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Ali's Notes

Kamal ka ek aur kamaal
Some success stories simply baffle me. So I let them be and send up a prayer for their success stories to grow more and more successful in more ways than they already are -- the success story of Kamal Haasan is a classic example.

Kamal, it is said, started as a child artiste. He then graduated on his own, learning from his own experience, sweating and slogging it out steadily and was discovered as a leading man by his guru K Balachander. The Tamil industry found a brilliant actor and took him home for keeps, housed him in their hearts. That was the beginning of one of the greatest actors of the country, easily compared to the best in the world. His name soon spread far and wide. He then came to Hindi films with a bang and a great deal of promise with Ek Duuje Ke Liye. He soon had a number of films, was in demand, but the films when released failed to work. The magic he worked in Tamil films refused to work wonders for him in the Hindi films he did. Kamal couldn’t work his kamaal and he didn’t want to be ‘unwanted’, ‘unsold’ when he could be the sultan of his own empire. He went back and started work with a vengeance. He took Raj Kamal Films, his production banner, seriously. He produced a variety of films, divorced his first wife, Vani Ganpathy, married Sarika, the actress from Mumbai, had two children (two pretty girls), took to direction and made one significant film after another, films which were awaited by his fans, followers and rivals alike. Kamal has made fifteen films of his own and all of them have been films which have a touch of class, films that are not easy to make, films he has put his entire life into. Kamal has just completed Hey! Ram which certainly looks like a classic controversial film. He has a whole new look at Mahatma Gandhi, the Bapu of the Nation. It will soon be time for all the fake and not so fake and frankly fake followers of the father of the Nation (thank God, he’s not alive to cry over his beloved country today, a rotten pile of pieces) to think about Kamal. Kamal has never faced problems with the censors in any of his fifteen films but with Bapu, the father of the Nation who the nation frames in photographs, garlands with garlands made of sandal wood and paper which are changed once in a year or more, and remembered only twice a year and who has become a source of livelihood for all those petty politicians you can never say. But Kamal, the kamaal ka aadmi, knows what he has made and is not scared of any censors, if Satyamev Jayate is still the motto of mera Bharat mahaan.

Kamal is human
Talking about Kamal reminds me of his passion for perfection. He was very cautious (like he always is) when it came to selecting his artistes for Hey! Ram. He is playing Saket Ram. He always knew Naseeruddin Shah would make the best Gandhi ever seen on screen, the artiste who was born and destined to bring Bapu alive. Naseer was also keen on playing Gandhi "at some time or the other before I give up acting". That’s one of the reasons he grabbed the role in the controversial play, Gandhi Virudh Gandhi. Naseer did everything possible for an actor of his calibre to force Gandhi to live again, go through his much-talked about life all over again. Kamal chose Shah Rukh Khan to play a Pathan and Rani Mukerji to play a Bengali housewife and Hema Malini to play a South Indian, naturally. He made them perfectly aware of the roles they were to play and they have helped him make Hey! Ram a film "completely to my satisfaction".

Kamal was also very fond of Mohan Gokhale, the brilliant actor from Mumbai. He had seen him playing Gandhi in Dr Jabbar Patel’s film on Dr Ambedkar. He had a very different opinion and vision when he saw Mohan Gokhale. He decided he was the right man to play Nathuram Godse (the man who shot Gandhi) and Mohan Gokhale accepted the challenge. He was facing the challenge with full confidence, the kind of confidence that gladdened Kamal, the director. But then ruthless fate intervened. Mohan Gokhale suffered a major heart attack during the shooting and died even as the shooting of Hey! Ram was on. The film was delayed, the company had to face heavy losses but Kamal was made of rare stuff. He was not worried about the waste of time and money. He was more concerned about the death of a dear friend and a great actor. Kamal and Sarika made all arrangements for Mohan’s body to be flown home and the couple were present till all the funeral rites were completed. They had done their duty straight from the heart -- another Kamal, the real, humane Kamal in action. It is these great men who make life lovable, men who live to enrich life, to enlighten and enthrall and enhance every life even though it is through the medium of entertainment, entertainment, the best blessing man is gifted with.

Breaking records
Some staggering records created and broken by some men in the South -- records that can steal the thunder from some of the most talented men (and women) all over the world.

Kamal Haasan was given his first break by K Balachander. He has worked as the leading man in thirty-six films directed by Balachander. The discoverer demands. The discovered dare not turn down his demand out of love and respect.

Ilayaraja, the maestro who ruled Tamil films till AR Rahman and his music making machines rattled his empire has provided music for seven hundred and eighty six films in all. What a record! I wonder if anyone can break this record, a record created by sheer talent. Kamal’s Hey! Ram in Hindi and Tamil is his 785th and 786th film.

AR Rahman is the only music director who composes his music and works only after night, after the temptations of the day have faded away.

Dr D Rama Naidu, MP, the man behind Suresh Productions, has given breaks to twenty young different directors all of them successful.

The South has everything but female talent. Or why would it regularly fall for girls from Mumbai like Manisha Koirala, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen and all the rejects from Mumbai, girls like Simran, Sadhika and Monica Bedi. It all started with the late Divya Bharati, Khushboo, Tabu and the two beauty queens, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen. The grand-daughter of the legendary Suchitra Sen from Bengal, Sushmita Sen and daughter of Moon Moon Sen, Rhea, is already into films in the South. They reach there for fast money, fast fame and sometimes a good life. Their basic policy -- make the best of the best of the times even if they are asked to do the worst of things in the name of acting. The wads of notes is all that matters, will always matter. And nothing good can happen, nothing, sorry, to most of these girls from Mumbai.

