Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/kamal-haasan-65th-birthday-indian-film-actor-baradwaj-rangan/
The ‘Great Phase’ of the actor’s career, post ‘Pushpak’ and ‘Nayakan’, is well documented. But here’s a jumble of memories from the preceding phase, the early to mid-1980s, which had just as many misses as hits.
All you kids doing the Ajith-versus-Vijay wars on Twitter, let me take you back to the time we used to do Kamal-versus-Rajini wars. Well, not wars, exactly. I think India was too docile a place back then. And Madras was even more docile. So a “war” really meant sitting around at lunchtime, when dabbas of sambar rice were opened and the air was instantly filled with the gastronomic equivalent of a fart in an elevator, and saying things like “Kaaki Sattai is really awesome”. And the Rajini fan would say something like “Rajini’s leather jacket in Nallavanukku Nallavan is very cool.” And afterwards, we’d all go and have a “Pepsi Cola”, which was basically a tube of frozen, coloured water.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
shaviswa
November 7, 2019
Kamal’s entire career has been that – a few hits and many misses.
you forgot to mention that parents would be wary of taking their kids to Kamal movies as he had this propensity to kiss his heroines. Instead of showing two flowers touching each other, they would actually show Kamal kissing the heroine.
Plus his films with Ambika during that phase had a lot of raunchy scenes. So as kids, we would be taken to the cleaner Rajinikanth movies and we were all naturally Rajini fans 🙂
I saw most Kamal movies only after we got a VCR at home during my college days!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan
November 7, 2019
Hoping this post will bring sravishankar back to the blog. He had written a wonderful article about Kaaki Chattai, marking it as the point where things started to turn gingerly for the better in Tamil cinema.
Although…when it comes to Kamal, I am not entirely sure how I feel about this. There was a breeziness about Kamal in this phase that was gone thereafter as he started taking himself more and more seriously. Thereafter, you only found this version of Kamal in the comedies. In the mid-late 70s, he was a little tentative and often appeared to be overshadowed by a very charismatic Rajni. From Sigappu Rojakkal, he turned things around. From Nayagan began the phase of Kamal the ambitious actor and filmmaker, which has lasted to this day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Enigma
November 7, 2019
Great stuff. Brought back fond memories. Kamal’s early 80s movies were pretty shitty with the shittiest of them being Mangamma Sabadham. That was godawful bad. Fair play to him for moving on from that crap phase.
LikeLike
Enigma
November 7, 2019
Kamal’s collaboration with K Balajee, in the early 80s, included such gems as ‘Sattam’, ‘Savaal’, and the classic ‘Mangamma Sabadham’ (their fourth collaboration – ‘Vaazhve Maayam’) failed to make the cut). Then there was ‘Kaadhal Parisu’, ‘Uyarndha Ullam’, the one with Urvashi mentioned in the piece, Wondering what the hell was Kamal thinking when he signed-up for these masterpieces.
LikeLiked by 1 person
V
November 7, 2019
Ah, I was waiting for this tribute, wondering which facet/slice-of-life you’d pick for Kamal this time. And man, you sure did find a superb topic – the Masala Kamal. Loved this – because the Thala Thalapathy (and the new gen Thalaivar) fans dont know this version of Kamal.
Savaal, Sattam, Meendum Kokila, Simla Special, Ellam Inba Mayam, Enakkul Oruvan were films I enjoyed as a kid (<6 yrs old). Today, most mass entertainers follow the template of these films, but even in these 80s potboilers, there were some real quirky ideas – The Ra Ra Venu Gopala song spoof Maaman voodu machu voodu in Ellam Inba Mayam, the Simla Special Sripriya Story narration scene, the North Eastern angle in Enakkul Oruvan, the Burma Pappa Manorama+Kamal combo in Savaal, the Vazhve Mayam tragic climax etc
I remember being intrigued by the reincarnation scenes in Enakkul Oruvan (remake of Karz?) & still remember the quirky design of the film poster placed every 10 feet in T.Nagar near Rohini International junction. Oh not to forget the smashing Megham Kottatum song, which was a staple for boy-bands in school culturals. And this film is not even mentioned in your list – shows how prolific these artistes were then.
The 80s were the glorious days when all Madras theaters were equal, all popcorns 10/-, black tickets were the norm and Mount Road was the hub. We used to have Cultural Associations/Groups which would block theaters for special shows at 9 am for the latest Kamal Rajni padam for its subscription paying members. Even though there were other hit actors like Mohan, Sudhakar, Bhakyaraj, TR – it was obvious that Kamal and Rajni were in a different league altogether.
