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Kamal Haasan: From One To Ten
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 Kamal Haasan rates Sivaji Ganesan as his all-time idol and venerates Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and also Sanjeev Kumar. His Hollywood idols are Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers. 'You will find the common thread of wanting to explore and experimenting in all of them and their work,' he says. 'As actors, they all inspire me.'
The music launch function in Chennai saw hysteria outside the indoor stadium. The crowds were cheering every time his name was uttered on the stage by others and virtually at each sentence spoken by him.
What means the most to him - awards, critical praise or such adulation?
'I think that any creative person's passion is fuelled by the love of the people. But my passion is also ignited by those critics who evaluate and criticize my work constructively,' smiles the much-awarded and much-honoured actor in reply.
Kamal Haasan, like every proud parent, is happy that his daughter Shruti Haasan has made her entry into films. 'I hope that success comes to her the way it has to me,' he says simply.
Having been a hugely successful actor, filmmaker, writer and singer does he now look at the ultimate next steps - a Hollywood assignment and maybe an Oscar?
'For the record, I have also been the lady protagonist of Chachi 420, an editor's assistant and a camera assistant!' quips the actor. 'If it happens, we will see about it,' he goes on about working in a film in the West. But about the Oscars, he has a strong opinion. 'I think that we really must stop hankering for recognition from the West,' he says. 'We too have our own standards and ISI grading. Ideally we should improve so much that there should come a time when filmmakers around the world should hanker after awards given by an Indian film academy!'
What is happening to Marudanayagam?
Kamal is hopeful that his long-delayed dream epic will take off after Marmayogi.
And why does Kamal keep making Hindi versions of most of his films but not do a mainstream Hindi original that does not have a Tamil version?
'Well, apart from Chachi 420, my last Hindi film was Dekha Pyar Tumhara in 1985. I do not like to do Hindi films in Mumbai because they take too long a time - or used to. That disturbed my schedules and plans. I know that Hindi cinema has changed a lot for the better, especially in the matter of acting and technology. They are set to give South Indian cinema a run for its money. '
He adds, 'For me bi-linguals and tri-linguals are a roundabout way of getting bigger markets. But honestly, no hero from the South has also broken into Hindi cinema commercially. Yes, the people did accept me and Rajnikanth for a while.'
But back home, despite the off-screen bonhomie, Kamal and Rajni have never worked together - in fact their only film was the Hindi Geraftaar that had a cameo by Rajnikant. Why is that?
And the actor laughs, ponders and says, 'Well, we need the right script, and we hope to find one. Till then, it seems that we only keep talking about doing a film together!'
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