The HT gives a list of Kamal Hassan's all-time favorite films. Kamal Haasan's 70 favourite films include 8 Kannada films and two others from Karnataka... His Thevar Magan was inspired by a Kannada film directed by Girish Karnad! The latest favourite film of his is Thithi. Not at all surprised that the list has one TV serial ;)
Widely considered one of the finest actors in India, Kamal Haasan has straddled the world of Indian cinema like a colossus, doing path-breaking roles for more than 40 years, in over 200 films in different languages, from Tamil and Telugu to Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
So here they are: an interesting list of 70 films since 1947, in different Indian languages, 70 films that changed Kamal Haasan’s life.
Kunku (1937)
Marathi
A wonderful film, which was also released in Hindi as Duniya Na Mane. Kunku and Dr Kotnis ki Amar Kahani (1946) were even better than Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje.
Chandralekha (1948)
Tamil
This is the father and mother of films like Sholay. Its grandeur was like the films of Cecil B DeMille. It is the pride of Tamilians. It took the country by storm.
Parasakthi (1952)
Tamil
This film changed the texture of society. A star was born – the ease with which Sivaji Ganesan walked through the film! His peers paled into insignificance. The writer was Karunanidhi. It was a film about social anger. I saw it much later; I understood it only then.
Devadasu (1953)
Telugu
Before we realised that this was based on a Bengali novel, we only knew Nageswara Rao as Devdas. We were that parochial! We were surprised to hear later that Dilip saab had also played Devdas. The film ran in Chennai for nearly two years, that’s how popular it was.
Andha Naal (1954)
Tamil
Balachander was an extraordinary, multi-talented man. He played the veena – he was to the veena what Ravi Shankar was to the sitar. The film is reminiscent of the Japanese film Rashomon but you can’t really call it a take on that.
Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955)
Hindi
My father suggested I see the film and I saw it in the Eighties. It was a great dance film and I always thought I should do a great dance film to match it and that’s when I made Sagara Sangamam (1983) with K Vishwanath.
The Apu trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959)
Bengali
I sort of followed it like a horse with his first sugar cube, when you don’t know how to enjoy it because it’s such a new taste. Only after the second or third viewing did I understand it better. People would say, ‘You don’t know Satyajit Ray? What kind of film buff are you?’ We saw his films so as not to be insulted. Privately, among friends, we would admit that they were too slow. Only when we graduated to becoming better viewers did we learn to appreciate them. I revisited Ray’s films in the late Seventies. And the film that made me go back was Bhuvan Shome. These were like my private tuitions in cinema!
Mayabazar (1957)
Telugu
Well-planned film, taking a story from the Mahabharata and interpreting it in a novel way. Technically superior. There were a lot of special effects, very tedious to put together at that time. Every frame was wound once and then the object was moved. Only after it was moved 24 times did the movement become smooth. It had the great stars of south India, NT Rama Rao, SV Ranga Rao and Savitriji who had a fantastic role. I never thought I would ever act with her but I did, I played her son later in another film. I asked her to enact a scene from this film and she struck a pose to please me!
Ajantrik (1958)
Bengali
I would see films by Bresson and wonder why we never got that moment on film, without music, rhetoric, dialogue. And then I saw it in Ajantrik.
Kagaz Ke Phool (1959)
Hindi
I saw this at around the same time as I saw Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje and it left me with a heavy heart. I went into the history of the film and for many days I was so angry with Guru Dutt. Such a great artiste but such a weak man. Why did he commit suicide? When talking about him, my eyes would well up. I grieved for him 20 years after his death. The film was superior to what was being handed out to audiences at the time [in the Eighties.] It was not part of the Satyajit Ray school of filmmaking. It entertained me, it had Johnny Walker singing, but it never lost its gravitas. It changed my life, it reflected in my life later. Kagaz ke Phool and Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight (1952) found reflection in my film Sagara Sangamam.
Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960)
Bengali
This film was very much in the milieu of the suffering Indian woman. European audiences may not understand the film. Only when you know the Hindu undivided family will you understand the film. Meghe Dhaka Tara inspired K Balachander to make a sort of sister film in Tamil, about a working woman and her life.
Mughal-E-Azam (1960)
Hindi
When I take young actors to see this film, to show off Yusuf saab, they feel there’s no acting in the film! I tell them that the actors today are trying to do what Dilip saab did then. When Dilip Kumar and Prithviraj Kapoor meet, Anarkali can’t take the way they are looking at each other, the glare, and she faints. Today, an actor playing Prithviraj Kapoor would do something, bite his lips or do some other action, and Salim would raise his eyebrows or look defiant. But they did nothing of the sort. Incredible. They did tomorrow’s acting yesterday.
Ganga Jamuna (1961)
Hindi
I saw Ganga Jamuna after I acted in Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981). Javed saab [Javed Akhtar] gave me the names of Hindi films I should see and said Ganga Jamuna was high on that list. So I saw it and found it stunning. I was full of the film. For the times it was made in…I knew Dilip saab [Dilip Kumar] was a great actor but this film gave me another perspective on him. When I watched Ganga Jamuna for the second time, I liked the cutting of the film. I wanted to know who the editor was and I discovered it was a young man called Hrishikesh Mukherjee!
Chemmeen (1965)
Malayalam
Chemeen ceased to be a Malayalam film, it became the pride of south India, a national film. It’s a grown-up love story. The music by Salil Chowdhury, the editing by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the direction by Ramu Kariat…today it looks like a simple film. But it’s stunning.
Ennathan Mudivu (1965)
Tamil
Stunning film. The film starred Anjali Devi.
Padosan (1968)
Hindi
Hindi films never played in Chennai for many years because of the agitation against force-feeding the language to Tamilians. When I went to see Padosan, I went to protest against it – we had been told it was a film where South Indians were made fun of. We went in to agitate, came out smiling, as fans of Mehmood saab, imitating him. I told Mehmood saab this story many years later when I met him. And that’s how I started watching Hindi films again.
