Kamal Awarded Padma Bhushan

Kamal Haasan: 

The Quintessential Performer

Saumesh Thimbath

One line that you are likely to come across if you spend time with the Kamal rasikar or Kamal Haasan fans in Tamil Nadu is that thalaivar mattum americavil poranthirunthal ippo entha levelukk poyiruppaar? (Had Kamal been born in the USA what heights he would have reached by now?) One might feel the urge, as the writer has felt many times, to tell them that Paramakudi in Tamil Nadu, where the actor was born, is the best place Kamal Haasan could have been born in the entire world. Because the kind of artist Kamal is, a cinematic counterpart of the academic polymath, someone who straddles different departments of cinema, could only have flourished to his fullest potential in Indian Cinema. Where else would he have the chance to do 200-odd movies, in 5-6 languages; to direct, to produce, to write scripts and lyrics, to sing, to choreograph dance and stunts, not once, but many times over?

Winning his first recognition, President's Gold Medal, at the age of four for the performance in his debut feature, Kalathur Kannamma in 1959, Kamal had decided early on in his life to be 'an artist'. With talents spread over a wide spectrum, it appears that Kamal did not stop to ponder as to what that one medium where he can channelize all his creative urge could be. He decided to do it all, with a passion that welled up tears in the audience. He has been successfully doing this for many decades now, which is still a dream to many a creators. This could have been the primary reason why the Government of India conferred the Padma Bhushan on Kamal Haasan this year. Padma Bhushan this time had the fortune of reaching one of the most deserving cinematic artists of our time. Hats off to Kamal Haasan. 

Watch a photo slideshow of the ten best performances of Kamal Haasan.