I wanted to write this post as soon as ARR won the double oscars. Somehow I did not get the urge to write beyond a few sentences. Now that ARR has come a full circle by winning the double grammy, it somehow feels topical and I decided to say what I always wanted to say.
Right from the time Nayagan hit the screens in 1987 Diwali, as Kamal Hassan fans (many of us – hardcore fans) felt Kamal had the ability to bring home something that is every movie artist’s secret/open desire – the Academy Award. Kamal did sparkle in many of his other roles before Nayagan, but somehow Nayagan was different. It was different because not only Kamal underplayed (perhaps for the first time in his career) but the entire film was so pathbreaking..be it cinematography, make up, art direction, script and direction. (I would not call the music as pathbreaking – the music was fantastic but not pathbreaking – but that is another post for another time!)
Then came the films which raised the bar for Kamal again and again – Chanakyan, Apoorva Sahodharagal, Thevar Magan, Mahanadhi! Apoorva Sahodharargal was dubbed in Hindi as Appu Raja and was a reasonable success. Bombay film industry started recognizing Kamal’s true talent after Nayagan and Appu Raja.
In the meantime, a young boy debuted silently in a movie called Roja as the music director in 1992. The music was released in July 1992 on the same day as another film by the veteran Raja – Endrum Anbudan. Enrum Anbudan was a a typical Raja score and was fairly satisfying at the point in time and the album of Enrum Anbudan started selling more than Roja during the first week. On August 15th, Roja the movie released and a star was born. The music of Roja was path breaking with absolutely unprecedented sounds and the junta took to the album. Roja became the New National Anthem with the youngsters. After listening to Roja, Endrum Anbudan started sounding like prehistoric stuff. Roja got dubbed in Hindi and Rehman became a star in Hindi as well.
Kamal meanwhile acted in MMKR, Indrudu Chandrudu, Indian and Avvai Shanmughi. Indian was dubbed in Hindi as Hindustani and again was a reasonable success. At this point in time Kamal decided to remake Avvai Shanmughi. In 1998, Chachi 420 released and became a blockbuster. A movie where Govinda played a lady (called Aunty no.1, I think) was supposed to be the competition to Chachi 420. I saw a couple of articles in Screen where Govinda was said to have been preparing hard to give Kamal a run for his money. Chachi 420 won the race and got released first and seeing the film, the makers of Aunty no.1 developed cold feet and postponed the release by a few weeks. Govinda started commenting that his was a real performance in Aunty no.1 and he did not want to hide behind prosthetics. It was clear that no Indian film lead male actor had portrayed a role of a female as convincingly as Kamal did in Chachi. Fantastic dialogues by Gulzar and an able cast including Tabu, Amrish Puri, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri and Nasser made the film a super hit.
In the meantime, ARR’s tamil scores were dubbed in Hindi and some became hits and some were mediocre. Bombay by Maniratnam was once again a blockbuster and it was followed by the first original Hindi film of Rahman – Rangeela. The music was awesome and the film was a typical ‘underdog winning his love’ story which became a huge hit.
Both Kamal and Rahman were at the crossroads at this point of time. Kamal started writing his scripts from hereon in films like Hey Ram, Aalavandhan (Abhay), Anbe Sivam etc. and in between starred in comedies like Kadhala Kadhala, Pammal K Sambhandham, Panchathanthiram, Vasool Raja MBBS etc. The comedies were no brainers and he was convinced that they would definitely work in the box-office and always did a comedy after a serious film. He almost became predictable in his choice of genre. Rahman meanwhile started expanding his exposure by working with renowned film-makers – Subhash Ghai, Shekhar Kapur, Govind Nihlani, Shyam Benegal, Deepa Mehta and Ashutosh Gowariker. His work started getting influenced by more and more of these visionary filmmakers who motivated and encouraged Rahman to push the envelope.
Shekhar recommended Rahman to Andew Webber Lloyd and the decision to do Bombay Dreams was crucial for Rahman. It demanded a lot of time outside India and there was always a threat that it might not work and another threat that he might lose his position in Hindi and Tamil Cinema due to long absence. Rahman was shrewd enough to see this as an opportunity of a life time and grabbed it with both the hands. He was also technically savvy and started sending scores via email to filmmakers in India thereby supressing a threat.
He used many Hindi/Tamil scores in Bombay dreams, adapting them to suit western audience. Bombay Dreams had a huge opening and mixed response but one thing was wholeheartedly accepted, that the music worked for the westen audience. Rahman also carefully exposed himself in the international arena by doing select projects like Lord of the Rings(theatre), Provoked, Warriors of Heaven and Earth and Golden Age. I sincerely believe that this international exposure did the trick for him when Danny Boyle came to India looking for a MD for his project. When Rahman accepted Slumdog and started composing the music, he had the readymade advantage of a template in his experience – that of Bombay Dreams. AND THE REST IS HISTORY. Rahman won the Bafta, Golden Globe, the Academy Award, Indian of the Year, Padma Bushan and now the Grammy!
Kamal continues to write films, wear prosthetic make up, remake films from Hindi and work with mediocre film makers. I was so happy that he agreed to work with Misskin. But now I believe that project is scrapped and he is doing a film with KS Ravikumar(yet again). Talks are on with Trisha who is 30 years younger to Kamal, to play the leading lady. The film is supposed to launch Udayanidhi Stalin in an important role.
For fans like me the original Oscar Nayagan was Kamal, as we believed he had the capability. Alas, what a wasted opportunity.
Originally posted in www.passionforcinema.com
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