Posted on November 7, 2022
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GALATTA TAMIL wanted to do something about Kamal Haasan’s birthday. So they asked Maathevan to chat with me. Maathevan structured the conversation around “Dasavatharam”, i.e. 10 avatars of Kamal Haasan in cinema. Here it is.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Yajiv
November 8, 2022
Great conversation! Happy Birthday to the Maestro.
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Macaulay Perapulla
November 9, 2022
The funny thing about listening to you talk about Kamal Hassan is that although we think we know what you talk about, having listened to your rhapsodies of Kamal’s brilliance ( my hallmark is how you wrote about the argument you had with a Kamalist on the underlying sexual tension in that great scene in Moondram pirai), like great actors and performers, you throw the last ball googly and we realize “Woww. I had never heard of this”. I am so glad Maathevan casually mentioned Nala Damayanthi. There is a nice blues song which Kamal would have sung. Thalaiivar pinni pedal eduthuruppaar. I so wish we celebrate such criminally underrated songs (criminally underrated music composer: Ramesh Vinayagam).
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Macaulay Perapulla
November 9, 2022
Stranded on the Streets
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Macaulay Perapulla
November 9, 2022
My favourite memory about Kamal Hassan: In Anbe Sivam, after the accident sequence, the character pulls his nerves around his neck. I later figured It’s a kinda psychological PTSD nerve response after a traumatic incident. I was so moved by that scene when I first watched it in theatre that subconsciously I started trying that on myself. Till date, I do that and see whenever I feel like acting out that scene when he walks and does that in front of the nurse.
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hari prasad
November 9, 2022
Speaking of Anbe Sivam , do you think the Nallasivam character would have worked even better without that long flashback?
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Macaulay Perapulla
November 9, 2022
Definitely no! That character’s flashback slowly opens up those wounds after we see the wounded self couching his pain with clever use of language. That scene when he throws stones at a puddle as an entry portal to that flashback is a classic flashback trope and yet it works so effectively in many levels. We are throwing stones at a puddle of water. We better get prepared for what will hit us in the gut!
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hari prasad
November 9, 2022
If Nallasivam didn’t have a flashback , then he would have been God Himself who comes down here and help Maddy become a better human being….
Of course , a communism speaking God would have been a nice Kamal touch and the climax where Kamal says to Santhana Bharathi that he won’t disturb him and walks alone would have hinted on a sequel that Nallasivam is gonna continue his mission to make people better.
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Macaulay Perapulla
November 9, 2022
@Hariprasad Interesting. I have to revisit the movie perhaps in my leisure time. To me, the flashback was the most powerful part where we see the scars he has been holding. Given what we know of what Kamal did during his proselytization phase, this adds a new subtext to the story. Something which I didn’t know when I first saw the movie several moons ago.
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Rocky
November 10, 2022
Happy Birthday Kamal sir. Thank you giving us gems like Iruvar, Nayakan, Saagar, Ek Dujey key Liye , Indian, Chachi 420, Sadma and above all Pushkar.
I would love to watch Dasavtaram but can’t seem to find it anywhere .
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hari prasad
November 10, 2022
Iruvar Kamal movie nahi hai boss..
Iruvar Mani Ratnam ka movie…
Dasavatharam is available on YouTube in Tamil , Telugu.
The Hindi version too is available , albeit in parts.
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Rocky
November 10, 2022
oops, my bad . I confused Kamal with Mohanlal.
Galtee sey mistake ho gaya .
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Rocky
November 10, 2022
I remember buying the DVD( copied) of Dasavtaram when it released but the print was really bad.
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Rocky
November 10, 2022
The scene in Saagar where Dimple tells him that she loves Rishi.. the changing expressions on Kamal’s face is like the master class in acting .
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Rocky
November 10, 2022
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dechaitanya
November 10, 2022
Are Kamal’s Telugu classics like Saagara Sangamam and Swathi Mutyam available in Tamil? Are they discussed at all?
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Honest Raj
November 10, 2022
@dechaitanya: Both are available in Tamil – Salangai Oli, the dubbed version of SS, was a superhit in TN back then. But his biggest hit in TN is Maro Charitra (in its original version).
We even used to have the audio cassette of Subha Sankalpam (it flopped here) at home.
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Honest Raj
November 10, 2022
About mass moments in Mahanadi, towards the end when Kamal confronts the “villain” and the latter, all of a sudden, starts to speak in English, he casually says: “Tamil medium la padichavan… Tamil-laye pesu”. In a way, it works nicely as a black-comedy too.
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