And yes – it was Kamal-Rajni back then and not Rajni-Kamal. 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
krishna prasad
November 7, 2019
“Little did I know, despite the fact that the muscles of my right arm were beginning to attain far more definition”. Unexpected from BR.😂. Epic
LikeLike
Anu Warrier
November 7, 2019
Vikram was… not bad?? BR, BR, how could you? My young teenage self was indubitably scarred after watching it. Now I think back on it, I might categorise it as ‘so bad it was good’. But it definitely was a huge hit and probably allowed him to make the movies he actually wanted to make. The 80s was also the time he acted in a rather decent movie (as I remember it; I don’t know how I’ll feel about it now) called Chanakyan in Malayalam. And honestly, I think both he and Sridevi had better roles in Malayalam films in the 70s than what they were being offered in Tamil then.
LikeLike
V
November 7, 2019
I was probably too young in the early 80s to realize whose films were raunchier, but looking back now – both Kamal & Rajni were equal offenders in the early 80s, when it came to pawing their female co-stars. (Exhibits being: Adukku Malligai, Aasai Nooruvagai, Oru Poovanathil, Aadi Maasam kathadikka, Pothukitu oothudhayya vaanam and the likes)
But yes, after Sri Raghavendrar, Rajni consciously avoided getting too close for comfort with his heroines, which he maintains till today – even in risque scenes, he would put a humorous twist and reduce their intensity (eg Annamalai kadavule kadavule, Mannan Adikkudhu Kuliru, scenes with Roja in Veera and Uzhaippali).
So yeah, Rajni had family audience, while Kamal had youth support – which is why both saw huge success in parallel (and equal number of flops too – Rajni had Un Kannil Neer Vazhindhal, Siva, Naan Adimai Illai, Anbukku Naan Adimai, Ranuva Veeran, Un Kannil Neer Vazhindal, Puthukavithai, Sivappu Sooriyan, Maaveeran,Thee etc)
Rajni’s solid Box Office Show started with Annamalai. Before that I remember only Manithan being a monster hit – Rajathi Raja, Guru Sishyan were all fine, but his BO trailblazing started with Annamalai.
LikeLike
MANK
November 7, 2019
Kamal lost a lot of money on Raajaparvai, which was his first home production. By his own admission, when his market price as an actor was around 4 or 5 lakhs , he made losses in excess of 25 lakhs
So he had to do a lot of commercial projects to pay off his debts’
Then there was his rather unsuccessful sojourn into hindi films, his divorce from his first wife Vani etc..
Incredibly, the chain of events would repeat later, in the late 90’s, with the failure of Heyram, Aalavandhan and divorce from his second wife Sarika
As for his films from that period, I am a great fan of Kakki sattai and Ravi saar’s piece on it is a masterpiece. The ways he describes the film, especially Sathyaraj’s performance , is hilarious.
And you can bash mangamma sabatham as much as you want, but his portrayal of the idiot father is one of his hilarious. Just compare that with Mithun’s performance in the original Kasam paide karnewale ki.
Also enukkul oruvan was a rather good take off on Karz, with Kamal in a sort of Baasha Avatar, long before the Rajni starrer. especially in the climactic fight
LikeLiked by 1 person
MANK
November 7, 2019
Those 80’s were a really crazy period . Kamal was doing remakes of Bachchan and Mithun starrers in tamil. Kamal was starring in hindi remakes of his own tamil films. Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna were doing remakes of Kamal’s films . Rajni’s whole 80s output were remakes of Bachchan films. Kamal , Rajni and Bachchan starred together in Giraftaar.
phew!
LikeLiked by 2 people
MANK
November 7, 2019
Btw, we need to mention a little bit about his Hindi films during the period. After the extraordinary success of Ek Duje Ke liye, both Zara si zindagi and Ek aur paheli were terrible missteps.Those film should never have been remade.
But saagar was a major project for him and he did very well in an author backed, but more than that he was at his most athletic and sexy in this film. just watch him in those terrific R.D. Burman songs , doing those break moves
LikeLike
Madan
November 7, 2019
Enigma: Thank you for mentioning Uyarndha Ullam. A true ‘classic’ indeed. Blade o blade.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Raj
November 7, 2019
‘…despite the fact that the muscles of my right arm were beginning to attain far more definition than the ones of my left.’
TMI, BR. But. A line to er, tug the heartstrings of all purveyors of self-help manuals.
Purely in the interest of prurience, one wonders if, now that you have your hands full in the digital era, your arms have caught up with each other.
You don’t knead to answer.
(Great article btw).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isai
November 8, 2019
“both Kamal & Rajni were equal offenders in the early 80s, when it came to pawing their female co-stars.”
Why blame them alone?
There were heroines who consented to such scenes. A section of the audience had enjoyed it while that section which found it distasteful did not mind it enough to boycott such films.
