Overview

Kamal Haasan is an actor, filmmaker and producer who has worked primarily in Tamil-language cinema for over six decades and is widely regarded as one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. An auteur, he is recognized as a key influence for numerous actors and filmmakers in the Indian film industry, and is also known for introducing new technologies and cosmetics to Indian cinema. Among his numerous accolades are 4 National Film Awards, 9 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, 4 Nandi Awards, the Rashtrapati Award, 2 Filmfare Awards and 17 Filmfare Awards (South). He was awarded the Kalaimamani Award in 1984, the Padma Shri in 1990, the Padma Bhushan in 2014 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) in 2016. Haasan is also known for having starred in the most number of films submitted by India in contention for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition to his extensive work in Tamil, he has appeared in Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali films. He has also worked in films as a screenwriter, songwriter, singer, choreographer, and lyricist. His film production company, Raj Kamal International Films (RKIF), has produced several of his films. After beginning as a child actor, Haasan's breakthrough was with the film Apoorva Raagangal (1975), playing the role of a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. He secured his second National Film Award for his performance in the romantic drama Moondram Pirai (1982), and later won acclaim for his performance in Mani Ratnam's epic crime drama Nayagan (1987), which was ranked in TIME magazine's "All-Time 100 Movies" list. Since then, he has gone on to appear in numerous other notable films, including his own productions Hey Ram (2000) and Virumaandi (2004), as well as the Dasavathaaram (2008), in which he became the first actor in history to appear in ten distinct roles in the same film.