Kamal Hassan is an inevitable actor in the Indian film industry. Kamal Hassan started acting at the age of six as a child actor in the film Kalathur Kannamma, released in 1960 He probably knows much more about every other aspect of cinema than some of the best-known technicians of the industry. Kamal Hassan belongs to a Tamil Iyengar family where education had acquired the foremost importance. Although, he discontinued his studies when he was in the ninth standard, the glow of brilliance could be noticed in his young eyes. In the movie business where conventionality is the name of the game, he created a rebellion of artistic films. Kamal Hassan succeeded and blazed a trial of his own.
Srinivas, was an ardent admirer of films and wanted to become actor once upon a time, when his elder son left films, he aimed at his four-year-old son Kamal, who is twenty-five years younger than his elder brother. His father encouraged Kamal Hassan to become an actor. Dr. Sarah Ramachandran was the person who took Kamal Hassan under the guidance to become an actor.
Kamal Hassan`s unquenchable passion for the movie business started right from that age and was also a very observant child actor right from such a tender age. Kamal Hassan was seen as a child star in films such as Parthal Pasitheerum where he shared his screen with the stalwart, Sivaji Ganeshan. Sivaji Ganeshan`s adoration for Sivaji Ganeshan started from this time. He also did films like Paadha Kanikkai and Vaanambadi in such tender age.
Kamal Hassan`s career as a child artist came to a crushing halt in 1963 and he did not act in any film till 1970. He once explained that those years were his adolescent period, he was neither accepted as a hero nor as a child artist. Thus he had to face frustration everywhere. Kamal Hassan quit school. His father then encouraged him to build his physique and sharpen his skills in dancing. He thus joined a small dance troupe and toured all over India.
In the meantime, Srinivas bought a few shops outside their family home, because he thought that his son could at least live off the rent from these if he fails as a hero. Eventually, Kamal Hassan the Christian Arts and Communication Centre where he met dance master Thangappan. This was a period in his life when he was surrounded by dance and music and met some distinguished scholars, radio artists, singers, dancers, and other luminaries from the fine arts.
Kamal Hassan`s teenage years were very hard on him. When he saw that his childhood friends were all going to college while he had not even passed his SSC, he felt lost at times. However, he educated himself by getting engaged in reading, writing and keeping pace with new technology. Although, Kamal struggled hard with the awkward phase of growing up and dealing with puberty, yet the passion for performing arts was building within him. He thought this phase to be a matter of time before he would explode onto the Tamil screen.
Kamal Hassan was awarded the Padmashri in 1990. His fans saw him in more than 200 films and he won the National Award three times and the Filmfare award almost eighteen times. Kamal Hassan is a versatile artist who has worked in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. He did a record of seven films that have been sent to the Oscar awards as India`s entry in the category of Best Foreign Film.