So, why blame them alone?
LikeLike
Enigma
November 8, 2019
No worries Madan. Uyarndha Ullam achieved cult status just for that one sequence – Kamal Hassan turns up at a wedding without a gift. (I don’t remember clearly and I may be wrong here) – his friend, the groom, is such a polished character that he asks him where is the gift or some such stuff. Kamal – the man with the golden heart – then announces that all food and drinks are on him and then makes a song out of it, Vaettungada vaettungada dei… fucking classic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
G Sriram
November 8, 2019
Anu Warrier: But it definitely was a huge hit and probably allowed him to make the movies he actually wanted to make.
I had heard a different version that he made a hell of a loss that resulted in some koovifying “Vikrom, Alwarpettai veedu Vikrom”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
venkat1926
November 8, 2019
Kamal is a world class actor displaying many nuances of character. But unfortunately he was born in Tamilnadu and so according to my view he has not either produced or acted in any WORLD CLASS classic film
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shankar
November 8, 2019
Vikram was a major loss but it’s one of my fav films…the dialogs were all cult, the songs were amazing and it was great to see Kamal play an agent in the film. But it bombed big time! Again no particular reasons now for the fav tag, but my friends and I still chuckle over Inimasi, Sugirtharaja, Salamiya et all!
I watched a lot of his masala films on the screen, still remember my Patti taking me and my 2 cousins to Ram Lakshman at Bala Abhirami during the summer holidays. Though there were so many misses in that masala phase, especially in retrospective, there were also many enjoyable ones, at least at that age and era. I need to go back and revisit those films, with my rose tinted glasses….Ullasa Paravaigal, Punnagai Mannan, Salangai Oli…
Baddy, there were special shows for these releases, especially if it was around festivals. In many cases, theaters also edited these films and shortened them. I still remember one Deepavali when we went to watch Unnai Naan Santhithen in Madurai and the whole film was over in 90 mins!😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
V
November 8, 2019
@Isai : The “equal offenders” comment should be read as a reply to Shaviswa’s first comment on Kamal vs Rajini w.r.t raunchy scenes in films. Not a general statement
LikeLiked by 1 person
Honest Raj
November 8, 2019
It was during this forgotten phase that he chose to move away from his mentors – KB, BM and BR. Interestingly, this period also saw the emergence of South India’s greatest star-actor in him. If Moondram Pirai and Saagara Sangamam helped him establish himself as the top performer, SKV and TTT cemented his position as the “collection king”. It wasn’t just the South Indian counterparts, but even the Shahs, Puris and Patils were awed by him. He also worked together with AB in the Anandesque Khabardar, which was shelved later.
He looked stunning in Tik Tik Tik. And, Enakkul Oruvan (especially, that rousing BGM in the climactic fight) is a favourite of mine too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Honest Raj
November 8, 2019
And honestly, I think both he and Sridevi had better roles in Malayalam films in the 70s than what they were being offered in Tamil then.
Partially disagree. While it may be true that both of them were first “noticed” by Malayalam cinema, they were offered good roles in Tamil too. In fact, Kamal himself once told that inspite of doing many films in Malayalam in his early career, he never came close to delivering a Kokila/Saagara Sangamam/Ek Duuje Ke Liye in the language. In the case of Sridevi, she was cast in the central role – despite the presence of big stars such Rajini, Kamal, Jaishankar, Sivakumar and even Sivaji – in several Tamil films in the 70s: Gaayathri, Manidharil Ithanai Nirangala?, Priya, Sigappukkal Mookkuthi, Kavarimaan et al. Plus, she reprised her roles in the Tamil remakes of her Malayalam films.
LikeLike
Anu Warrier
November 8, 2019
@G Sriram, yes, I know he made Vikram to recoup the losses from Raja Parvai. But that didn’t stop the film from being goddawful. 🙂
@Shankar – I’d heard – like Sriram – that the film was a huge hit. I mean, the critics bashed it (rightly so) but the film – at least in Kerala – was running to packed houses.
LikeLiked by 1 person
V
November 8, 2019
I second Shankar’s comment on Vikram. It was pure fun, especially for fans of Sujatha’s stories and his trademark wry humour.
I remember reading in Sujatha’s Chinna Chinna Katturaigal – Oru Padam Uruvagum Kathai – how Vikram was a mega budget affair & how Kamal would pump in lakhs (Sujatha quotes 1 lakh per day) for horses, stunt men, set properties etc. Sujatha mentions that Kamal declares that he was going to spend every single paise he got from the Distributors for the film, without aiming for any profit. He had even got an Apple Computer (sic) from the US for this film. Apparently Kamal’s secretary was so frustrated with Kamal’s spending that he would rue why they couldnt do family, love sentiment movies like others instead of this Rocket Technology.
