Kamal Hassan has finally done away with the 10 looks that he donned for his film Dashavtar.
He is now sitting calm as his beard grows and mind brims with ideas for his latest directorial venture—Marmayogi. This film will also be shot in Hindi and Tamil, a la Dashavtar and Dasavathaaram, directed by K S Ravikumar in both languages.
Businessofcinema.com spoke to the actor par excellence about his films.
Excerpts:
You have spent almost three years in the making of this film. How do you feel now that it is finally over?
I have spent 500 hours doing make up itself and it takes a lot of perseverance and belief in what you are doing to keep doing it. If I spent that much time inside a cockpit I would be a successful commercial pilot. I could have done three more films for the time I have spent in Dasavthar and could get three times the remuneration also.
What about roles involving different get ups and make up fascinates you?
Hindustani, Chachi 420, Dashavtar and so many more….
I think I learnt the tricks of the trade and aspire to be whatever I am from Late Mr Sivaji Ganesan’s performance. Then when I graduated enough to understand Hollywood–its ethos, performances and film making culture, I became a great fan of Marlin Brando, Peter Sellers, Stanley Kubrick, who have all inspired me.
My Guru, the make- up technician Micheal Werstmore is a master at teaching. He is the most important technician in the film because without him saying yes for the film, we couldn’t have gone ahead and written the whole script.
He is in the hall of fame in Hollywood boulevard. Out of the 25 years that I have known him, it is only for four years that his name was not nominated for the Emmy or Oscar.
Lord Vishnu too has ten avatars, so how is that linked to your film?
Lord Vishnu’s ten avatars are an inspiration, but our movie is not limited to that connotation only. When we started the movie we thought of doing something like Sivaji saab’s Navrathri and somebody suggested to us to remake it, but we wanted to use this idea as an inspiration only. So we thought of adding one more character and calling it Dasavtharam.
Why are you creating such suspense and not revealing the ten characters that you essay in the film?
Why does a magician never tell you his trick? (Laughs)
There have been talks of you and Rajnikant together in a film…
We keep talking about it… looks like we will just keep talking about it.
What do you think of the changing scenario in Bollywood?
I have been telling many of my friends that the Bombay film content is changing rapidly and especially the acting talent and technological skills which will give us (Tamil film industry) a run for money. The whole industry can become stronger and entertainment can become more appealing when even the smallest player does his part very well. And that, I see is happening in Bombay, much to our envy.
From the perspective of international standards, money and talent is being invested in the right direction and I feel that in two years from now nothing called Bollywood will exist.