Sudigundalu (1968)
Telugu
Sudigundalu means whirlpool. It was a simple but very effective film about children who go out to swim. They start fighting, so when one child is drowning the others don’t come to his help. The child dies. Is it murder? Nageswara Rao played the judge whose child died. It was a very interesting film.
Bhuvan Shome (1969)
Bengali
I was taken aback by the film. It was such a stunning experience. The rail officer stuck in his job, Suhasini Mulay’s smile... It was like watching Raghu Rai’s pictures on screen, like they had become moving images. After this I saw Ray’s Ashani Sanket (1973). We were full of Ray and Mrinal Sen.Then my friends introduced me to Ritwik Ghatak’s Ajantrik and Meghe Dhaka Tara.
Samskara (1970)
Kannada
Strong film on caste, specifically the Brahmanical order. The film starred Girish Karnad, Snehlata Reddy and P Lankesh.
Anubhavangal Paalichakal (1971)
Malayalam
It was set in a jail. It had an astounding story with two of Malayalam cinema’s top stars. It was so suspenseful, so intriguing in the way it explored the human mind.
Tere Mere Sapne (1971)
Hindi
The film stayed with me. This was romance in the early Seventies, but the kind of characters you saw in this film were rare at the time -- like the alcoholic doctor. At that time, one was aching for films that would come close to Erich Segal’s Love Story. And Tere Mere Sapne was different, despite being a typical Hindi film. I was not interested in Aradhana (1969). Later there were other different films like Rajnigandha (197) but they didn’t change my perception. For me, Tere Mere Sapne became a primer to see better cinema. We graduated to better cinema because of such films. Otherwise, films by directors like Satyajit Ray would have remained boxes to tick off on a to-do list.
Pakeezah (1972)
Hindi
People talked about the big set of that one street, but I was overcome by the content and the way the story was narrated, including the music. The out of focus dancing figure in the titles – iconic. The whistling train in the background gave the film its melancholy. You took the gloom of the film back home with you.
Vamsha Vriksha (1972)
Kannada
This is a very important film because of its depiction of the Brahmanical order. The film starred Venkata Rao Talegiri, LV Sharada Rao, BV Karanth.
Achanak (1973)
Hindi
I was floored by this film. I saw it thrice in quick succession. I became like a tourist guide to Achanak for my friends.
Garam Hawa (1973)
Hindi
This was the first film to make an actual statement, to talk about something that was always swept under the carpet. It wasn’t talking about Hindus and Muslims in a song, like in Amar Akbar Anthony. Escapist cinema often gave me no pleasure. I’m selfish as a film goer. I want a film to change my life.
Kaadu (1973)
Kannada
It was a film about an ordinary village feud, where two men share the same women, and how it escalates into bloodshed and making children orphans. And this happens in modern India. My film Thevar Magan was inspired by this film.
Nirmalyam (1973)
Malayalam
What a film! I saw it twice on two successive days. I don’t think Malayalam cinema will dare to make a film like that again. The film revolved around a neglected temple and the people dependent on it.
Ankur (1974)
Hindi
Without Benegal, I wouldn’t have appreciated Satyajit Ray. Benegal saab was like a professor for me. Ankur became a very important film for me. I took my guru K Balachander to see it. He was astounded by the clarity of thought in the film. The film made him a lifetime fan of Benegal saab. Ankur didn’t just launch the parallel cinema movement, it launched a movement for cinema itself. It was so gently told. No one was falling off horses. There were no bandits.
Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu (1974)
Kannada
Though this was a commercial film, it was done on a scale that only big Hollywood directors would think of. So much hard work went into the film.
Aval Oru Thodal Kathai* (1974)
Tamil
Probably my mentor was influenced by Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara and a Tamil short story by my friend MS Perumal. He created a third vision, his own. I got a cameo role in the film. Everyone who acted in important roles in the film became stars. My role grew as the film was being made. I think my relationship with my mentor was solidifying from this film step by step. I played a mimicry artist and a broken-hearted lover.
Apoorva Raagangal* (1975)
Tamil
I got my break with this film. It was a strange story and the characters played by me and Srividya fall in love and the actors playing them fell in love too. It had fantastic music. I learnt to play the mridangam for the film.
Chomana Dudi (1975)
Kannada
This film is about the plight of a low-caste farmer, about neglect and lack of empathy, and it’s as relevant today as it was back then.
Hamsageethe (1975)
Kannada
This is a film about a great musician, like Amadeus Mozart. It was an inspiring challenge to other filmmakers.
Sholay (1975)
Hindi
There is a reticence to accept something that is extraordinarily popular. When I saw Sholay, I thought oh I could have made it if I had the money. But when we had the money, we discovered how tough it was. Ramesh Sippy pulled the film off at the peak of the star system rearing its ugly head. Also, it’s easy to say that Sholay was based on Sergio Leone’s films. But how do you translate Sergio Leone on screen in India? We understood the value of Sholay when Satyajit Ray spoke about it. I re-viewed the film and lost my hubris. It was the execution that was flawless. Cinema is like politics – sometimes you come to a film with the best of intentions but it ends badly. Javed saab’s Gabbar Singh was a very important character (though at that time Amitji and Dharamji were my favourites).
Harmonium (1976)
Bengali
This was a very interesting film. Not an iconic film or anything, but a simple story about a harmonium. Very Indian but very international in its texture and narrative. Watching the film is like listening to a folk singer.
Swapnadanam (1976)
Malayalam
I am a fan of the film! It can be described as a marital psychodrama.