Delightful description by Sujatha for an equally delightful movie.
As for the hit or flop question – Vikram had an earth-shattering opening and subsequently a decent run, though it was panned by critics. But due to the budget & pricing it wasnt profitable for anyone – Kamal, Distributors et al. It apparently enjoyed a fairly good 2nd/3rd run.
LikeLiked by 2 people
jaga_jaga
November 8, 2019
“Little did I know, despite the fact that the muscles of my right arm were beginning to attain far more definition than the ones of my left.”
Were you using your right hand to masturbate yourself (or someone else – less likely)? Is that why?
If this is the meaning intended, then I am just amazed by the power of language! The same meaning beautifully masked by candy-coated sentences appears much more decent than it should be. Whereas directly conveying the same thing makes it much more cringe-worthy than it should be!!
LikeLike
Rad Mahalikudi
November 8, 2019
I liked Vikram both as a movie and when it came as serial story (timed with the movie release without the ending) in Kumudham. Movie isn’t great but good / decent fun ride. Memorable characters in Sathyaraj, Janakaraj, Amjadkhan and one liners (“nesama, naan poonthottikuthan kuri parthen”, “Sudum”, “Kitta vayya”). Interesting trivia: Vikram and Viduthalai got released at the same time. Apparently Balajee wanted Kamal to be part of Viduthalai, guess in Vijayakumar’s role (villain character) and Kamal refused. As a revenge, Balajee named the villain character as Vikram in Viduthalai!!
As for “crappy” movies, there is good competition – Mangamma Sabatham, Naanum Oru Thozhilali, Kaadhal Parisu, Japanil Kalyanaraman. Tough one though. Then there was this martial arts movie “Pagadai Pannirandu”. Looking at Kamal’s movies from 80s, he acted in movies that were remake of Sivaji / MGR hits, Vasantha Maligai, Enga Veetu Pillai, Pattikada Pattanama. Ofc, similar thing can be said about other SPM movies too from 80s.
For the 80’s masala movies, me thinks credit goes to S.P.Muthuraman (SPM) who kick started the trend with Murattu Kaalai. SPM was highly prolific and kept making movies both Kamal and Rajni. And Balajee joined the fun with all his hindi remakes. And yes, once in a while we got dogs and elephants costar with these two stars to multiply the fun (Thevar films), like Ram Lakshman, Thaai meethu sathiyam, Thaai Veedu.
If I had to choose, without blinking will go with late 70’s and 80’s masala movies than current ones. Those were harmless fun rides, yes ignore the non-PC-ness of those times, than the current ones. Kakki Chattai, Nallavanukku Nallavan – anytime. The whole courting scene in Kakki Chattai rocked. When Rajni goes back to bash up the bad guys after getting Radhika’s nod was whistle worthy. Very few good masala movies now-a-days. Sethupathi, Gilli, Dhool, comes to mind.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Madan
November 8, 2019
“If I had to choose, without blinking will go with late 70’s and 80’s masala movies than current ones.” – I would too. Maybe the fourth wall stuff was there then too, wouldn’t know, but it wasn’t so in your face too. You had commercial/masala movies rather than MASS movies. Mass in Tamil has developed a separate connotation and if you aren’t part of the tribe, it can be tough to understand what’s the fuss at times.
Another thing is the SPM phase came just as an era of KB domination centred on strong plot-driven dramas ended. Following his almost austere style, the masala phase of the 80s was light footed and carefree. It was the closest Tamil cinema came to revelling in a sort of hedonism that Bollywood had embraced in the 60s. I am thinking of movies like Train in particular. Ostensibly a thriller but also intended to be stylish and glamorous. I don’t know quite who is to be blamed for turning masala movies into a serious affair, but a likely candidate is Shankar.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isai
November 8, 2019
@V: Apologies. I started reading this comments thread bottom up and had stopped with that comment of yours.
LikeLike
Enigma
November 9, 2019
Can’t understand all the Vikram love in. It was a bad movie back then too. Of course far better than most of the other stuff that Kamal was involved in but still bad. Actually you can count on the fingers of your one hand Kamals good films in the pre-Nayakan phase and still have a couple left.
LikeLike
Madan
November 9, 2019
“Actually you can count on the fingers of your one hand Kamals good films in the pre-Nayakan phase and still have a couple left.” – Presume you mean other than the KB films where Rajni was also cast?
