going to New Delhi to receive the National Award for Best Actor for ‘Moondram Pirai’. “My guru asked me to learn a new geetham for the occasion.” When the leg healed and Kamal resumed shooting, he continued with classes whenever he found the time. He’d call Balamuralikrishna and go over.
Then, during a shooting, Kamal misplaced a notebook filled with song notations. “I think he was a little upset about this. Then I got busy, and we gradually lost touch – otherwise, I would have been his student for 22 years now.” I asked him about his guru’s dream that Kamal Haasan should sing on stage. He laughed. “Balamuralikrishna saying that I can do this is like Sivaji Ganesan saying, “Nadippu romba easy pa.”’ You shouldn’t take it seriously.”
http://www.thehindu.com/features/fri...cle6317133.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/d...1_2071530f.jpg
‘You can feel the fear in the song’
Between takes, Kamal would keep humming on the sets, and one day ‘Muktha’ Srinivasan, the director, caught him singing a keerthanai.
I had one last question about theatre when I met Kamal Haasan again in June, at his office in Chennai. Did he miss it? Doesn’t he feel like doing the odd play between films, the way Richard Burton did, the way Denzel Washington does? “Yes,” he said. “But even if I am performing on stage, I’d still like it to be televised. I want more people to see it. The bane of a theatre artist is that he can’t get his art across to a large audience. I have gotten used to technology, to that audience.” He compared this to running, and then suddenly slowing down to walk. “I am refusing to walk... unless it’s for health reasons.” He does this often. He’ll think up a metaphor on the spot, and then he’ll put a spin on it that sounds like a non sequitur but perhaps really isn’t.
***
We then began to talk about the movies, about his singing for them, beginning with the number ‘Gnayiru oli mazhayil’. The film was ‘Andharangam’, where Kamal played the manager of a “beauty clinic” that’s frequented exclusively by young women who want to get into shape and often find themselves entwined in the tape measure in his hands. Between takes, he would keep humming on the sets, and one day ‘Muktha’ Srinivasan, the director, caught him singing a keerthanai. A surprised Srinivasan decided to make Kamal sing a number for the film and took him to the music director G. Devarajan – or “Devarajan Master,” as he was called. Devarajan Master was very close to Thangappan Master, the choreographer under whom Kamal had worked for a while as an assistant, and he knew Kamal. During the recording, he stood near the new playback singer, moving his hands the way conductors do. “I was very scared of him,” Kamal Haasan said. “You can feel that fear in the song.”
Part 1: His classical odyssey
The same year, 1975, Kamal spent seven months learning to play the mridangam when K. Balachander told him that his character in ‘Aboorva Raagangal’ was required to play the instrument. “That’s why I play so convincingly in the film,” he said. Music was all around him. He spoke of his co-stars – the Malayalam actress Srilalitha who was a student of the composer Dakshinamurthy, and Srividya, who, of course, was the daughter of ML Vasanthakumari. “We were all very close and I would keep asking them to sing.”
Sometimes, they would perform at music nights helmed by Gangai Amaran. “Film stars singing light music was a new thing then,” Kamal Haasan said. They used to sing Tamil songs, Hindi songs, and then, one day, they were invited to perform at a function organised by Cinema Express magazine. Kamal suggested that they sing ‘One, a song written by Harry Nilsson and later popularised by Three Dog Night. Someone asked him if the audience would understand. He said if they could “understand” a Sanskrit shloka then they could understand this. “It’s the same. It’s all music.”
This is not a new anecdote (and people familiar with the Kamal Haasan mythology will know where this is headed), but it was something to hear it in person. The Harry Nilsson original is a mid-range song, and the Three Dog Night cover touches a few higher notes, but when Kamal Haasan launched into the number, he leaped over an octave and hit a stunning falsetto note – it isn’t there in either of the earlier versions.
This is probably how he sang the song that night, at the function, and the audience applauded. Seated in the audience, and listening very carefully to the way Kamal caught that pitch, was Ilaiyaraja.
(This is the second part of a series of articles on Kamal Haasan’s tryst with the classical arts.)
[QUOTE][QUOTE]DearQuote:
Originally Posted by Ragu Raj
You have to include HAY RAM also