Kamal haasan is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting. Kamal Haasan has won several Indian film awards, including four National Film Awards and numerous Southern Filmfare Awards, and he is known for having starred in the largest number of films submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition to acting and directing, he has also featured in films as a screenwriter, songwriter, playback singer, choreographer and lyricist. His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. In 2009, he became one of very few actors to have completed 50 years in Indian cinema.

After several projects as a child artist, Kamal Haasan's breakthrough into lead acting came with his role in the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal, in which he played a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. He secured his second Indian National Film Award for his portrayal of a guileless school teacher who tends a child-like amnesiac in 1982's Moondram Pirai. He was particularly noted for his performance in Mani Ratnam's Godfatheresque Tamil film Nayagan (1987), which was ranked by Time magazine as one of the best films of all time. Since then he has gone on to appear in other notable films such as his own productions, Hey Ram and Virumaandi, as well as the Dasavathaaram, in which he appeared in ten distinct roles.


Early career: The 1960s
Kamal Haasan as seen in his debut, Kalathur Kannamma (1959)

After shifting from Paramakudi with his family for his mother's medical treatment, Kamal was enrolled at Holy Angels school in T. Nagar. As a child, he became interested in dance. There are two versions regarding his entry into films. One version has it that, as a little boy, he accompanied a doctor who went to treat an ill woman at the home of movie mogul A V Meyyappa Chettiar (father of AVM Saravanan). On hearing loud shouting from a first-floor tenant of the bungalow, the doctor became uneasy. Young Kamal Haasan strode up the stairway to ask the noisemaker not to shout over the phone as someone was ill, leaving the person astonished. An impressed Meyyappa Chettiar later provided him an entry into films. The other version is that when young boy Kamal accompanied a family doctor of Meyyappa Chettiar to his house, producer AVM Saravanan noticed Kamal as a hyperactive child. He took him over and introduced to AV Meyyappa Chettiar who was looking for a young boy to play a role in the movie Kalathur Kannamma.

Kamal Haasan made his film debut as a four-year-old child artist in Kalathur Kannamma, which was directed by A. Bhimsingh and released on 12 August 1959. He was cast along with the veteran Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan, winning the National Film Award for Best Child Artist.He acted as a child actor in five other Tamil films in the subsequent few years co-starring with Sivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran. On seeing Kamal's interests in arts, his parents supported and helped him join the TKS Nataka Sabha, an old-style theatre. T. K. Shanmugam was Kamal's guru in the theatre. During this period, he continued with his school education at Hindu High School in Triplicane while still being a prominent part of the theatre troupe. He learned acting by watching his guru Shanmugam perform on stage and acquired his interest in make-up from Shanmugam.

1970 - 1975: The rising actor
Kamal Haasan - Early days

Following a nine-year hiatus from films, Kamal Haasan returned to the industry with the hope of joining the technical crew in films but was selected to appear in supporting roles in several films. He re-entered the film industry playing his first adult role in Maanavan, appearing only for a dance sequence. It was followed by supporting roles in films such as, Annai Velankani for which he was an assistant director, Arangetram and Sollathaan Ninaikkiren, both co-starring Sivakumar. He played a villain in the film Sollathaan Ninaikkiren and his first character role was in Aval Oru Thodar Kathai, another female-centric film of K. Balachander.

He won his first regional Filmfare Award for his role in his Malayalam debut film Kanyakumari (1974). After a few more films in Tamil, he did Naan Avan Illai, which was his final supporting role before establishing himself as a lead actor.<"Naan Avanillai was released before 'kanyakumari' (His first film in Malayalam)!"> In 1975, he won his first Filmfare award in Tamil for Apoorva Raagangal, an exploration of age-gap relationships. For his role, he learned the mridangam. It is considered as one of the all-time classics of Tamil cinema and was directed by his mentor, K. Balachander. The film also saw the entry of Rajnikanth, who would play prominent roles in several Kamal films.

976–1980: Success in the south
Sigappu Rojakkal (1978)

The late 1970s was a period that saw Kamal Haasan's continued collaboration with K. Balachander, who also cast him in many of his socially-themed films. In 1976, Kamal Haasan appeared in the drama Moondru Mudichu with Rajinikanth and Sridevi, another K. Balachander film, Manmadha Leelai, and Oru Oodhappu Kan Simittugiradhu, which won him his second consecutive Regional Filmfare (tamil) Best Actor Award. Avargal (1977) was one of the most sensitive movies on woman liberation, for which he learnt the art of ventriloquism.The film was also remade in Telugu as Idi Katha Kaadu (1979) with Kamal Hassan repeating his role. 16 Vayathinile won him his third consecutive best actor award, where he appeared as a village bumpkin, along with Rajinikanth and Sridevi. In 1977, he starred in his first Kannada film, Kokila, which was the directorial debut of another friend and mentor, Balu Mahendra. The fourth consecutive award came with Sigappu Rojakkal, an anti-hero thriller in which he played a psychopathic sexual killer. In 1978, he debuted in the Telugu film industry with the hit Maro Charithra by K. Balachander.