LikeLike
V
November 9, 2019
Me thinks Uyarndha Ullam would still trump something like Maan Karate or Ayogya or Kaappaan or VIP-2 or Ajith-Vijay-masalas in terms of Entertainment Quotient. To be honest, I was super impressed by Kamal’s dance moves (calisthenics, ippo paarthaa) in Ishtappadi Vettungada doi – hey but I must have been 6 when I watched it and Radharavi turning villain – possibly the first of my life altering moments.
And the songs – Kaalai Thendral, Vandhaal Mahakshmi & my favourite, Enge En Jeevane – the fact that these would be no where in Ilayaraja’s top 100 songs tells a lot about Raja’s genius!! Dheiva level!
(I hope my daughter doesnt pen a tribute like this for Maan Karate 20 years down the line!! For I did catch her enjoy that film immensely. One can never say why something trends in a particular season and tanks later.)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan
November 9, 2019
“And the songs – Kaalai Thendral, Vandhaal Mahakshmi & my favourite, Enge En Jeevane – the fact that these would be no where in Ilayaraja’s top 100 songs tells a lot about Raja’s genius!! Dheiva level!” – This, I wholeheartedly agree with. There are loads and loads of these movies with great songs which still wouldn’t fit into his top 100. At the same time, his music is almost the only thing that’s worthwhile about the movie. For me, UU is still a terrible, terrible movie. I did somehow make it through the film, though. I couldn’t when it came to Ilamai Kalangal. Not even the prospect of watching the great songs picturised would entice me to. To be fair, the first – and last – time I saw IK on TV was couple or more years back whereas I watched UU in college when I was still a little patient with boring and cliched commercial films.
LikeLiked by 1 person
V
November 9, 2019
@Enigma : Vikram was perhaps the Aayirathil Oruvan (Selvaragavan’s) of the 80s (not equating the output, but the intent). It was ambitious, gimmicky, exciting, flawed, constrained by budget, compromised for commercial reasons and yet interesting in retrospect.
About the good films of Kamal in the pre-Nayagan phase : let me give a try
Salangai Oli, Moondram Pirai, Maro Charithra, 16 Vayathinile, Kokila, Manitharil Ithanai Nirangala, Aval Appadithaan, Sivappu Rojakkal, Nizhal Nijamagirathu, Varumayin Niram Sivappu, Rajaparvai, Chippikul Muthu come to my mind.
And I have avoided films like Avargal, Aboorva Ragangal, Kakki Chattai, Kalyanaraman, Meendum Kokila, Saagar, Kaidhiyin Diary, Per Sollum Pillai, his Malayalam films & his teen/childhood films for reasons like KB multistarrers, films I havent watched, good-but-generic masalas
Kamal may have lost his fanbase now due to his political views & his self-indulgent ways. But one cant deny that he was a great collaborator in the past especially in the pre-Nayagan era. Even his cameos in films like Thillu Mullu, Poikal kudhirai (my favourite), Moondru Mudichu, Noolveli, Uruvangal Maralam were not lazy ones, but quirky/well-written/neatly juxtaposed in the narrative.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Enigma
November 9, 2019
@Madan, I was referring to this 80 -86 phase that BR has written about. I think that there weren’t any KB-Kamal movie during this phase – Ek Duje Ke Liye and the other Hindi movies were remakes of their earlier 70s works.
On the subject of UU’s songs, I completely agree. Raja’s music divine, completely wasted in an awful movie.
LikeLiked by 1 person
KayKay
November 9, 2019
A friend succinctly summed up the difference between Kamal and Rajini Masala of the 80s.
“Kamal movie better fights”
I’d extrapolate that slightly to say, from my viewer perspective, there was just that added level of polish to the Kamal potboilers. It felt like Kamal movies were the bigger budget Stallone/Schwarzenegger fare while Rajini’s were the lower budget Jean Claude Van Damme/Steven Seagal flicks
And while action in Indian movies was strictly amateur hour in those decades, “Sakala Kala Vallavan, Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey, Sattam, Kakki Sattai to name some of my personal favs, at least demonstrated some level of imagination.
Rajini Masala of the 80s on the other hand….well, to paraphrase B again…the Superstar gave more to those movies than the movies ever gave him. Fights were the usual cartoonish physics defying crap.
But awesome macho titles though. Paayum Puli, Thudikkum Karangal, Nallavanukku Nallavan, just hearing them spoken aloud is liable to have you sprout chest hairs.
As for their handling of heroines…please, is there even a contest? If their nubile bodies were a canvas, Kamal was doing Art Nouveau brush strokes to Rajini’s pre-school finger painting.
In short, while I can re-watch SOME of the Kamal 80s potboiler masala, I can’t sit through most Rajini movies of that same period in their entirety (ok, will make a small exception for Pokkiri Raja, which is still oodles of fun) while Rajini himself remains compulsively watchable. Case in point, can re-watch the Alex Pandian portions any number of times, but don’t ask me to sit through Moondru Mugam again.
