Just returned from a month-long shoot of the Rs 100 crore Vishwaroopam, billed the actor's biggest film yet, and he is already on to his next plum project, Amar Hain, a film that takes a dispassionate look at the legitimisation of corruption in present-day India.
In typical Kamal Hassan style, Amar Hain too, is being made in two different languages, Tamil and Hindi, and Hassan will direct and play the lead in both versions.
A super-charged Hassan tells us, "It's a script that I wrote two years ago and put aside because it required great intellectual and financial inputs. I think I am now ready on both counts."
One of the country's most versatile actor-directors, Hassan, has earned a reputation for making socio-politically relevant films like Indian for instance. "People ask me why I haven't joined politics and when I say, I don't wish to, they turn around and say, 'But there's so much money in it!' So even the common man sees politics as a means to make money," he explains. As such, Amar Hain is a film that says it like it is; it isn't judgmental about corruption, it looks at contemporary mores dispassionately, he adds.
The other angle is the invisibility of global crime lords in the era of technology. "In the digital era, everything including crime is on the computer and the phone. That's why we never see global players in the crime game, land in our country. They don't need to since all their work is digitally manouevred. Amar Hain goes into all of this," Hassan reveals.
Atul Tiwari, who is writing the dialogues for the Hindi Vishwaroopam will also be doing the dialogues for the Hindi Amar Hain. For Hassan, "Tiwari gets the sur right and that is very important in relocating the language and culture from Tamil to Hindi through the spoken word." He goes on to say, "This is also why I've always stayed away from dubbed films. I prefer to do films in two languages although it's time consuming and costly. And so it is with Vishwaroopam and Amar Hain".
Commenting on Vishwaroopam, which is almost complete except for the climax to be shot in Delhi, he says, "We shot the main outdoors in New York because the protagonist is based in that city. And then we matched New York with the Grand Rapids in Michigan. No one will be able to tell the difference". The biggest high is the Kathak dance he has performed, choreographed by the legendary Birju Maharaj. "That's a dream come true. It's a very short piece of dancing in Vishwaroopam, lasting a few minutes. But I rehearsed with Birju Maharaj for a month. The looks of approval I got during the final take are my greatest reward," he declares proudly.
Ribbed about his daughter's hit chartbuster Kolaveri Di with Dhanush, Hassan simply chuckles, "The song functions through some sort of secret formula, which I haven't been able to crack. The day I do, I'll have my own Kolaveri Di."
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