Who is Kamal Haasan?

Kamal Haasan was born on November 7, 1954 to criminal lawyer D. Srinivasan and Rajalakshmi, in Madras (now Chennai) — the capital of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He started acting from the age of four, and worked as a child artist in several Tamil movies. He won the President’s Gold Medal for his performance in Kalathur Jannamma at age four. After acting in several films as a child, Kamal Haasan’s major breakthrough as a lead actor came in the film Apoorva Raagangal (1975). The film also marked the debut of fellow Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, who is also set to launch his own political party. Kamal Haasan teamed up with Rajinikanth and Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan in the 1985 Hindi film Geraftaar. He became the first Indian actor to get a Rs10 million fee for a single film in 1994. Apart from acting, he has sung nearly 70 songs in various languages — Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, as well as English. Often dubbed the master of disguise, Kamal Haasan perpetually experimented with his looks to bring novelty and creativity to his characters: from playing an old woman in Chachi

420 to playing 10 different characters in Dasavathaaram. Both of Kamal Haasan’s marriages failed. In 1978, he married dancer Vani Ganapathy, and divorced 10 years after their marriage. Haasan then got into a relationship with actress Sarika and moved in together in 1988. The couple filed for divorce in 2002. Haasan is related to renowned Indian director Mani Ratnam, as his niece Suhasini is married to the latter. According to Ratnam, no other Indian actor is as versatile as Haasan. Haasan has often been accused of being obsessed with perfection, which has led some of his films to overshoot budget. Explaining the rationale behind his name, the actor, whose original name was Parthasaraty, once said that Kamal means lotus and Haasan is derived from the Sanskrit word for laughter. On November 7 last year, Haasan confirmed his entry into politics, launching a mobile app.