LikeLiked by 4 people
(Original) venkatesh
November 9, 2019
Well , had to come out of hibernation for this,
What a facet to explore.
The thing that i miss now is his inability to make fun of himself. If you can dance like a god and fight like a master, why not actually do it?
Vishwaroopam, the first one, almost had a start towards this and then of course got mired into all of the other crap , not to mention he was also too old for the role.
Its almost like he’s forgotten to have fun and now with all the Political hoopla its way too late.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan
November 9, 2019
Kaykay: Agreed about the masala potboilers of Rajni but he also had some good roles like Johnny and Puthu Kavithai in that period. He had yet to completely ditch Rajni the actor for Rajni the star at that point.
LikeLike
Honest Raj
November 9, 2019
Apparently Balajee wanted Kamal to be part of Viduthalai, guess in Vijayakumar’s role (villain character) and Kamal refused. As a revenge, Balajee named the villain character as Vikram in Viduthalai!!
Maybe, it was Vishnuvardhan’s role.
About revenge, this one is from Balu Mahendra:
LikeLike
Honest Raj
November 9, 2019
@KayKay: Interesting that ‘Thudikkum Karangal’ sounds machoistic to you. Remember ‘Kai Kodukkum Kai’? 🙂
LikeLike
sai16vicky
November 10, 2019
@Shankar: Thanks for mentioning “Unnai Naan Sandhithen”. It reuses one of my all time favorite Raja songs “Nanna Jeeva Neenu” (from Geetha) as “Devan Thandha Veenai”.
Of course, as other commenters have pointed out, some of the absolutely trashy fares from the 80s have stunning songs (courtesy Raja). I am thinking of ‘Unakkagave Vaazhgiren’ which has ‘Ilanjolai’ and ‘Kanna unnai’ and ‘Oru Vaazhum Aalayam’ which has ‘Malayoram Mayile’. Why am I thinking of these now? Well, all of them have ‘selfie star’ Sivakumar :).
LikeLiked by 2 people
sai16vicky
November 10, 2019
And speaking of Kamal’s pre-Nayagan output, my favorite has to be ‘Kokila’ (the Kannada movie which was Balu Mahendra’s debut). Seeing Kamal’s performance in the movie, it’s only natural to see what kind of an actor he would go on to become. It literally has everything we have to come associate with him — the frivolity we would see in ‘Sathi Leelavathi’, the sexual tension/physical acting we would see in ‘Moondram Pirai’ and the emotional overtones we would see in ‘Mahanadhi’. It’s all right up there in ‘Kokila’ — what a forgotten movie!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Enigma
November 10, 2019
@V, those are good movies but most of them are from the 70s I think. Apologies if I am wrong. BR’s piece is about the early to mid 80s phase.
Good point about Vikram. I liked it when I first saw it when I was about 10 years old. Saw it again probably in the early 90s and was actually embarrassed as I was with a North Indian mate.
LikeLiked by 2 people
KayKay
November 10, 2019
“Agreed about the masala potboilers of Rajni but he also had some good roles like Johnny and Puthu Kavithai in that period”
Madan, I should have clarified that what I refer to as “masala potboilers” strictly fall within that box of “6 songs, 4 fights, 3 family conflicts, 2 romantic scenes and 1 dastardly villain” type films that’s all spectacle and almost no substance. Pudhu Kavithai, Johnny fall outside of that, outliers in the Rajini oeuvre. To use the Stallone analogy again, Johnny would be Rajini’s Rocky 1 & 2 while Paayum Puli etc would be his Rocky 3 & 4.
LikeLiked by 1 person
KayKay
November 10, 2019
“Interesting that ‘Thudikkum Karangal’ sounds machoistic to you. Remember ‘Kai Kodukkum Kai’? ”
Honest Raj, it’s the image the words conjure.
Thidikkum Karangal automatically evokes “Fist Of Fury” in my mind. Clenched fists about to unleash a heaping helping of hurt.
“Kai Kodukkum Kai” on the other hand conjures an image of hands reached out to help, to feed, to nurture, console etc etc…which is strangely appropriate as that was also a gentler Rajini film if I recall.
As for the onanistic implications of Kai Kodukkum Kai well…….
LikeLike
KayKay
November 10, 2019
Honest Raj, LOL on that clip hahahahaha!
Kinda reminds me that, way before Goundamani, VKR was the master of snarky put downs.