Manmadha Leelai* (1976)
Tamil and Telugu
This film confirmed my status as prince-in-waiting in Mr K Balachander's monarchy. It was the role of an incurable married womaniser who is trying to kick his habit. It opened the gates to Telugu cinema for me. The dubbed Telugu version did better than the Tamil original.
16 Vayathinile* (1977)
Tamil
This film changed the Tamil film industry. I played the village idiot. Everyone who acted in this film became a big star. Bharathiraja took the Tamil industry by storm with this film. It was remade into Hindi as Solvaa Sawan (1979).
Avargal* (1977)
Tamil
This is a very important film by Balachander, far better than anything he had done so far. There was great peer pressure from Bengal, from Shyam Benegal, and what a beautiful film came out of that peer pressure.
Ghatashraddha (1977)
Kannada
Powerful film about widowhood. My own grandmother became a widow in her early 30s and lived till the age of 99. To us children, she was just a grumpy old woman, but what kind of a life would she have led? Though she never complained. While she was alive, Mrs Gandhi was the Prime Minister; she must have wondered, what have I done with my life? Ghatashraddha evoked images of my grandmother for me.
Kodiyettam (1977)
Malayalam
Adoor has made so many beautiful films but the simplicity of Kodiyettam is unsurpassed.
Manavoori Pandavulu (1978)
Telugu
This was a modern version of the story of the Pandavas. Later Bapu also remade it into a Hindi film Hum Paanch (1980). But I think the Telugu one was more original, done differently. The director was a famous cartoonist and caricaturist. He also drew pictures for short stories, he was a great illustrator. So the frames in his film were very aesthetic. I learnt a lot about framing from him. Though we never worked together, I admired him and he liked me.
Maro Charitra* (1978)
Telugu
This was the original for Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981), which was also directed by K Balachander. The Telugu film ran in Chennai for two years. Here the boy was Tamil, the girl Telugu. It was in black and white and I preferred it. The Hindi version was a little flashier when it came to the clothes and so on, it had a Punjabi girl and a Tamil boy. The Maro Charitra heroine (Saritha) was simple-looking but a fantastic performer. I liked the music. It challenged us to have good songs in the Hindi remake too.
Red Rose* (1978)
Tamil
Bharathiraja who was called ‘Village Raja’ because he never made urban films, surprised everyone by coming up with this film of a psychopath. Stylish killers roamed the screen after that. The film was dark, but every viewer has a little bit of anger in them.
Sommokadidi Sokokadidi* (1978)
Telugu
This was the first time I worked with Singeetam saab. We continued to do films for many years. Each film we did was remembered. Our duet started with this film. It had subdued humour which was very new to Telugu cinema. In this film, the protagonist himself was funny. It had a Wodehousian kind of humour. It came much before Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1983). It was not over the top like Padosan (1968). Here, everyone was trying to be serious but making you laugh. It became a big hit and is still remembered. It was like a big, satisfying dessert.
Moondram Pirai* (1980)
Tamil
Balu and me used to keep talking about changing the style of making films, changing the colours…Balu walked the talk in this film.
Sankarabharnam (1980)
Telugu
The film became a trendsetter in Telugu cinema. It was a close relative of Kannada film Hamsageethe (1975) in terms of the music and its rendering. Balu Mahendra did the cinematography, he was the start cinematographer of his time. I wish I had been part of this film. I don’t know what I would have played though. My angst at not being part of this great film was later satisfied in Sagara Sangamam.
Amavasya Chandrudu* (1981)
Telugu
This was a fantastic experience. I wrote the Tamil version of this film, in collaboration with the Telugu writer who came up with lots of new ideas. It was a nice, happy tussle. The Tamil version is Raja Paarvai, but I thought the Telugu version was better. The protagonist is a proud blind man who doesn’t seek any sympathy.
Ee Nadu (1982)
Malayalam
It’s brilliant for its multi-level narrative. T Damodaran was a schoolteacher-turned screenplay writer. One of the best films made by IV Sasi.
Ardh Satya (1983)
Hindi
The writer of the film, the director of the film, the actors… all of them made the film work. I had just released Sagara Sangamam and I was in contention for the National Award. But when Om Puri’s name was announced, I didn’t feel bad. I felt it was important that he should get the award. We became friends.
Masoom (1983)
Hindi
Shekhar and me have discussed hundreds of films but we never worked in a film together. I saw Masoom with Amitji and Jayaji and what surprised me about the film was how much it affected all of us.
Sagara Sangamam* (1983)
Telugu
Here we tried to combine Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955) and Kagaz ke Phool (1959). Ilaiyaraaja did the music. A number of people helped me with the dance choreography in the film. The great Gopi Krishna was one of them. The film wasn’t just about dance, it was also very emotional. It had Jaya Prada who is not only very beautiful but gave a memorable performance. All the performances were very original because K Vishwanath is very good with actors. He does extremely minute extraction of work. Many men started learning dance after Sagara Sangamam! All films wanted to have a climax like this film had. Even in later years, if it was showing on TV, K Vishwanath would call me and ask, ‘Did we do it? How did we do it?’ It had music, dance, emotion – everything fell into place. We didn’t have the kind of budgets films have now, but even so...
Malgudi Days (1986)
Hindi
I know this was a TV series but it was made on film so I’m including it here. Indeed, I wish someone would cut it and make it into a proper film one day. You never think certain books can be made into films. But this achieved that perfectly.
Naamukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal (1986)
Malayalam
I was green with jealousy when I watched this film, it was so simple but so good. It is a romance drama.
Swati Mutyam* (1986)
Telugu
For the next film we did together, K Vishwanath said I want a few days with you. We went away together to Bangalore where we wrote the story. I am not a writer, so you could say I helped in creating the story. He gave me that space. I’m very proud of it. Nine years later, Hollywood made a very similar film, Forrest Gump. Somewhere, our film was very universal. We were on an international level in terms of mindset. It strengthened my resolve to do sensible films.
