Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey

by K. Hariharan

The last word lies with Rao, who has a way of assessing his work with detachment, unlike other directors: ‘The film was undoubtedly a critical success, had great songs by Ilaiyaraaja, but somehow did not do well at the box office. The reason could be two-fold. One, audiences had got used to seeing Kamal as the glamorous and dancing lover boy. And so it was a big risk on our part to put him in a sort of unsentimental, serious role like this. Two, the film was not an “achievement” story. It did not give the hero a certain goal to pursue. Even his interest in Madhavi is seen more at the level of wanting a companion. So his running away with the girl at the end of the film was not probably what the audience expected in terms of heroics. The film was more typical of the “slice-of-life” film genre.’ But was Kamal exploring the reality of Tamil people at that time? When cineastes would ask Kamal what, according to him, would be a successful film, he often said, ‘The success of a film cannot be measured by its box-office revenue but the way in which the film stays in the memories of its audiences much after the film has exited from its exalted status on the silver screen. You just have to ask a fellow Tamilian and I can assure you he would not have forgotten Raja Paarvai.’

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