Kamala Haasan messes with a fan's affinity levels like no other. It's like he's playing some of us like a top, sometimes hurtling us away and suddenly pulling us closer or vice versa
For someone who was raised in the eighties and nineties watching Tamil movies - Kamal is a central figure, the versatile actor, the singer, the experimental movie maker - the do-it-all-dude. Growing up, I remember more than one conversation where I've proclaimed that Nayakan is the best movie that I have ever seen - without a semblance of thought. I am not so sure anymore.
Make no mistake about it, Kamal Haasan's movies form a good chunk of my collector's items : Nayakan, Aboorva Sahodarargal, Michael Madhana Kamarajan, Thevar Mahan, Mahanadhi, Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, even Hey Ram are cult classics (this is not the exhaustive list). Most of these movies have gone ahead and achieved the double whammy of 'popular - money spinning' cult classics.
In an era where cable television was not ubiquitous and the gazillion movie channels were non-existent, Kamal offered an alternative from the dreary run of the mill stuff, he dared to use his imagination.
He was a dancer, all 4 brothers, a crazy man, a retard, a psychopath, a man spurned, a social reformer - all roles that no other actor would have touched with a 10 foot pole - and was convincing and entertaining in all of them. He was the reason a lot of arguments for Regional cinema over Bollywood were won.
There was simply no equivalent in most people's mind. Every cinema had their super stars and the next rungs of actors, but none pushed the envelope like Kamal did.
The image that he built was compelling - of one close to genius if it had reached full fruition in the later years.
Unfortunately that was not to be -
Over the past decade, Kamal has messed up and managed to traverse the reckless path from a great actor to a lousy movie maker.
If I were inclined to dramatize, I would say something like - It's a condescension of epic proportions!
Sample the following :
The movies above can safely fall under the following categories :
If one were to plot a graph of movie quality over time - Kamal's movies would show a continous downward dip that is currently seeking a bottom.
So what happened ? - Why wasn't that leap from 'acting greatness' to 'film making genius' not made ?
I have the following explanations to offer :
Unrealistic expectation
Maybe Kamal never had it in him to make that leap. Maybe he lacked the aptitude, the exposure and the creativity to make movies that juxtaposed entertainment with intellectualism. Or maybe it was the attitude that was the stumbling block. It's also entirely possible that fans like myself extrapolated his image to impossible levels.
The audience have progressed, but Kamal hasn't
It's not so much the technicalities of movie making that I am talking about. One has to just listen to any of his interviews to realise that Kamal is in sync with the changes in techniques and technology of films. The fact is that Kamal's biggest USP - the surprise element, the expectation that he's going to bring out something different - has ceased to be a surprise anymore. In a world where any average movie watcher is exposed to cinema from all over the world - this was bound to happen. Kamal just hasn't kept pace.
The Fan Boy Effect
This is unlikely to have had a direct effect, but I'd like to throw it in just to rant on the sheer stupidity of fans who pedal movies like Indian and Dasavatharam as stuff of genius. The Olaganayakan moniker is as idiotic as they get.
Half Baked Convictions
Kamal claims to be a rationalist and an atheist - nothing wrong with that - but to our chagrin, he insists on spreading the virtues of both the 'ists' to the world through his movies. The problem is that convictions shouldn't be forced, they should be arrived at through contemplation. Take Anbe Sival for example - Kamal loaded the movie with black and white characters. The theist is a bad man, the atheist is the man with values so stop believing in God for love is god.
(How different is this from a Vijay movie where he is the epitome of all good up against bad asses) There are so many things wrong with that message that it would take a different post, but in the context of the current one, I'll stick to saying that in the real world - people are more nuanced. A subject like this requires a lot of research. When someone like Kamal makes a movie - the expectation is that the research has been done.
The Creativity Vs. Commercial Tussle
This is the problem to crack for movie makers. How does one make a 100 crores from a movie that inspires the audience to think and not just turn up ? especially when the average Intellectual Quotient of the audience is fairly low. How does one entertain by not offering what is expected?