And it’s interesting that that scene is played for comedy, but the age gap between VKR and that girl is hardly more than that between MGR/Sivaji/NTR/Raj Kumar/Jeetendra/Dev Anand in the latter part of their careers or that between Kamal/Rajini/Chiranjeevi/Nagarjuna/Mamooty/Mohanlal/SRK/Salman and their female co-stars today.
We laugh at the former and lap up the latter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan
November 10, 2019
“. It reuses one of my all time favorite Raja songs “Nanna Jeeva Neenu” (from Geetha) as “Devan Thandha Veenai”.” – Thanks for this. Will check out the Telugu original.
“I am thinking of ‘Unakkagave Vaazhgiren’ which has ‘Ilanjolai’ and ‘Kanna unnai’ and ‘Oru Vaazhum Aalayam’ which has ‘Malayoram Mayile’. ” – Oru Vaazhum Aalayam also has Nee Pournami, another of KJ’s semi classical masterpieces on IR’s baton. And the other film you mentioned also has Oh Endhan Vaazhvile which has brilliant orchestration. And I love how those continuum like chords accompanying the pallavi actually have a harmonic pattern too (and not just there for the loop effect). We could even talk about how IR’s BGM too elevated the movies to somewhere close to what they aspired to be (and which they didn’t often turn out like, due to a combination of poor writing, substandard technical values, lacklustre acting, etc). If you take Nooravadhu Naal, the script is pretty taut for a Tamil film but add IR’s rip-roaring score to that and he gives you the illusion of watching a top notch Hollywood thriller. Like Morricone, his scores are very dynamic and not just waves of strings (Morricone’s score for Untouchables is a good reference for comparison with NN or Kaaki Chattai which again has some wonderful themes).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan
November 10, 2019
“that box of “6 songs, 4 fights, 3 family conflicts, 2 romantic scenes and 1 dastardly villain”” – Hahahaha, amazing description. And never ever forget the sentimentu. Either Amma sentiment or Thangachi or Manaivi sentimentu. At least one sentiment has to be there, otherwise it’s not a TAMIL masala film.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Honest Raj
November 10, 2019
As for the onanistic implications of Kai Kodukkum Kai well…….
Well, I was referring to this comment. 🙂
LikeLike
Madan
November 10, 2019
Correction: Nanna Jeeva Neenu was Kannada. And more beautiful than the Tamil version, a more poignant scene too.
LikeLike
kaizokukeshav
November 11, 2019
Kamal was going great until he started to write and direct his own movies where he entered into a zone of socio-philosophical genres that were debatably undercooked to the common audience. They are not bad movies by any means but they pushed Kamal into a point of no return. This is where Rajinikanth scored brownie points by sticking to the actor’s director career till now.
LikeLiked by 2 people
kaizokukeshav
November 11, 2019
sorry I meant Rajini was a director’s actor
LikeLike
brangan
November 15, 2019
MANK’s post;
Apoorva Sagodharargal : Kamal Haasan’s post-modern masala classic remains a towering achievement
LikeLiked by 2 people
MANK
November 15, 2019
Thanks Boss
LikeLiked by 1 person
MANK
November 15, 2019
A lot of people were asking about masala cinema. So I thought this film could be a perfect candidate to explain the universe. There are a lot more stuff to write about it, but it became very long. I’ll accommodate it when I write my next piece on a masala film😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jayram
November 15, 2019
MANK, what a exhausting, but fabulous tribute to masala cinema and Kamal. I guess you and I are probably among the few people here who are passionate about art (whether it’s movies or music) that we write long form without any care of length or the readers’ attention spans.
Your comment section in your blog doesn’t work, so I’m posting my question here. Where are the Kurma-Varaha references during the killings of the villains? You’ve only mentioned Matsya-Narasimha-Vamana. Is the ‘special’ circus gun meant to be Kurma or Varaha?
LikeLike
Madan
November 15, 2019
MANK: Brilliantly written. Especially:
“Just watch the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, in the early part of the film, turn into a maniac’s glint when he starts dispatching the villains or, the slang he adopts for the character that is, at once, very funny, sad and diabolical and that laugh, which is both cartoonish and demonic. There was an effortlessness and warmth to his performances during that period ,that got lost as he got more obsessed with delivering overwrought performances with their emphasis on heavy intellectualizing and even heavier prosthetic makeup. He just stopped having fun and providing fun after a point in his career. ” – Really couldn’t agree more. The last two lines echo the sentiment I expressed earlier in the article, reflecting on the pre-Nayakan phase. I guess you could say in AS, the fun side of Kamal was still well alive. But his essay of Appu the avenger was, if anything, even more relaxed and effortless. What makes that performance (my favourite of all of his performances) so memorable is indeed how cool, how ‘un-villain/anti hero’-like he is. The menace is always simmering within and never made bare in your face. It would have been unrealistic to play him like that, because he is a dwarf.