Nayakan* (1987)
Tamil
This film was a dream come true. Mani Ratnam used to come over and we would talk about cinema, discuss other people’s work condescendingly (he was also from a film family). We were trying to do a film which was not there in the menu of that time. The producer didn’t understand the kind of film we were trying to make. It was uphill all the way but we managed. The rest is history. Everything fell into place. Everyone was involved in the film and on the set even when they were not needed, including me. The person who threw the fridge from a window to the ground was proud of having thrown the fridge because that became an iconic shot in the film.
Pushpak* (1987)
silent film
This film was a lesson in the art of screenplay writing and the redundancy of dialogue. When Singeetam saab brought the subject to me, it was a tragic story. Together we watched Chaplin and decided it should be tragic-comic.
Thaniyavarthanam (1987)
Malayalam
This is a film about mental health and how the responsibility lies in everyone’s hands. It doesn’t talk directly about superstition, but in the end makes you very angry. My friend Mammootty did a brilliant job in the film.
Apoorva Sagotharargal* (1989)
Tamil
Only a man like my brother Chandrahasan would have agreed to be part of this mad adventure. Singeetam Srinivasa Rao the director and my brother indulged all my epiphanies at the cost of the budget and their patience. They believed I had the technique of playing the midget under my belt. The truth was I didn’t. Their trust in me gave me sleepless nights. Many a time I thought of telling them the truth and surrendering to failure. I thought both Peter’s principle and Murphy’s law had partnered to finish me off. One day I got up to confess and in the long-winded preface to my confession I actually came up with possible ideas. So I didn’t confess. I kept my face confident. This was the case of the actor succeeding even before the camera rolled.
Thevar Magan* (1992)
Tamil
I was challenged to write it in 12 days. I wrote it in seven. The casting of the film was done against everyone else’s suggestion. Wrong advisors are sometimes the reason for the right decisions, and sometimes complacency.
Drohkaal (1994)
Hindi
I liked the film so much I told Govindji I wanted to remake the film immediately after I came out of the theatre. I made it in Tamil and though I rewrote it I invited him for the premiere and introduced him as the writer. I was so proud of him and his work.
Mahanadi* (1994)
Tamil
I have never spoken of what prompted me to write Mahanadi. Now my daughters are old enough to understand the ways of this world I can ...I guess. My household help, all of them, conspired to kidnap my daughter for ransom. They even did a dry run. By accident I discovered their plan. I was angry, unnerved and ready to kill for my baby's safety. But I saw sense in time. I was to write a new script and I kept delaying it for a month. Later when I sat down to write, the script wrote itself ....maybe assisted by my fear, apprehension and paranoia.
Hey Ram* (2000)
Hindi and Tamil
This film stripped me of all my extra hubris, stripped me to the bone. With all its scars and weaknesses, I could still say I was a proud Indian. In this film, I fell in love with the idea of Gandhi and the spirit of Saadat Hasan Manto. I was introduced to Manto, who is my guru, much after his death. But my pen is filled with Manto saab’s ink. In a tangential way, the film celebrated my hero, Gandhi. It was like a love-hate relationship when you tear off the leaves of a flower and say, love-me-love-me-not… I ended up with I love him and he loves me. Gandhi prescribed ahimsa for everyone, but ahimsa is not everyone’s cup of tea. To truly believe in ahimsa takes a lot of guts. Ahimsa is actually the height of valour.
Anbe Sivam* (2003)
Tamil
I loved writing this film. The writing was good enough to help a director who has not done this kind of film before and may be never will. Yet I wish he would!
Virumaandi* (2004)
Tamil
This film talks about capital punishment. I changed my style, it was a little more complete as a film.
Dasavathaaram* (2008)
Tamil
My love for Mr Paul Thomas Anderson comprises love and hate. I would kill to make the kind of movies he makes. I chose the non-violent part. I made a film similar to his. Dasavathaaram was that film. I made it worthy of a preview that he might enjoy (and me too), without any guilt of copyright infringement.
Vishwaroopam* (2013)
Hindi and Tamil
This was more of a Hindi film subject than a Tamil subject. I wish more people had seen the film. But it made me stronger.
Manam (2014)
Telugu
This is a very special film. I started as a dance assistant in Telugu films and my hero was superstar Nageswara Rao. They would often call me to choreograph for him. He saw me go from that to an actor to a star. He did this film after he realised he had cancer. The film is about an old man about to die. Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna and his son Naga Chaitanya acted in it. The film was like a send-off to the father. It was a big success. All of Andhra Pradesh went and saw the film. More than a movie, it became like a legacy. Nageswara Rao came to Chennai to celebrate his 90th birthday and the whole industry gathered to greet him. I remember feeding him birthday cake. It’s difficult to say where the film ends and where real life begins. I celebrate the film because of the spirit in which it was made.
Dangal (2016)
Hindi
It has all the beauty of commercial cinema. It reminded me of Rocky, but it’s a sports film of a different kind. It was so beautiful, it reminded me that I could still be a film fan.
Thithi (2016)
Kannada
There is a beauty in this film, a transparency, like a candid camera. It is the story of three generations of a family reacting to the death of their 101-year-old patriarch.
Note: Movies in which Kamal Haasan was involved are marked with *
How the list was curated
Naturally, the task of selecting just 70 films is daunting. Kamal Haasan clarifies that he is not a film scholar. “I can only choose from the films I have seen,” says the actor with four National Awards under his belt. “And naturally I have not seen every good film.” He says he can only include films that changed his life, as a man, as an actor. “This is not a bucket list – 70 films you should see before you die. I’m not trying to recommend movies, or impose my choices on other people. Films are my profession, my life. The way I react to a film will be different from the way other people would. I’m sure I will probably notice nuances other people may not. Finally, it’s like falling in love! Why do you fall in love with someone? Who knows? It’s the same with movies.”
