Celebrating Kamal Haasan’s 65 years in the Film Industry on his 71st Birthday.

Born in 1954, Kamal Haasan this year celebrates 65 years in the film industry. What is remarkable, however, is not the time period he has been active in the industry, but the level of contribution and influence he has on the Indian film industry at large.

Kamal Haasan began his career as a child artist at the age of 5 in the Gemini Ganesan-Savithri Ganesan starrer, Kalathoor Kannamma, a role which won him the President Gold Medal award. He soon followed this with other roles in the Sivaji Ganesan-Gemini Ganesan starrer, Paarthaal Pasi Theerum, the Gemini Ganesan-Savithri Ganesan starrer, Paadha Kaanikai, the SS Raajendran starrer, Vaanampaadi and the MGR starrer, Anandha Jothi.

Then followed a lean period and he was enrolled by his father in a drama troupe headed by T.K. Shanmugam, also known as Avvai Shanmugam after his brilliant portrayal of Avvai Karaikal Ammaiyaar on stage. Avvai Shanmugam took the young Kamal Haasan under his wing and taught him the many crafts in production. Kamal Haasan paid tribute to his Guru in the film Avvai Shanmugi which not only paid tribute to his Guru’s name, but also saw Kamal Haasan play a woman in the film.

It would be 7 years after Anandha Jothi before he made another screen presence in a song sequence for Jaishankar’s Maanavan, by which time he joined a young K. Balachander who took him on as an assistant writer and director when he himself got his big break.

It was a slow and difficult climb for Kamal Haasan but his eagerness to learn saw many opportunities come his way and he soon earned the respect and admiration of industry giants like K. Balachander, MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Nagesh, Manorama, Illaiyaraja, Vaali, SP Balasubramanyam, Bharathiraja, Balu Mahendra and his contemporaries.

Kamal Haasan is one of the few Indian actors to have completed 65 years in cinema. What makes this achievement more remarkable is that he achieved this with much more than his impressive and wide acting skills, He is regarded by many within the industry as the only person to have mastered all 24 aspects of film-making with his vast experience including dance choreography, directing, screenplay and script writing, song writing, make-up design, stunt coordinator, costume design, set design and film distributor. Although he owes much of his fame to his award-winning acting, he has been a maverick filmmaker way ahead of his time.

This explains why some of his films failed at the box-office at the time of release but became cult classics many years later. Examples of this are Anbe Sivam and Aallavandhaan, the latter achieving fame for having inspired Quentin Tarantino to experiment with animated sequences in the live action film Kill Bill.

He was mocked, insulted and threatened when, in 2013, he wanted to release his Viswaroopam on the big screen and direct-to-home-streaming on the same day. Amid the huge backlash from even those within the acting fraternity, Kamal Haasan had defended his decision, saying then that streaming would be an essential source of income at some stage and that film-makers needed to embrace it. This is what he said at the time: “I am just trying to make use of the technology which is right in front of me. A farmer should understand that a tractor would only help him to increase the yield. He should neither fear nor avoid it. I think that’s what I’m trying to do. Everybody wants to watch films in the comfort of their home and I think that that will be the future of cinema.”

Known for his exceptional attention to detail, he is probably the most influential person on the Indian cinematic landscape.  Among his many awards, he has the highest number of films chosen as India’s entry to the Oscars. His willingness to experiment with genres, film-making styles and the technical side to films has seen him elevate Indian cinema.

Kamal Haasan continues to innovate, lead and inspire. He is the only actor, probably in the world, to have achieved a box-office hit in each decade across seven decades. That is a feat that is unlikely to be matched in the future.