This problem is usually solved by one of 2 ways :
The Rowdy Rathore way - self explanatory
Small scale movies - where the operating costs are lesser and therefore the experimentation can be scaled up to still churn a profit.
The expectation from Kamal was to crack this for good and not work around - for him to make those mega budget movies that made the masses show up and want to think through. Instead he decided to walk half the way or less by trying to retro-fit some intellectual elements within the scope of commercial cinema. The result was a disaster - case in point - Dasavatharam.
Eccentricity
By all accounts, Kamal is a hard man to work with - which explains why he hasn't worked with too many directors of note lately. Reportedly, he likes to be the master of puppets which might be a part of the problem.
All said and done, there seems to be no reprieve on offer soon. The trailer of Viswaroopam eerily reminds me of Alavandan (in an experiment gone wrong sort of a way)!
I see one of the following play out in decreasing order of probability :
I re calibrate my image and expectations, so any little quirk in a sea of mundane stuff is par for the course for Kamal's movies
Kamal decides to submit himself to the whims of good directors
I am completely proven wrong and Kamal begins to make movies that appeal to the mind's eye and they all turn out to be box office scorchers too.
All of the above are in an increasing order of 'wishful thinking'..
For someone who was raised in the eighties and nineties watching Tamil movies - Kamal is a central figure, the versatile actor, the singer, the experimental movie maker - the do-it-all-dude. Growing up, I remember more than one conversation where I've proclaimed that Nayakan is the best movie that I have ever seen - without a semblance of thought. I am not so sure anymore.
Make no mistake about it, Kamal Haasan's movies form a good chunk of my collector's items : Nayakan, Aboorva Sahodarargal, Michael Madhana Kamarajan, Thevar Mahan, Mahanadhi, Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, even Hey Ram are cult classics (this is not the exhaustive list). Most of these movies have gone ahead and achieved the double whammy of 'popular - money spinning' cult classics.
In an era where cable television was not ubiquitous and the gazillion movie channels were non-existent, Kamal offered an alternative from the dreary run of the mill stuff, he dared to use his imagination.
He was a dancer, all 4 brothers, a crazy man, a retard, a psychopath, a man spurned, a social reformer - all roles that no other actor would have touched with a 10 foot pole - and was convincing and entertaining in all of them. He was the reason a lot of arguments for Regional cinema over Bollywood were won.
There was simply no equivalent in most people's mind. Every cinema had their super stars and the next rungs of actors, but none pushed the envelope like Kamal did.
The image that he built was compelling - of one close to genius if it had reached full fruition in the later years.
Unfortunately that was not to be -
Over the past decade, Kamal has messed up and managed to traverse the reckless path from a great actor to a lousy movie maker.
If I were inclined to dramatize, I would say something like - It's a condescension of epic proportions!
Sample the following :
- Manmadhan Ambu
- Dasavatharam
- Alavandan
- Kadhala Kadhala
- Pamal K Sambandam
- Anbe Sivam
- Indian
- Mumbai Express
- Vasool Raja MBBS
The movies above can safely fall under the following categories :
- Duds
- Inspired Duds
- Pseudo Intellectual Bullshit
If one were to plot a graph of movie quality over time - Kamal's movies would show a continous downward dip that is currently seeking a bottom.
So what happened ? - Why wasn't that leap from 'acting greatness' to 'film making genius' not made ?
I have the following explanations to offer :
Unrealistic expectation
Maybe Kamal never had it in him to make that leap. Maybe he lacked the aptitude, the exposure and the creativity to make movies that juxtaposed entertainment with intellectualism. Or maybe it was the attitude that was the stumbling block. It's also entirely possible that fans like myself extrapolated his image to impossible levels.
