70 GREAT FILMS FROM INDIAN CINEMA
Actor-filmmaker 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. Presenting, an interesting list of 70 films since 1947 that changed Kamal Hassan’s life.
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. Apart from acting, he has been a screenwriter, producer, director, choreographer, singer and lyricist. Who better to pick 70 great Indian films since independence, films that reflect the journey of this country? Naturally, the task of selecting just 70 films is a daunting one. 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.”
So here they are: an interesting list of 70 films since 1947, in different Indian languages,70 films that changed Kamal Haasan’s life.
CHANDRALEKHA
1948, Tamil, directed by SS Vasan This is the father and mother of films like Sholay. Its grandeur was like Cecil B DeMille’s films. It is the pride of Tamilians. It took the country by storm.
PARASAKTHI
1952, Tamil, directed by R Krishnan, S Panju
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.
DEVADASU
1953, Telugu, directed by Vedantam Raghavaiah 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, directed by S Balachander 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, directed by V Shantaram 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 film to match it and that’s when I made Sagara Sangamam (1983) with K Vishwanath.
MAYA BAZAAR
1957, Telugu, directed by Kadiri Venkata Reddy 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
THE APU TRILOGY
1955, 1956, 1959, Bengali, directed by Satyajit Ray 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?’ We saw his films so as not to be insulted. Privately, among friends, we would admit that they were too slow. 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! had the great stars of south India, NT Rama Rao, SV Ranga Rao and Savitriji.
AJANTRIK
1958, Bengali, directed by Ritwik Ghatak I would see films by Robert Bresson and wonder why we never got that moment on film, without music, without rhetoric, dialogue. And then I saw it in Ajantrik.
MEGHE DHAKA TARA
1960, Bengali, directed by Ritwik Ghatak 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.
GANGA JAMUNA
1961, Hindi, directed by Nitin Bose 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
KAAGAZ KE PHOOL
1959, Hindi, directed by Guru Dutt I saw this at around the same time as I saw Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje and it left me with a heavy heart. I was so angry with Guru Dutt. Why did he commit suicide? 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 entertained me, it had Johnny Walker singing, but it never lost its gravitas. It changed my life. 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 it was a young man called Hrishikesh Mukherjee!
MUGHALEAZAM
1960, Hindi, directed by K Asif 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, that glare, and she faints. Today, an actor playing Prithviraj Kapoor would do something like 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.
CHEMEEN
1965, Malayalam, directed by Ramu Kariat 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, directed by KS Gopalakrishnan Stunning film. The film starred Anjali Devi.
PADOSAN
1968, Hindi, directed by Jyoti Swaroop Hindi films never played in Chennai for many years because of the agitation against forcefeeding 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.
SUDIGUNDALU
1968, Telugu, directed by Adurthi Subba Rao 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, directed by Mrinal Sen 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. After this I saw Ray’s Ashani Sanket (1973). We were full of Ray and Mrinal Sen. Then I was introduced by my friends to Ritwik Ghatak’s Ajantrik and Meghe Dhaka Tara.
SAMSKARA
1970, Kannada, directed by Pattabhirama Reddy Strong film on caste, specifically the Brahmanical order.
ANUBHAVANGAL PAALICHAKAL
1971, Malayalam, directed by KS Sethumadhava 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, directed by Vijay Anand 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
PAKEEZAH
1972, Hindi, directed by Kamal Amrohi I was overcome by the content. 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 home with you. 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.
VAMSHA VRIKSHA
1972, Kannada, directed by B V Karanth and Girish Karnad This is a very important film because of its depiction of the Brahmanical order.
ACHANAK, 1973
Hindi, directed by Gulzar I was floored by this film. I saw it thrice in quick succession. I became like a tourist guide to Achanak for my friends.
KAADU, 1973
Kannada, directed by Girish Karnad It was a film about an ordinary village feud, where two men share the same women, and how it escalates into bloodshed and turns children into orphans. And this happens in modern India.
GARAM HAWA
1973, Hindi, directed by MS Sathyu 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.
NIRMALYAM
1973, Malayalam, directed by MT Vasudevan Nair 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.
ANKUR
1974, Hindi, directed by Shyam Benegal 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.
AVAL ORU THODAL KATHAI
1974, Tamil, directed by K Balachander 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. I played a mimicry artist and a broken-hearted lover.
BHOOTAYYANA MAGA AYYU
1974, Kannada, directed by Siddalangaiah 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 it.
APOORVA RAAGANGAL
1975, Tamil, directed by K Balachander 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, directed by B V Karanth 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, directed by G V Iyer This is an inspiring film about a great musician, like Amadeus Mozart.
HARMONIUM
1976, Bengali, directed by Tapan Sinha 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 was like listening to a folk singer.