Few of the other famous films in this period were the youthful Ninaithale Inikkum, the snake horror film Neeya, Malayalam film Yaetta, Kalyanaraman and Allaudinaum Arputha Vilakkum. At the end of this period, he had won six regional Best Actor Filmfare Awards, including four consecutive Best Tamil Actor Awards.

The 80s: Bollywood entry

Kamal Haasan's pairing with the actress Sridevi continued with Tamil classic Varumayin Niram Sigappu in 1980. Kamal Haasan also made a guest–cameo appearance in the Rajnikanth film Thillu Mullu. He reached his 100th film appearance in 1981 with Raja Paarvai, which also marked his debut in film production. Despite this film's relatively poor reception at the cinemas, his portrayal of a blind session violinist earned him a Filmfare Award.[20] He followed it with his debut in Bollywood, Ek Duuje Ke Liye, the remake of his Telugu-language film, Maro Charithra, also by K. Balachandar. Following a year of starring in commercially-oriented films, he won his first of three National Awards for Best Actor with his portrayal of a school teacher who looks after an amnesia patient in Balu Mahendra's Moondram Pirai, alter reprising the role in the Hindi version, Sadma. In 1983, he appeared in Thoongadhey Thambi Thoongadhey playing a double role.

Kamal Haasan began to appear in more Hindi-language films, including Saagar, for which he was awarded both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Award at the same ceremony for this role.Saagar portrayed him alongside Rishi Kapoor. Kamal Haasan also appeared in Geraftaar and a few more Hindi remakes of his tamil films, most famously Zara Si Zindagi. He featured in Tamil cinema's first sequel Japanil Kalyanaraman, which followed up his previous Kalyanaraman, and shared the screen with Sivaji Ganesan, doing a guest role in Uruvangal Maralam.
Nayagan (1987), was chosen for ALL-TIME 100 best films by TIME Magazine

In the mid-1980s, Kamal Haasan appeared in two Telugu-language films, Sagara Sangamam and Swathi Muthyam, directed by Telugu legend Kasinadhuni Viswanath. While the former film portrayed him as a drunkard classical dancer, Swathi Muthyam portrays him as an autistic person attempting to change society and was India's representative for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1986.The enormous response to these films in Tollywood helped him capture a strong audience in Andhra Pradesh, and many of his later Tamil films were regularly dubbed in Telugu.Following Punnagai Mannan, in which he portrays dual roles including a satire of Charlie Chaplin as Chaplin Chellappa and Vetri Vizha as an amnesiac, Kamal Haasan appeared in Mani Rathnam's 1987 film Nayagan. Nayagan portrays the life of an underworld don in Bombay. The story revolved around the life of a real-life underworld don called Varadarajan Mudaliar, while sympathetically depicting the struggle of South Indians living in Mumbai.He received his third Indian National Award for his performance and Nayagan was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1987. It was included in the Time top 100 movies list. In 1988, Kamal Haasan appeared in his only silent film to date, Pushpak, a black comedy. In 1989, he appeared in three roles (one of which was that of a dwarf) in Apoorva Sagodharargal.[He then performed dual roles in Indrudu Chandrudu, winning the regional Best Actor Award for his performance. In 1989, Kamal Haasan starred in his last original Malayalam film as hero to date, titled Chanakyan. The film was critically acclaimed and was a huge hit.
Kamal Haasan as Appu, the dwarf in Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989)

The 1980s saw the transformation of Kamal Haasan from a young heart-throb performer in Tamil films to a nationally acclaimed star appreciated for his method acting. By the end of 1980s, he had entered and tasted success in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi film industries, had received Filmfare awards at each of these film industries, three National awards and had his performances recognized at international film festivals.

The 1990s
Kamal Haasan playing a mentally affected person in and as Guna (film) (1991)