The audience have progressed, but Kamal hasn't
It's not so much the technicalities of movie making that I am talking about. One has to just listen to any of his interviews to realise that Kamal is in sync with the changes in techniques and technology of films. The fact is that Kamal's biggest USP - the surprise element, the expectation that he's going to bring out something different - has ceased to be a surprise anymore. In a world where any average movie watcher is exposed to cinema from all over the world - this was bound to happen. Kamal just hasn't kept pace.
The Fan Boy Effect
This is unlikely to have had a direct effect, but I'd like to throw it in just to rant on the sheer stupidity of fans who pedal movies like Indian and Dasavatharam as stuff of genius. The Olaganayakan moniker is as idiotic as they get.
Half Baked Convictions
Kamal claims to be a rationalist and an atheist - nothing wrong with that - but to our chagrin, he insists on spreading the virtues of both the 'ists' to the world through his movies. The problem is that convictions shouldn't be forced, they should be arrived at through contemplation. Take Anbe Sival for example - Kamal loaded the movie with black and white characters. The theist is a bad man, the atheist is the man with values so stop believing in God for love is god.
(How different is this from a Vijay movie where he is the epitome of all good up against bad asses) There are so many things wrong with that message that it would take a different post, but in the context of the current one, I'll stick to saying that in the real world - people are more nuanced. A subject like this requires a lot of research. When someone like Kamal makes a movie - the expectation is that the research has been done.
The Creativity Vs. Commercial Tussle
This is the problem to crack for movie makers. How does one make a 100 crores from a movie that inspires the audience to think and not just turn up ? especially when the average Intellectual Quotient of the audience is fairly low. How does one entertain by not offering what is expected?
This problem is usually solved by one of 2 ways :
The Rowdy Rathore way - self explanatory
Small scale movies - where the operating costs are lesser and therefore the experimentation can be scaled up to still churn a profit.
The expectation from Kamal was to crack this for good and not work around - for him to make those mega budget movies that made the masses show up and want to think through. Instead he decided to walk half the way or less by trying to retro-fit some intellectual elements within the scope of commercial cinema. The result was a disaster - case in point - Dasavatharam.
Eccentricity
By all accounts, Kamal is a hard man to work with - which explains why he hasn't worked with too many directors of note lately. Reportedly, he likes to be the master of puppets which might be a part of the problem.
All said and done, there seems to be no reprieve on offer soon. The trailer of Viswaroopam eerily reminds me of Alavandan (in an experiment gone wrong sort of a way)!
I see one of the following play out in decreasing order of probability :
I re calibrate my image and expectations, so any little quirk in a sea of mundane stuff is par for the course for Kamal's movies
Kamal decides to submit himself to the whims of good directors
I am completely proven wrong and Kamal begins to make movies that appeal to the mind's eye and they all turn out to be box office scorchers too.
All of the above are in an increasing order of 'wishful thinking'..
4 comments:
Excellent one venkat.. I agree.
Cannot agree more.
Rather than KH try to be the jack of all trades, if he can submit to the scripts / directors, it will be a feast to watch!!
Agree with u with exception of Anbe shivam. it had flaws no doubt but had all elements of becoming a classic.PKS ok so so B grade comedy rip off from MASHH.Another dud missing in ur list is Panchatantram though it had hilarious scenes aka drama comedy, was a B or C grade movie
BTw i am KarthikPH's cousin
Ramesh - thanks for writing in. Anbe Sivam in my opinion is one of the most contrived movies in the list. For one, as you may be aware - it's inspired from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planes,_Trains_and_Automobiles
Secondly, it orchestrated characters in a specific manner to prove it's point. There was no intelligence of intellectuality in the movie for a subject as deep as 'What is God ?'. It was almost as if Kamal decided that he wanted to tell the world - True Love is God and so he went ahead and created a set of characters and story lines to justify that.. In my opinion it's no better than a Vijay movie where he creates a story line to suit his own aspirations.. In a lot of ways - It's Kamal's worst movies and in my book - the very anti thesis of a classic!
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