‘DRN’, MP -- a new beginning
Good times seem to be kind to Dr D Rama Naidu, the benevolent big-time filmmaker from the South. What do you say about a man who came to films with nothing and gradually rose to become one of the most successful, the most ambitious and yet the most humble filmmakers in the country, making films in Telugu, Hindi, all the languages in the South, Bengal (the award-winning Asookh) and with the aim to make films in as many Indian languages as possible. Dr Naidu has just broken all records by crossing the hundred films mark -- a feat which probably, has not been achieved by any filmmaker anywhere -- a case fit for the Guinness Book of Records. Dr Naidu’s latest films have been big hits which have inspired him to go on making more and more "ambitious and meaningful films with all the elements of entertainment and a strong message with each of them."

Dr Naidu gradually decided to grow out of his ‘DRN’ empire and build another empire of another kind. He was elected the president of the Film Nagar in Hyderabad. He was not satisfied. He built quarters for his staff who were dedicated to him for years. He provided them with all the facilities, even an amusement park "to give them something to feel good about after all the hard work they put in. I would have liked to give the same comforts that the stars and directors get but I am happy that they are happy with whatever I have been able to do for them. I always wish I can do more for them because doing good for them is naturally doing good to me. They are happy, I am happy, everyone who works for Suresh Productions is happy."

Then came the expected which was also unexpected. ‘DRN’ was not interested in politics but it took him, the sensible and practical man that he is, very little time to realise that he could serve his people and the people of Andhra better if he had power and the most powerful power he realised was the power of politics. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was already wooing him to fight the elections to the Lok Sabha. ‘DRN’ found it difficult to make up his mind in the initial stages but he finally gave in. He fought with all his love and the blessings (and votes) of his people and won with a thumping majority. He was Dr D Rama Naidu, MP now and he knew his being elected gave him the power to speak out, to express his opinions, and to work harder for the welfare of his people.

But films will always be his first love. Even before he could ascend the steps leading to his seat in the Lok Sabha, he was in Mumbai, busy finalising his plans to start Aaghaaz (The Beginning), his new film in Hindi. He started off with the recording of two songs. "These days it is the music, the songs that make all the difference to a film whatever the kind of film. I am not the kind of producer who sits back and leaves eveything to the lyrcists, music directors and singers. Whatever they create has to satisfy me. How can I ask my audience to be satisfied otherwise? That’s the only reason why I have left all the excitement of my being elected a MP for the first time behind me and reached Mumbai to supervise these recordings. Filmmaking is my first priority, my first commitment. They have made me whatever I am today. No, no, I am not going to neglect my duties as MP. I will, in fact, go out of my way to do my best to satisfy all those people who have put so much trust in me," he says.

‘DRN’, the man rich with so many experiences is trying something "very different" this time. He has signed a new director, Yogesh Ishwar (one time assistant to Vidhu Vinod Chopra) to direct the Hindi version of Sivaiah, a successful film in Telugu. Sunil Shetty and Sushmita Sen team up for the first time. ‘DRN’ and his unit will start shooting soon -- regularly. His heart is in Parliament. His heart is with his people and their problems. And his heart is with his film, Aaghaaz. That’s why they call ‘DRN’, the man with a big heart, a man who cares to give more than take. His sons, Suresh who has mastered the art of filmmaking and Venkatesh, the actor, now accepted as the No.1 in Telugu films, are trying their best to follow their father. They want to. There’s no force. It proves how much their father has inspired them. The world needs more fathers like ‘DRN’ and sons like his sons, Suresh and Venkatesh, out to strive to make the world a better place.

V for Vani
It's a screaming shame to tell and show the world that we have an alarming scarcity of talent like we have a scarcity of so many other essential things of life. How can we, a mahaan country of a mahaan population which is promising (what a promise!) to touch hundred crores to welcome the new millennium say that in the realms of Hindi films we have just six male stars who are talented enough to flex their muscles, contort their faces and run round trees both in our mahaan country and abroad and five women who can only puff their faces, look pretty for a while, play petty games with the men and then fade away beyond places they can not be recognised? We have the talent, we have so much of it, but we don’t have the eyes to see it or we have eyes to see only talent that sells, talent that helps to make money, more and more money. Money, money, the market, nothing else matters. So who cares for talent if it doesn’t bring money with it? For the life of me I cannot believe that we have very little or no talent. Look around with your eyes wide open, look around with respect for talent and you will find talent everywhere, sheer talent like the glowing and growing talent of a young actress called Vani Tripathi. The talent she is blessed with is so much more than the so-called talented girls who are left loose to rule the world according to their own whims and fancies. Talent like Vani’s talent doesn’t sell itself, it doesn’t have agents and secretaries and sales representatives and PROs, it doesn’t stand in the market for buyers to ogle at and bargain for. It demands recognition on the strength of its sheer talent. Vani’s is the kind of talent that demands and deserves respect and must get it. Talent like Vani’s talent is exceptional, talent so very rare. Neglecting it, rejecting it, frustrating it is a national shame, a crime for which there is no suitable punishment.