In 1990, Michael Madhana Kamarajan saw Kamal Haasan go one step further from Apoorva Sagodharargal, acting in four different roles as quadruplets. It started an ongoing collaboration with Crazy Mohan, a dialogue writer, for future comedy films.The film became a blockbuster, and his portrayals were all critically praised; one cook role formed the crux for a future venture by his production house.Kamal Haasan won successive Best Actor awards for his portrayal of the deranged, obsessive protagonist in Guna and Thevar Magan, where he played the son of actor Sivaji Ganesan. Guna met with critical acclaim but failed commercially, while the latter became a big success and was remade into Hindi as Virasat. Kamal Haasan was credited for the story and became India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. After a series of successful commercial films such as Singaravelan, Maharasan and Kalaignan, he played a cheated villager in the emotionally draining and underrated classic Mahanadi. Six years after it released, it was premiered at the Rotterdam festival.[28] He then began to appear in comedies such as Sathi Leelavathi, based on the English film She-Devil. The film, his home production, featured him opposite comedienne Kovai Sarala and its success led to further regional remakes. He also renewed his collobaration with Kasinadhuni Viswanath in his last Telugu-language film to date, Subha Sankalpam. In 1996, Kamal Haasan starred in the police story Kuruthipunal. His success in Kuruthipunal was followed by his third National Film Award for Best Actor, for the film Indian.Playing dual roles of a freedom fighter and his untrustful son, the film also won Kamal Haasan regional awards and plaudits for his portrayal. Moreover, both films were also selected as India's submissions for the Academy Awards in their respective release years.
Kamal Haasan in and as Chachi 420 (1998)

Kamal Haasan appeared as a woman in Avvai Shanmughi, inspired by the Hollywood production Mrs. Doubtfire. He initialy chose noted adfilm maker Shantanu Sheorey to direct the Hindi remake of Avvai Shanmughi, titled Chachi 420.[32] But unhappy with the complaints after five days of shoot and after checking the actual result, he took over as director.In 1997, Kamal Haasan began his first directorial venture, the biopic of Mohammed Yusuf Khan, Marudhanayagam, which failed to complete its schedules with only half an hour and a trailer being recorded during its shoot.Marudhanayagam had been speculated to be the biggest and most expensive film in Indian cinema with a number of high profile actors technicians signing up for roles. Moreover, the film was launched in a highly publicized ceremony by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom during her visit to India in 1997.Due to budget constraints, the film failed to materialize into a feature film, but he has since stated his interest in building up funds for the project.

2000s: Hey Ram and onwards
Kamal Haasan as Nandhu in Aalavandhan aka Abhay (2001)

Following a two-year hiatus in Indian cinema, he opted against reviving his magnum opus, Marudhanayagam, and filmed his second directorial venture, Hey Ram, a period drama told in flashback with a semi-fictional plot centering around India's Partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Kamal Haasan also took on roles as the writer, the lyricist and the choreographer as well as producing the film under his home banner. The film, also featured Shahrukh Khan and was India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. His following film was Aalavandhan, where he portrayed two distinct roles, for one of which he had his head shaved bald and gained ten kilograms. To play the other army major in Alavandaan (Abhay, in Hindi), he went to the NDA for a crash course. The Hindi version Abhay was distributed by reputed Shringar Films. Despite much publicity prior to release, the film failed commercially, and he opted to repay distributors who had suffered losses with the film.
Kamal Haasan in and as Virumaandi (2004), which won the Best Asian Film award at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (South Korea)

Following a series of successful comedies in Thenali, Panchathantiram and Pammal K. Sambandam and a couple of guest appearances, Kamal Haasan directed his third feature film in Virumaandi, a film about the death penalty which won the Best Asian Film award at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival.Kamal Haasan also appeared in Anbe Sivam alongside Madhavan. Priyadarshan, who started the film, departed allowing commercial director Sundar C to complete the film. Anbe Sivam told the story of Nallasivam, enacted by Kamal Haasan as a communist. Kamal Haasan's performance was highly lauded by critics with The Hindu stating that he "has once again done Tamil cinema proud".
Kamal Haasan as Nalla Sivam in Anbe Sivam (2003)

Kamal Haasan then appeared in the remake film Vasool Raja alongside Sneha. In 2006, Haasan's long delayed project, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu emerged as a blockbuster.In 2008, he appeared in K. S. Ravikumar's Dasavathaaram portraying ten distinct roles in the venture, which remains one of the most expensive Indian films ever made.[48] Featuring him opposite Asin Thottumkal, the film became the highest grossing film ever in Tamil cinema, beating the previous 2007 record, and won him critical praise for his performance.In Canada, the film was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the first Tamil film to be done so. The film ultimately grossed more than Indian Rupee 250 crores worldwide.He had written the story and screenplay for the project.

Following the completion of Dasavathaaram, Kamal Haasan opted to direct his fourth directorial venture, with a film tentatively titled Marmayogi, which after a year of pre-production became stalled. He then opted to produce and star in a venture, Unnaipol Oruvan, co-starring him with Mohanlal. The film, which had Shruti Haasan appear as the music director, became a successful venture for him the box office. Kamal Haasan worked on his fifth collaboration with Ravikumar, in Manmadan Ambu, for which he also wrote the dialogues and screenplay. The film also featured Madhavan and Trisha Krishnan and was released in December 2010.