I completely did not pick upon on the many meta references you have mentioned. The beauty of this film is it can be viewed in many ways, at many levels. It is interesting you say that you chose this film as the perfect example to discuss the characteristics of masala. Because when I wrote about it a year ago, I described it as the apotheosis of masala.
LikeLiked by 1 person
MANK
November 15, 2019
Thanks Jayaram. I’ll try to fix the comments section on the blog. Regarding Varaha, partially yes. But I was going more for the fact that, in all those early Avatars, the Lord takes, or starts out as diminutive figures to do those great things. Kamal doesn’t exactly map out each one of them, but takes the basic elements of the mythology and play around with them, as he did with Hey Ram and Dasavatharam.
LikeLiked by 1 person
MANK
November 15, 2019
Thanks Madan. Yes the film opens itself to multiple readings, as a lot of Kamal films do. But first foremost, this film is thoroughly engrossing and entertaining. That’s a quality that a lot of the latter day Kamal films lack.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jayram
November 16, 2019
Thanks MANK. I think I see the Varaha reference: the ‘special’ circus gun which kills Sathyamoorthy can be a representative of the Sudarshana Chakra which can go in all directions and kills Hiranyaksha.
Madan, great write-up. I especially enjoyed the Appu 2.0 bit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan
November 16, 2019
Thanks Jayram.
LikeLike
MANK
November 16, 2019
Madan , regarding this
“The avenging angel theme here is in itself loaded and evokes shades of Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man roles. From Tall Bombay Star as Kamal sometimes snidely refers to him to dwarf, what are the parallels here?”
I did want to invoke this in my piece, but I thought it was already long. And also, Bachchan Vs Kamal discussions always gets very loaded. I feel that Kamal closely identifies with the dwarf character and that personal connect is very obvious in the characterisation and performance. He is himself rather short and his voice is weak, two things in which Bachchan towers over him and Bachchan is the prototype of all angry young man\masala heroes. I guess turning the Dwarf into the angry young is another of those meta concepts in the film. Remember, he was just coming off a disastrous stint in Hindi cinema. His last hindi film with Bachchan, Khabardaar, was shelved midway. Kamal has never been above using the film medium to get back at his detractors.😀
.
LikeLike
sai16vicky
November 17, 2019
@Madan: “If you take Nooravadhu Naal, the script is pretty taut for a Tamil film but add IR’s rip-roaring score to that and he gives you the illusion of watching a top notch Hollywood thriller.”
Oh yes :). One of my favorite scores of IR is that of ‘Tik Tik Tik’ — since it’s supposed to be a clocky thriller and all that, IR themes the score on time itself. It sounds sooo hip even by today’s standards (throw in ‘Idhu oru Nilakalaam’ and you know what I mean). IR being IR, this raciness extends to a song as well. I am talking about ‘Poo Malarndhida’, which makes Kamal and Madhavi rush to fall in love (they don’t have much time, after all).
LikeLiked by 1 person
sai16vicky
November 17, 2019
@Madan and @MANK: Great posts on one of the greatest masala movies. One last comment on ‘Nanna Jeeva Neenu’ — a Kannada friend of mine said when the movie (‘Geetha’) came out, the soundtrack was a huge craze. They hadn’t heard anything of that sorts! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
MANK
November 17, 2019
Thanks sai16vicky
And that’s good observation about Tik Tik Tik . That film is basically a series of jump cuts -all about manipulation of time. I feel that Bharatiraja was inspired by Antonioni’s Blow up, Kamal being a photographer and all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan
November 17, 2019
MANK: That is a brilliant meta read on the Appu character. Whether or not I completely agree with it, I do find it very convincing and plausible. It could also explain the uncanny passion with which he played the character. Come to think, I have rarely found his performances uncanny, for such a great actor, and that quality is very important to me. But it is there in this movie in spades. Like making up for all the other botched/overwrought azhugai scenes in other movies in just one role. The scene at the end of Unnai Ninachen where his body quivers and shakes vigorously behind the smiling clown mask is another combination of brilliant acting and direction.
sai16vicky: Interesting what you say about Nanna Jeeva Naanu. I have always felt there is a lurking Rajan-Nagendra influence in IR’s music (or, let’s say, one small aspect of it, like the soft romantic/pathos numbers) which nobody ever seems to talk about (well, not literally nobody, my father lived in Bangalore during the RN era and I learnt of this aspect only because he mentioned it to me). So it is striking to me that Naana Jeeva Naanu evoked such reactions there too, especially that song (as opposed to say a En Iniya Pon Nilave which was very different from anything else). It does have some of his most beautiful charanams though, so there’s that too.
LikeLike