A glimpse into the making of “Hey Ram” one of India’s first Pan-Indian films

Hey Ram released in the year 2000 to mixed reviews and a subdued response from audiences. Over the years, the film – like many other Kamal Haasan starrers – soon gained traction as an all-time classic.

Shah Rukh Khan in his Tamil debut

The magnificence behind Kamal Haasan’s epic masterpiece, Hey Ram – the first Tamil film of Shah Rukh Khan and the only Tamil film to feature him speaking Tamil in his own voice. Hey Ram was a true Pan-Indian film that was literally decades ahead of its time. Khan’s love and admiration for Kamal Haasan saw him refuse payment for his role in Hey Ram.

The birth of Hey Ram

Kamal Haasan’s ambitious venture, Marutha Nayagam was formally launched in the presence of Queen Elizabeth in 1997 and would have been India’s most expensive film. When the British company that was financing the film pulled out, the film was shelved in 1998.

In a move to appease his fans, Kamal Haasan decided to launch a quick commercial film and the result was Hey Ram. What started as a simple commercial project slowly morphed into an alternative historical drama that has since become a landmark film in the history of Indian cinema. It is, in terms of film categories, a commercial film, but is a film tinged with multiple elements of genius – Kam Haasan as writer, Kamal Haasan as screenplay writer, Kamal Haasan as Director, Kamal Haasan as producer and Kamal Haasan as an actor.

First Indian film with 100% live sound

The movie was the culmination of many months of hard work and earned itself a place in the record books as the first Indian film to use 100% live sound recording – including those films filmed on location. Using high-tech equipment imported from the USA, microphones were strategically placed to pick up every sound, every movement – including every footstep, the sounds of the city and all background voices. The utilization of live sound presented the crew with multiple problems. When director Kamal Haasan called for silence on the set, he required nothing less. One shuffle, one inadvertent sneeze or cough from someone in the background meant re-shooting the scene. The same would apply if a modern jet flew past or if someone accidentally wore their own watch. Kamal Haasan insisted on a high degree of credibility in this period drama and personally saw to all the finer details in ensuring authenticity.

Art Director Sabu Cyril eagerly accepted the challenge

This meant calling on art director Sabu Cyril to hone all his skills in perfectly recreating credible sets of the film. This came down to the cigarettes used, luggage and, of course, all the major landmarks which form the backdrop to the key scenes in the film.

The Birls Mandir in Delhi was recreated down to the finest detail on a set in Ooty. An old railway gate in Maharashtra was created on another set on the outskirts of Chennai. Cyril was also responsible for creating model replicas of a Dakota airplane and the Fort of Raigarh. Streets of Calcutta were created down to historic detaul in Fort St George in Chennai. Kamal Haasan said of Sabu Cyril that the combined efforts of everyone else would have been wasted had it not been for the credibility of the sets.

Make-up artistry

Anil Pemgirikar was one of the top make-up men of Bollywood at the time of the film whose regular clients included Amitabh Bachchan and Rajkumar. His signing of Hey Ram came through an interesting way. Anil’s wife was the hairdresser for Kamal Haasan’s Hindi film Ladies Only (the remake of Magallir Mattum). During that period when she had delivered a baby, the unit had been very helpful. Anil recalls how his wife had wanted him to do a film with Kamal. In an interview shortly before the release of the film, Anil remarked that “It was a privilege to work with someone who is so versatile and knows so much about make-up.” Kamal Haasan also utilised the talents of the unit of Michael Westmore from the United States, the make-up design artist responsible for the make-up in films like Indian and AvvaI Shanmugi.

Thiru makes his debut as a cinematographer

One of the surprise signings for Hey Ram was that of cinematographer Thiru, whose full name is Thirunavakarasu. Thiru had been an apprentice to ace cinematographer P.S. Sriram and had worked with Kamal Haasan in Magallir Mattum. It was a job made all the more difficult because THiru’s task was to best capture on film the tone and colours of India in the period 1946 to 2000. The flashback scenes are in colour and the present is depicted in black & white. Hey Ram was the first Indian film where the fire and explosions in the black & white scenes are depcted in full colour in an otherwise monochrome picture.

An unbelievable and world-first feat for Illaiyaraja

L. Subaramaniam was the signed on to score the music in hey Ram, but Kamal Haasan was not totally satisfied when Subramanian suddenly changed  his fee just prior to the final audio mixing and was effectively holding Kamal Haasan to ransom. Subramanian was then dropped and Isai Gnani Illaiyaraja was signed on to compose the music. At that stage, the film’s songs had been recorded and filmed. Kamal Haasan then set in place plans to re-shoot all the songs.

When Illaiyaraja heard about this, he stopped Kamal Haasan and offered to do what Kamal Haasan believed would be completely impossible. Illaiyaraja said he would use the filmed song sequences and simply change the music and tune while retaining the lip synchronisation. Kamal Haasan expressed his doubts about whether this would be possible, but Illaiyaraja insisted, saying that the re-shooting of all songs would be a time-consuming and expensive exercise.

Illaiyaraja succeeded in changing the songs to his own tune and instrumentation using the existing picturisation. This was a world first and a feat that would be difficult to match.

Hey Ram became the first Tamil film and the second Indian to feature music played by a foreign orchestra – the Budapest Symphony Orchestra (The first Indian film was the Malayalam film Guru which also had music by Illaiyaraja)

Sarika Kamalhaasan squares up to the challenge

Sarika Kamal Haasan (then still married to Kamal Haasan) had designed the film’s costumes. Sarika had to do intensive research to ensure that her costumes were credible and authentic, and this meant looking at types, styles and patterns in fabrics and prevailing dress trends. Sarika’s work did not end with the clothing – She also had to do research regarding all accessories. She worked very closely with Sabu Cyril in acquiring genuine articles for the film.

One of India’s earliest faction films

Hey Ram was one of the first Faction Indian films – a blend of fact and fiction – and was certainly a world class film. Despite its poor showing at the box-office, it has since become a must-watch for any film connoisseur.