MANMADHA LEELAI
1976, Tamil and Telugu, directed by K Balachander 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.
SWAPNADANAM
1976, Malayalam, directed by KG George I am a fan of the film! It is a marital psychodrama.
AVARGAL
1977, Tamil, directed by K Balachander 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.
KODIYETTAM
1977, Malayalam, directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor has made so many beautiful films but the simplicity of Kodiyettam is unsurpassed.
16 VAYATHINILE
1977, Tamil, directed by P Bharathiraja 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).
MANAVOORI PANDAVUL
1978, Telugu, directed by Bapu This was a modern version of the story o the Pandavas. Later Bapup oa 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.
RED ROSE
1978, Tamil, directed by P Bharathiraja 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.
SHOLAY, 1975
Hindi, directed by Ramesh Sippy 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).
GHATASHRADDHA
1977, Kannada, directed by Girish Kasaravalli 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.
SOMMOKADIDI SOKOKADIDI
1978, Telugu, directed by Singeetam Srininavasa Rao This was the first time I worked with Singeetam saab. We continued to do films for many years. Each film we did was remembered. It had subdued humour which was very new to Telugu cinema. 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). Everyone was trying to be serious but everyone made you laugh. It became a big hit. t was like a big, satisfying dessert.
MARO CHARITRA
1978, Telugu, directed by K Balachander 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, it had a Punjabi girl and a Tamil boy. The heroine (Saritha) was simple-looking but a fantastic performer.
MOONDRAM PIRAI
1980, Tamil, directed by Balu Mahendra 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, directed by K Vishwanath 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’d been part of this film. My angst about this was later satisfied in Sagara Sangamam.
AMAVASYA CHANDRUDU
1981, Telugu, directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao This was a fantastic experience. I wrote the Tamil version, in collaboration with the Telugu writer. 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, directed by IV Sasi 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, directed by Govind Nihalani The writer of the film, the director of the film, the actor… all of them made it 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.
MASOOM
1983, Hindi, directed by Shekhar Kapur 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 was how much it affected all of us.
MALGUDI DAYS
Hindi, 1986, directed by Shankar Nag I know this was a TV series but it was made on film so I’m including it here. 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, directed by P Padmarajan I was green with jealousy when I watched this film, it was so simple but so good.
SWATI MUTYAM, 1986
Telugu, directed by K Vishwanath 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. Nine years later, Hollywood made a very similar film, Forrest Gump. Somewhere, our film was very universal. It strengthened my resolve to do sensible films.
PUSHPAK, 1987
directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao 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. We watched Chaplin and decided it should be tragic-comic.
THANIYAVARTHANAM
1987, Malayalam, directed by Sibi Malayil 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.
SAGARA SANGAMAM
1983, Telugu, directed by K Vishwanath Here we tried to combine Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955) and Kaagaz 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...
APORVA SAGOTHARARGAL
1989, Tamil, directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao Only a man like my brother Chandrahasan would have agreed to be part of this mad adventure. 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 . 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 ideas. So I didn’t confess. This was the case of the actor succeeding even before the camera rolled.
THEVAR MAGA
1992, Tamil, directed by Bharathan 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.
DROHKAAL
1994, Hindi, directed by Govind Nihalani I liked the film so much I told Govindji I wanted to remake the film as soon as 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.
NAYAKAN
1987, Tamil, directed by Mani Ratnam 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 in iconic shot in the film.
MAHANADI
1994, Tamil, directed by Santhana Bharathi 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.
HEY RAM
2000, Hindi and Tamil, directed by Kamal Haasan 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, that 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-menot… 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. was to write a new script and I kept delaying r a month. Later when I sat down to write, the ript wrote itself .... maybe assisted by my fear, prehension and paranoia.
ANBE SIVAM
2003, Tamil, directed by Sundar C I loved writing this film. The writing was good enough to help a director who has not done this kind of film before and maybe never will. Yet I wish he would!
VIRUMAANDI
2004, Tamil, directed by Kamal Haasan This film talks about capital punishment. I changed my style,.
DASAVATHAARAM
2008, Tamil, directed by KS Ravikumar 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.
VISHWAROOPAM
2013, Hindi and Tamil, directed by Kamal Haasan 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, directed by Vikram Kumar I started as a dance assistant and my hero was superstar Nageswara Rao. 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 acted in it. The film was like a send-off to the father. It was a big success. More than a movie, it became like a legacy.
DANGAL
2016, Hindi, directed by Nitesh Tiwari 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, directed by Raam Reddy There is a beauty in this film, a transparency, like a candid camera.
KUNKU
1937, Marathi, directed by V Shantaram Though made before Independence, it gets mention because it is such a wonderful film. It was also released in Hindi as Duniya Na Mane.