Widely considered one of the finest actors in India, Kamal Haasan has straddled the world of Indian cinema like a colossus, doing path-breaking roles for more than 40 years, in over 200 films in different languages, from Tamil and Telugu to Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
So here they are: an interesting list of 70 films since 1947, in different Indian languages, 70 films that changed Kamal Haasan’s life.
Kunku (1937)
Marathi
A wonderful film, which was also released in Hindi as Duniya Na Mane. Kunku and Dr Kotnis ki Amar Kahani (1946) were even better than Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje.
Chandralekha (1948)
Tamil
This is the father and mother of films like Sholay. Its grandeur was like the films of Cecil B DeMille. It is the pride of Tamilians. It took the country by storm.
Parasakthi (1952)
Tamil
This film changed the texture of society. A star was born – the ease with which Sivaji Ganesan walked through the film! His peers paled into insignificance. The writer was Karunanidhi. It was a film about social anger. I saw it much later; I understood it only then.
Devadasu (1953)
Telugu
Before we realised that this was based on a Bengali novel, we only knew Nageswara Rao as Devdas. We were that parochial! We were surprised to hear later that Dilip saab had also played Devdas. The film ran in Chennai for nearly two years, that’s how popular it was.
Andha Naal (1954)
Tamil
Balachander was an extraordinary, multi-talented man. He played the veena – he was to the veena what Ravi Shankar was to the sitar. The film is reminiscent of the Japanese film Rashomon but you can’t really call it a take on that.
Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955)
Hindi
My father suggested I see the film and I saw it in the Eighties. It was a great dance film and I always thought I should do a great dance film to match it and that’s when I made Sagara Sangamam (1983) with K Vishwanath.
The Apu trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959)
Bengali
I sort of followed it like a horse with his first sugar cube, when you don’t know how to enjoy it because it’s such a new taste. Only after the second or third viewing did I understand it better. People would say, ‘You don’t know Satyajit Ray? What kind of film buff are you?’ We saw his films so as not to be insulted. Privately, among friends, we would admit that they were too slow. Only when we graduated to becoming better viewers did we learn to appreciate them. I revisited Ray’s films in the late Seventies. And the film that made me go back was Bhuvan Shome. These were like my private tuitions in cinema!
Mayabazar (1957)
Telugu
Well-planned film, taking a story from the Mahabharata and interpreting it in a novel way. Technically superior. There were a lot of special effects, very tedious to put together at that time. Every frame was wound once and then the object was moved. Only after it was moved 24 times did the movement become smooth. It had the great stars of south India, NT Rama Rao, SV Ranga Rao and Savitriji who had a fantastic role. I never thought I would ever act with her but I did, I played her son later in another film. I asked her to enact a scene from this film and she struck a pose to please me!
Ajantrik (1958)
Bengali
I would see films by Bresson and wonder why we never got that moment on film, without music, rhetoric, dialogue. And then I saw it in Ajantrik.
Kagaz Ke Phool (1959)
Hindi
I saw this at around the same time as I saw Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje and it left me with a heavy heart. I went into the history of the film and for many days I was so angry with Guru Dutt. Such a great artiste but such a weak man. Why did he commit suicide? When talking about him, my eyes would well up. I grieved for him 20 years after his death. The film was superior to what was being handed out to audiences at the time [in the Eighties.] It was not part of the Satyajit Ray school of filmmaking. It entertained me, it had Johnny Walker singing, but it never lost its gravitas. It changed my life, it reflected in my life later. Kagaz ke Phool and Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight (1952) found reflection in my film Sagara Sangamam.
Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960)
Bengali
This film was very much in the milieu of the suffering Indian woman. European audiences may not understand the film. Only when you know the Hindu undivided family will you understand the film. Meghe Dhaka Tara inspired K Balachander to make a sort of sister film in Tamil, about a working woman and her life.
Mughal-E-Azam (1960)
Hindi
When I take young actors to see this film, to show off Yusuf saab, they feel there’s no acting in the film! I tell them that the actors today are trying to do what Dilip saab did then. When Dilip Kumar and Prithviraj Kapoor meet, Anarkali can’t take the way they are looking at each other, the glare, and she faints. Today, an actor playing Prithviraj Kapoor would do something, bite his lips or do some other action, and Salim would raise his eyebrows or look defiant. But they did nothing of the sort. Incredible. They did tomorrow’s acting yesterday.
Ganga Jamuna (1961)
Hindi
I saw Ganga Jamuna after I acted in Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981). Javed saab [Javed Akhtar] gave me the names of Hindi films I should see and said Ganga Jamuna was high on that list. So I saw it and found it stunning. I was full of the film. For the times it was made in…I knew Dilip saab [Dilip Kumar] was a great actor but this film gave me another perspective on him. When I watched Ganga Jamuna for the second time, I liked the cutting of the film. I wanted to know who the editor was and I discovered it was a young man called Hrishikesh Mukherjee!
Chemmeen (1965)
Malayalam
Chemeen ceased to be a Malayalam film, it became the pride of south India, a national film. It’s a grown-up love story. The music by Salil Chowdhury, the editing by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the direction by Ramu Kariat…today it looks like a simple film. But it’s stunning.
Ennathan Mudivu (1965)
Tamil
Stunning film. The film starred Anjali Devi.
Padosan (1968)
Hindi
Hindi films never played in Chennai for many years because of the agitation against force-feeding the language to Tamilians. When I went to see Padosan, I went to protest against it – we had been told it was a film where South Indians were made fun of. We went in to agitate, came out smiling, as fans of Mehmood saab, imitating him. I told Mehmood saab this story many years later when I met him. And that’s how I started watching Hindi films again.
