Telugu audience will miss Kamal’s acting repertoire

One of the iconic actors of South cinema, Kamal Hassan has formally launched his party. Speculations are rife that if all goes well, he may follow in the footsteps of his predecessors from the film industry who gave up films to shine in the world of politics.

The exhilarating news for his admirers come with a shade of grey, not just to Tamil cinema, for Telugu film audience as well. While many of his Tamil films were dubbed into Telugu and enjoyed almost equal if not more success and acclaim, his straight Telugu films too left their mark in the hearts of the audience.

It was K Balachander and his mark of film making that first brought the young and enthusiastic Kamal to the Telugu audience through films like ‘Anthuleni Katha’ (albeit in a cameo), ‘Andamaina Anubhavam’, ‘Idi Katha Kaadu’ and the memorable ‘Maro Charitra’.

There was also CV Sridhar’s Tamil remake ‘Vayasu Pilichindi’ in which Kamal is teamed with his then rival and contemporary in Tamil cinema, Rajinikanth.

Two young actors with completely different style of acting that stood out amidst the larger-than-life Telugu superstars stuck in their stardom with unique story lines and amazing music composed by legends like Ilaiyaraja and MS Viswanathan made the films standout.

Songs like “Mabbee Masakesindile”, “Kurraloyi Kurrallu”, “Ilaage Ilaage” keep these films fresh in memory and the Kamal in his bell bottoms dancing away in merriment was to be just one shade of this extremely versatile actor who grew in stature with each of his films.

“Maro Charitra’ the romantic tale of two young lovers that ends in a tragedy came around the same time as Singeetam Srinivas Rao’s ‘Sommokadidi Sokokadidi’ where Kamal plays a double role. Both the films were a stupendous success.

A few years later, Kamal reprised the role of Balu (Maro Charitra) in the Hindi remake ‘Ek Dujhe Ke Liye’ directed by L V Prasad and repeated the success story.

With the hard hitting ‘Aakali Rajyam’ (1980), he stormed into Telugu households as an angry young man who reeled out Srirangam Srinivas Rao’s (Sri Sri) poetry and represented the struggles of the unemployed middle-class youth.

By now, Kamal, whose Tamil films always made it to the Telugu land in their dubbed version and Telugu films that enjoyed admiration and acclaim secured for himself a fan base. He was established as an actor who played multiple roles with equal ease and came to be counted amongst the rare breed of method actors.

Films like ‘Indrudu Chandrudu’ and ‘Oka Radha Iddaru Krishnulu’ catered to a wider audience who look for entertainment and masala.
Telugu fans of Kamal awaited eagerly for his films to release, even the dubbed ones. ‘Nayakudu’, ‘Michael Madanakama Raju’, ‘Vasantha Kokila’ and in later years, ‘Bharateeyudu’ and ‘Dasavatharam’.

However, his association with director K Viswanath and the masterpieces of cinema that came from the duo – ‘Sagara Sangamam’ and ‘Swathi Muthyam’ remain at the pinnacle of his Telugu filmography.

The outstanding role of a passionate classical dancer Balu, who turns into an alcoholic, and the innocent and sensitive Shivaiah who marries a widow to support her, seem to have been custom-made for the actor, who translates the director’s vision to perfection. The third film from their combination too enjoyed critical acclaim – ‘Subha Sankalpam’.

His latest Telugu film, a remake of Naseeruddin Shah’s ‘A Wednesday’ was ‘Eenadu’. Even while Kamal began doing lesser films with time, fans made the most of what ever little came from his catorie. His exit from films will surely leave a void much difficult to fill even in the Telugu film industry.

By Rajeshwari Kalyanam