Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan (born Parthasarathy Srinivasan on 7 November 1954)[4] is an Indian actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, choreographer, playback singer, lyricist, television presenter, social activist and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil, he has also appeared in some Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali films. Considered as one of the finest actors in Indian cinema, Haasan is also known for introducing many new film technologies and film making techniques to the Indian film industry.[5][6][7] He has won numerous accolades, including Four National Film Awards, Nine Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Four Nandi Awards, One Rashtrapati Award, Two Filmfare Awards and 17 Filmfare Awards South. He was awarded the Kalaimamani Award in 1984, the Padma Shri in 1990, the Padma Bhushan in 2014 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) in 2016.[8]
Kamal Haasan
Position established
Arunchalam
Arunchalam
Makkal Needhi Maiam (2018–present)
Gautami (2005–2016)
See Haasan family
- Actor
- Film director
- Film producer
- Choreographer
- Playback singer
- Lyricist
- Television presenter
- Social activist
- Politician
- Padma Shri (1990)
- Padma Bhushan (2014)
- Prix Henri-Langlois French Award (2016)
- Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) (2016)
Haasan started his career as a child artist in the 1960 Tamil film Kalathur Kannamma for which he won a President's Gold Medal. After a sabbatical, he received his breakthrough with the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal, directed by K. Balachander, in which he played a rebellious youth who falls in love with an older woman which earned him his first Filmfare Award. He earned three National Film Awards for Best Actor for his portrayal of a guileless youth who falls in love with a woman who suffers from retrograde amnesia in Moondram Pirai (1982), a ordinary slum dweller who rises to a position of a highly respected don in Nayakan (1987) and dual roles in Indian (1996). He further gained immense acclaim for his performances in Sagara Sangamam (1983), Swathi Muthyam (1986), Pushpaka Vimana (1987), Sathyaa (1988), Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989), Gunaa (1991), Thevar Magan (1992), Nammavar (1994), Mahanadhi (1994), Hey Ram (2000), Aalavandhan (2001), Anbe Sivam (2003), Virumaandi (2004), Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu (2006), Dasavathaaram (2008), in which he played ten roles, Vishwaroopam (2013), and Vikram (2022). His production company, Raaj Kamal Films International, has produced several of his films.
For his philanthropic efforts, Haasan received the first Abraham Kovoor National Award in 2004. He was project ambassador for the Hridayaragam 2010 event, which raised funds for an orphanage for HIV/AIDS-affected children. In September 2010, Haasan launched a children's cancer relief fund and gave roses to children with cancer at Sri Ramachandra University in Porur, Chennai. Haasan was nominated by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Swachh Bharat Mission. On 21 February 2018, Haasan formally launched his political party, Makkal Needhi Maiam (lit. People's Justice Centre).[9]
Personal life[edit]
Family[edit]
Haasan was born into a Tamil Iyengar family[109] in the town of Paramakudi, in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, to criminal defence lawyer D. Srinivasan and Rajalakshmi, a housewife.[110] During 2013 his daughter Shruti Haasan appeared on an episode of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi, where "phone a friend" option is availed to Shruti and when she called her father Kamal, he stated that his parents named him Parthasarathy before he was called as Kamal Haasan and his mother always used to call him by that name.[111] In an interview with Karan Thapar, Haasan said his father was literate in Sanskrit. Haasan was the youngest of four children; his siblings are Charuhasan, Chandrahasan and Nalini (Raghu). His two older brothers followed their father's example and studied law.[112] Haasan continued his education in Sir M.Ct. Muthiah Chettiar Boys Higher Secondary School[113] and Hindu Higher Secondary School in Madras (now Chennai).
Haasan has alluded to his parents in some of his works, notably Unnaipol Oruvan and in the song "Kallai Mattum" in Dasavathaaram.[114] His oldest brother Charuhasan, like Haasan, is a National Film Award-winning actor who appeared in the Kannada film Tabarana Kathe. Charuhasan's daughter Suhasini is also a National Film Award winner married to director (and fellow award-winner) Mani Ratnam, who collaborated with Haasan on 1987's Nayakan.[115] Chandrahasan has produced several of Haasan's films and was an executive with Raaj Kamal Films International, he died in March 2017.[116] Chandrahasan's daughter Anu Hasan has had supporting roles in several films, including Suhasini's Indira. Haasan's sister, Nalini Raghu, is a dance teacher for whom he named an auditorium (Nalini Mahal).[117] Her son, Gautham, played Haasan's grandson in "Hey Ram".