Sudigundalu (1968)
Telugu
Sudigundalu means whirlpool. It was a simple but very effective film about children who go out to swim. They start fighting, so when one child is drowning the others don’t come to his help. The child dies. Is it murder? Nageswara Rao played the judge whose child died. It was a very interesting film.
Bhuvan Shome (1969)
Bengali
I was taken aback by the film. It was such a stunning experience. The rail officer stuck in his job, Suhasini Mulay’s smile... It was like watching Raghu Rai’s pictures on screen, like they had become moving images. After this I saw Ray’s Ashani Sanket (1973). We were full of Ray and Mrinal Sen.Then my friends introduced me to Ritwik Ghatak’s Ajantrik and Meghe Dhaka Tara.
Samskara (1970)
Kannada
Strong film on caste, specifically the Brahmanical order. The film starred Girish Karnad, Snehlata Reddy and P Lankesh.
Anubhavangal Paalichakal (1971)
Malayalam
It was set in a jail. It had an astounding story with two of Malayalam cinema’s top stars. It was so suspenseful, so intriguing in the way it explored the human mind.
Tere Mere Sapne (1971)
Hindi
The film stayed with me. This was romance in the early Seventies, but the kind of characters you saw in this film were rare at the time -- like the alcoholic doctor. At that time, one was aching for films that would come close to Erich Segal’s Love Story. And Tere Mere Sapne was different, despite being a typical Hindi film. I was not interested in Aradhana (1969). Later there were other different films like Rajnigandha (197) but they didn’t change my perception. For me, Tere Mere Sapne became a primer to see better cinema. We graduated to better cinema because of such films. Otherwise, films by directors like Satyajit Ray would have remained boxes to tick off on a to-do list.
Pakeezah (1972)
Hindi
People talked about the big set of that one street, but I was overcome by the content and the way the story was narrated, including the music. The out of focus dancing figure in the titles – iconic. The whistling train in the background gave the film its melancholy. You took the gloom of the film back home with you.
Vamsha Vriksha (1972)
Kannada
This is a very important film because of its depiction of the Brahmanical order. The film starred Venkata Rao Talegiri, LV Sharada Rao, BV Karanth.
Achanak (1973)
Hindi
I was floored by this film. I saw it thrice in quick succession. I became like a tourist guide to Achanak for my friends.
Garam Hawa (1973)
Hindi
This was the first film to make an actual statement, to talk about something that was always swept under the carpet. It wasn’t talking about Hindus and Muslims in a song, like in Amar Akbar Anthony. Escapist cinema often gave me no pleasure. I’m selfish as a film goer. I want a film to change my life.
Kaadu (1973)
Kannada
It was a film about an ordinary village feud, where two men share the same women, and how it escalates into bloodshed and making children orphans. And this happens in modern India. My film Thevar Magan was inspired by this film.
Nirmalyam (1973)
Malayalam
What a film! I saw it twice on two successive days. I don’t think Malayalam cinema will dare to make a film like that again. The film revolved around a neglected temple and the people dependent on it.
Ankur (1974)
Hindi
Without Benegal, I wouldn’t have appreciated Satyajit Ray. Benegal saab was like a professor for me. Ankur became a very important film for me. I took my guru K Balachander to see it. He was astounded by the clarity of thought in the film. The film made him a lifetime fan of Benegal saab. Ankur didn’t just launch the parallel cinema movement, it launched a movement for cinema itself. It was so gently told. No one was falling off horses. There were no bandits.
Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu (1974)
Kannada
Though this was a commercial film, it was done on a scale that only big Hollywood directors would think of. So much hard work went into the film.
Aval Oru Thodal Kathai* (1974)
Tamil
Probably my mentor was influenced by Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara and a Tamil short story by my friend MS Perumal. He created a third vision, his own. I got a cameo role in the film. Everyone who acted in important roles in the film became stars. My role grew as the film was being made. I think my relationship with my mentor was solidifying from this film step by step. I played a mimicry artist and a broken-hearted lover.
Apoorva Raagangal* (1975)
Tamil
I got my break with this film. It was a strange story and the characters played by me and Srividya fall in love and the actors playing them fell in love too. It had fantastic music. I learnt to play the mridangam for the film.
Chomana Dudi (1975)
Kannada
This film is about the plight of a low-caste farmer, about neglect and lack of empathy, and it’s as relevant today as it was back then.
Hamsageethe (1975)
Kannada
This is a film about a great musician, like Amadeus Mozart. It was an inspiring challenge to other filmmakers.
Sholay (1975)
Hindi
There is a reticence to accept something that is extraordinarily popular. When I saw Sholay, I thought oh I could have made it if I had the money. But when we had the money, we discovered how tough it was. Ramesh Sippy pulled the film off at the peak of the star system rearing its ugly head. Also, it’s easy to say that Sholay was based on Sergio Leone’s films. But how do you translate Sergio Leone on screen in India? We understood the value of Sholay when Satyajit Ray spoke about it. I re-viewed the film and lost my hubris. It was the execution that was flawless. Cinema is like politics – sometimes you come to a film with the best of intentions but it ends badly. Javed saab’s Gabbar Singh was a very important character (though at that time Amitji and Dharamji were my favourites).
Harmonium (1976)
Bengali
This was a very interesting film. Not an iconic film or anything, but a simple story about a harmonium. Very Indian but very international in its texture and narrative. Watching the film is like listening to a folk singer.
Swapnadanam (1976)
Malayalam
I am a fan of the film! It can be described as a marital psychodrama.
Manmadha Leelai* (1976)
Tamil and Telugu
This film confirmed my status as prince-in-waiting in Mr K Balachander's monarchy. It was the role of an incurable married womaniser who is trying to kick his habit. It opened the gates to Telugu cinema for me. The dubbed Telugu version did better than the Tamil original.
