Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey

by K. Hariharan

The critically injured Sivam is taken to a nearby Christian hospital. Can and will he choose to live or die? Will the world outside manage to save him, or can some evil forces prevail and terminate him? The cruel Kandaswamy also comes to the hospital to snuff him out but decides to let fate take its course when the doctor tells him that Sivam has only 10 per cent chances of survival. Kandaswamy traces his daughter in Kerala and informs her that Sivam died in the tragic bus accident. In the background plays an austere song sung by Kamal himself, which declares Sivam to be the follower of unbridled compassion and nothing else. An angelic old nurse nourishes him selflessly and treats him lovingly to move on to the less-travelled path. A few months later, when he recovers enough to be able to move independently, the first thing he does is to adopt that stray dog on the hillside. When he goes next to meet Bala, her father is shocked that the 10 per cent chance given by the doctor actually worked for Sivam. When Sivam expresses his desire to meet Bala, the father lies that Bala has gone abroad after marriage and is in fact pregnant. Kamal walks away from the comfort zone of the two systems (the labour union and Bala), quite unperturbed like the Buddha,

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