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The significance of Dr. Kamal Haasan
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Kamal
Haasan has been the ballast of the Tamil film
industry. Why would anyone call Kamal Haasan ‘ballast’,
you would think. Common perception about the word
‘ballast’ is that it signifies some
kind of dead weight that is carried along only
to be thrown overboard when it is no longer needed.
But, the significance of this dead weight is seldom
noted. ‘Ballast’ is not just dead
weight or useless material that is there just
to add weight to an empty or relatively lightly
laden ship; it can be one of the most vital components
on board during tough times and rough weather.
Ballast increases or provides stability to a ship
that might otherwise keel over to one side or
be overturned by a wave.
You might have heard of the word ‘ballast’
in more than one context on many occasions. But
there is one thing common to all the contexts
where ‘ballast’ is used – it
provides stability, balance, increases the control
that one has over the speed and direction of motion.
Perhaps, now, you would have understood why Kamal
Haasan has been termed here as the ‘ballast’
of the Tamil film industry.
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Let
us launch into a detailed study of what Kamal Haasan
has meant and continues to mean to the Tamil film industry.
It is not a subject that any Tamil cinema fan needs
to be educated about; Kamal, his achievements and feats
are part of Tamil folklore (maybe that is an exaggeration;
but I am sure that this statement will be true some
day). But, this is not going to be another long list
of all the masterly performances that he has put in
over the years, the moments of genius that have left
us stunned or the barrage of awards that have followed
his achievements – we have been hearing that for
years now. This is more about the difference that Kamal
Haasan brings to Tamil cinema just by being himself.
Coming back to the ‘ballast’ term –
whenever any one side the ship gets heavier than the
other it is in the danger of keeling over and that is
where ballast comes into play. It is used to equalize
weights on either side; making the ship stand straight
and safe. This is what Kamal Haasan has been doing to
Tamil cinema ever since he stepped in.
The Tamil film industry (or any film industry for that
matter) has always been fighting an internal battle
for balance. The battle has been between the ‘inclination’
and ‘inspiration’- The inclination to go
fully commercial and the inspiration to be meaningful
and pertinent. It goes without saying that it is inclination
that always has the upper hand because of the obvious
(monetary) benefits that it brings with it. But, inspiration
has always had its champions who have fought off complete
dominance of inclination and Kamal has been foremost
of those champions; at least in his era.
In industries surrounding Tamil; inclination has brazenly
taken the upper hand; commercialism has been rampant
and the ship of the industry has veered and dipped over
to one side very often in the last few decades. Telugu
and Kannada industries have been the main casualties
of commercialism outweighing substance. Yes, there have
been odd instances where glimpses of class have emanated
from these industries. But, they have never been able
to completely quell the fire of inclination because
they lacked a champion of inspiration (whom we are proud
to have).
For more than 3 decades now, he has tirelessly and single
handedly fought off the demons of complete commercialism
and strived, even at great personal and professional
risk, to keep the embers of substance and inspiration
alive. Yes, over the last few years, he has been joined
by a few worthy soldiers who promise to assist him in
taking this battle forward; but he still remains the
flag bearer of the movement that puts quality and excellence
above all else.
The battle that he has fought has not been very easy
or simple. He has been the contemporary of another legend
who redefined the limits of stardom, who took commercial
cinema and star status to unimaginable heights; whom
we fondly know as Superstar. The commercial side of
Tamil cinema gained immense and overwhelming weight
by the presence of Superstar and it had to be a man
of Kamal Haasan’s genius and stature to hold up
the other end; safeguarding the facet of meaningfulness
to Tamil cinema. If Rajinikanth was fire, Kamal was
the ice; and together, both of them provided just the
right temperature for Tamil cinema to thrive. Usually,
when there is fire, ice just melts, evaporates and becomes
a part of the fire itself. While almost the entire industry
melted and joined the fire, only Kamal refused to melt;
stood steadfast and held up his end which is why Tamil
cinema now has a proud face of quality and substance.
Yes, commercialism is essential. In fact, it is commercialism
that finances the pursuits of excellence and experiments
of geniuses. But, without endeavors to upgrade quality,
commercialism is only like icing without any cake beneath
it. Whilst Kamal has been the icing on many occasions,
he never forgot about the cake either. In short, he
had his eyes firmly on the larger picture and the larger
goal that had to be attained by Tamil cinema. He was
the visionary who put the industry firmly on the path
of excellence; he was the futurist who made many films
that were ahead of his times (and still are); he was
the one who provided the all important balance to the
Tamil film industry; for the last 3 decades he has been
the ‘ballast of Tamil cinema’; never letting
it keel over into the vortex of complete commercialism;
that in short has been the significance of Dr.Kamal
Haasan.. We celebrate his birthday with pride, knowing
that we are witnessing one of the greatest geniuses
that Indian cinema has ever seen.
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