16 Vayathinile* (1977)
Tamil
This film changed the Tamil film industry. I played the village idiot. Everyone who acted in this film became a big star. Bharathiraja took the Tamil industry by storm with this film. It was remade into Hindi as Solvaa Sawan (1979).
Avargal* (1977)
Tamil
This is a very important film by Balachander, far better than anything he had done so far. There was great peer pressure from Bengal, from Shyam Benegal, and what a beautiful film came out of that peer pressure.
Ghatashraddha (1977)
Kannada
Powerful film about widowhood. My own grandmother became a widow in her early 30s and lived till the age of 99. To us children, she was just a grumpy old woman, but what kind of a life would she have led? Though she never complained. While she was alive, Mrs Gandhi was the Prime Minister; she must have wondered, what have I done with my life? Ghatashraddha evoked images of my grandmother for me.
Kodiyettam (1977)
Malayalam
Adoor has made so many beautiful films but the simplicity of Kodiyettam is unsurpassed.
Manavoori Pandavulu (1978)
Telugu
This was a modern version of the story of the Pandavas. Later Bapu also remade it into a Hindi film Hum Paanch (1980). But I think the Telugu one was more original, done differently. The director was a famous cartoonist and caricaturist. He also drew pictures for short stories, he was a great illustrator. So the frames in his film were very aesthetic. I learnt a lot about framing from him. Though we never worked together, I admired him and he liked me.
Maro Charitra* (1978)
Telugu
This was the original for Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981), which was also directed by K Balachander. The Telugu film ran in Chennai for two years. Here the boy was Tamil, the girl Telugu. It was in black and white and I preferred it. The Hindi version was a little flashier when it came to the clothes and so on, it had a Punjabi girl and a Tamil boy. The Maro Charitra heroine (Saritha) was simple-looking but a fantastic performer. I liked the music. It challenged us to have good songs in the Hindi remake too.
Red Rose* (1978)
Tamil
Bharathiraja who was called ‘Village Raja’ because he never made urban films, surprised everyone by coming up with this film of a psychopath. Stylish killers roamed the screen after that. The film was dark, but every viewer has a little bit of anger in them.
Sommokadidi Sokokadidi* (1978)
Telugu
This was the first time I worked with Singeetam saab. We continued to do films for many years. Each film we did was remembered. Our duet started with this film. It had subdued humour which was very new to Telugu cinema. In this film, the protagonist himself was funny. It had a Wodehousian kind of humour. It came much before Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1983). It was not over the top like Padosan (1968). Here, everyone was trying to be serious but making you laugh. It became a big hit and is still remembered. It was like a big, satisfying dessert.
Moondram Pirai* (1980)
Tamil
Balu and me used to keep talking about changing the style of making films, changing the colours…Balu walked the talk in this film.
Sankarabharnam (1980)
Telugu
The film became a trendsetter in Telugu cinema. It was a close relative of Kannada film Hamsageethe (1975) in terms of the music and its rendering. Balu Mahendra did the cinematography, he was the start cinematographer of his time. I wish I had been part of this film. I don’t know what I would have played though. My angst at not being part of this great film was later satisfied in Sagara Sangamam.
Amavasya Chandrudu* (1981)
Telugu
This was a fantastic experience. I wrote the Tamil version of this film, in collaboration with the Telugu writer who came up with lots of new ideas. It was a nice, happy tussle. The Tamil version is Raja Paarvai, but I thought the Telugu version was better. The protagonist is a proud blind man who doesn’t seek any sympathy.
Ee Nadu (1982)
Malayalam
It’s brilliant for its multi-level narrative. T Damodaran was a schoolteacher-turned screenplay writer. One of the best films made by IV Sasi.
Ardh Satya (1983)
Hindi
The writer of the film, the director of the film, the actors… all of them made the film work. I had just released Sagara Sangamam and I was in contention for the National Award. But when Om Puri’s name was announced, I didn’t feel bad. I felt it was important that he should get the award. We became friends.
Masoom (1983)
Hindi
Shekhar and me have discussed hundreds of films but we never worked in a film together. I saw Masoom with Amitji and Jayaji and what surprised me about the film was how much it affected all of us.
Sagara Sangamam* (1983)
Telugu
Here we tried to combine Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955) and Kagaz ke Phool (1959). Ilaiyaraaja did the music. A number of people helped me with the dance choreography in the film. The great Gopi Krishna was one of them. The film wasn’t just about dance, it was also very emotional. It had Jaya Prada who is not only very beautiful but gave a memorable performance. All the performances were very original because K Vishwanath is very good with actors. He does extremely minute extraction of work. Many men started learning dance after Sagara Sangamam! All films wanted to have a climax like this film had. Even in later years, if it was showing on TV, K Vishwanath would call me and ask, ‘Did we do it? How did we do it?’ It had music, dance, emotion – everything fell into place. We didn’t have the kind of budgets films have now, but even so...
Malgudi Days (1986)
Hindi
I know this was a TV series but it was made on film so I’m including it here. Indeed, I wish someone would cut it and make it into a proper film one day. You never think certain books can be made into films. But this achieved that perfectly.
Naamukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal (1986)
Malayalam
I was green with jealousy when I watched this film, it was so simple but so good. It is a romance drama.
Swati Mutyam* (1986)
Telugu
For the next film we did together, K Vishwanath said I want a few days with you. We went away together to Bangalore where we wrote the story. I am not a writer, so you could say I helped in creating the story. He gave me that space. I’m very proud of it. Nine years later, Hollywood made a very similar film, Forrest Gump. Somewhere, our film was very universal. We were on an international level in terms of mindset. It strengthened my resolve to do sensible films.
Nayakan* (1987)
Tamil
This film was a dream come true. Mani Ratnam used to come over and we would talk about cinema, discuss other people’s work condescendingly (he was also from a film family). We were trying to do a film which was not there in the menu of that time. The producer didn’t understand the kind of film we were trying to make. It was uphill all the way but we managed. The rest is history. Everything fell into place. Everyone was involved in the film and on the set even when they were not needed, including me. The person who threw the fridge from a window to the ground was proud of having thrown the fridge because that became an iconic shot in the film.
Pushpak* (1987)
silent film
This film was a lesson in the art of screenplay writing and the redundancy of dialogue. When Singeetam saab brought the subject to me, it was a tragic story. Together we watched Chaplin and decided it should be tragic-comic.
Thaniyavarthanam (1987)
Malayalam
This is a film about mental health and how the responsibility lies in everyone’s hands. It doesn’t talk directly about superstition, but in the end makes you very angry. My friend Mammootty did a brilliant job in the film.
Apoorva Sagotharargal* (1989)
Tamil
Only a man like my brother Chandrahasan would have agreed to be part of this mad adventure. Singeetam Srinivasa Rao the director and my brother indulged all my epiphanies at the cost of the budget and their patience. They believed I had the technique of playing the midget under my belt. The truth was I didn’t. Their trust in me gave me sleepless nights. Many a time I thought of telling them the truth and surrendering to failure. I thought both Peter’s principle and Murphy’s law had partnered to finish me off. One day I got up to confess and in the long-winded preface to my confession I actually came up with possible ideas. So I didn’t confess. I kept my face confident. This was the case of the actor succeeding even before the camera rolled.
Thevar Magan* (1992)
Tamil
I was challenged to write it in 12 days. I wrote it in seven. The casting of the film was done against everyone else’s suggestion. Wrong advisors are sometimes the reason for the right decisions, and sometimes complacency.
Drohkaal (1994)
Hindi
I liked the film so much I told Govindji I wanted to remake the film immediately after I came out of the theatre. I made it in Tamil and though I rewrote it I invited him for the premiere and introduced him as the writer. I was so proud of him and his work.
Mahanadi* (1994)
Tamil
I have never spoken of what prompted me to write Mahanadi. Now my daughters are old enough to understand the ways of this world I can ...I guess. My household help, all of them, conspired to kidnap my daughter for ransom. They even did a dry run. By accident I discovered their plan. I was angry, unnerved and ready to kill for my baby's safety. But I saw sense in time. I was to write a new script and I kept delaying it for a month. Later when I sat down to write, the script wrote itself ....maybe assisted by my fear, apprehension and paranoia.
Hey Ram* (2000)
Hindi and Tamil
This film stripped me of all my extra hubris, stripped me to the bone. With all its scars and weaknesses, I could still say I was a proud Indian. In this film, I fell in love with the idea of Gandhi and the spirit of Saadat Hasan Manto. I was introduced to Manto, who is my guru, much after his death. But my pen is filled with Manto saab’s ink. In a tangential way, the film celebrated my hero, Gandhi. It was like a love-hate relationship when you tear off the leaves of a flower and say, love-me-love-me-not… I ended up with I love him and he loves me. Gandhi prescribed ahimsa for everyone, but ahimsa is not everyone’s cup of tea. To truly believe in ahimsa takes a lot of guts. Ahimsa is actually the height of valour.
Anbe Sivam* (2003)
Tamil
I loved writing this film. The writing was good enough to help a director who has not done this kind of film before and may be never will. Yet I wish he would!
Virumaandi* (2004)
Tamil
This film talks about capital punishment. I changed my style, it was a little more complete as a film.
Dasavathaaram* (2008)
Tamil
My love for Mr Paul Thomas Anderson comprises love and hate. I would kill to make the kind of movies he makes. I chose the non-violent part. I made a film similar to his. Dasavathaaram was that film. I made it worthy of a preview that he might enjoy (and me too), without any guilt of copyright infringement.
Vishwaroopam* (2013)
Hindi and Tamil
This was more of a Hindi film subject than a Tamil subject. I wish more people had seen the film. But it made me stronger.
Manam (2014)
Telugu
This is a very special film. I started as a dance assistant in Telugu films and my hero was superstar Nageswara Rao. They would often call me to choreograph for him. He saw me go from that to an actor to a star. He did this film after he realised he had cancer. The film is about an old man about to die. Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna and his son Naga Chaitanya acted in it. The film was like a send-off to the father. It was a big success. All of Andhra Pradesh went and saw the film. More than a movie, it became like a legacy. Nageswara Rao came to Chennai to celebrate his 90th birthday and the whole industry gathered to greet him. I remember feeding him birthday cake. It’s difficult to say where the film ends and where real life begins. I celebrate the film because of the spirit in which it was made.
Dangal (2016)
Hindi
It has all the beauty of commercial cinema. It reminded me of Rocky, but it’s a sports film of a different kind. It was so beautiful, it reminded me that I could still be a film fan.
Thithi (2016)
Kannada
There is a beauty in this film, a transparency, like a candid camera. It is the story of three generations of a family reacting to the death of their 101-year-old patriarch.
Note: Movies in which Kamal Haasan was involved are marked with *
How the list was curated
Naturally, the task of selecting just 70 films is daunting. Kamal Haasan clarifies that he is not a film scholar. “I can only choose from the films I have seen,” says the actor with four National Awards under his belt. “And naturally I have not seen every good film.” He says he can only include films that changed his life, as a man, as an actor. “This is not a bucket list – 70 films you should see before you die. I’m not trying to recommend movies, or impose my choices on other people. Films are my profession, my life. The way I react to a film will be different from the way other people would. I’m sure I will probably notice nuances other people may not. Finally, it’s like falling in love! Why do you fall in love with someone? Who knows? It’s the same with movies.”
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