Star Portrait-Shruti Hasan

Shruti Rajalakshmi Hassan is well known as Shruti Hassan is an upcoming Indian actress, play back singer and Music Composer. She was born to actors Kamal Hassan and Sarika on 28 January 1986 in Chennai, India. She was born to parents who are multi talented, it doesn’t surprise me at all that Shruti is good at everything that she sets her mind to do….be that modelling, be it acting, be it as a singer or a music composer….this young lady has done it all! Another beautiful person in Shruti’s life is her Sister Akshara, who represents the country (India) nationally for what is known as Ballroom Latin dancing! In the year 2000, Shruti’s parents took a call to separate and go their own way.

Shruti Hassan studied at Abacus in Chennai, until 10th grade, when she moved to Mumbai to study psychology at St Andrew’s College. However, Shruti Hassan shifted her focus to cinema and music, and eventually travelled to the USA to continue to learn music at the Musicians Institute in California, before returning to Chennai. Shruti Hassan has also done a voice over for a HIV/AIDS teaching animated software tutorial that has been created by Teach AIDS (a non-profit organization).

Professional Career

As Singer

Shruti Haasan sang her first song aged just six in her father’s “Thevar Magan” in the composition of Ilaiyaraaja. Later while pursuing her studies in school, Shruti made her singing debut in the Hindi language film “Chachi 420”, singing a duet performing for the voice of a child, with her father Kamal Haasan, who also directed the film. Shruti Haasan’s second song came in “Hey Ram” where she sang the bilingual versions of the title theme, ‘Rama Rama’ with her father, in Hindi and in Tamil. The album from Ilayaraaja, which was critically praised, won Shruti Haasan accolades for her efforts with reviewers, Screen India praising that she “has the makings of a good singer, and with some training she should go great guns”.

Shruti Haasan had the opportunity to sing with veteran singer K J Yesudas for the movie ‘En Mana Vaanil’ under Ilaiyaraaja’s music. The song was ‘Roattorap paattuch chaththam’. The movie was released in 2002. She has sung in a Tamil film, for Gautham Menon’s “Vaaranam Aayiram” under the composition of Harris Jayaraj. As of November 2008, Haasan is also midway through her untitled debut album, which she has composed, written and sung, and is set for release in mid-2009. A further song was recorded under her voice for her Hindi film “Luck”.

Music composing

After much speculation, Shruti Hassan is the music composer of the bilingual film “Unnaipol Oruvan” in Tamil and “Eenadu” in Telugu which released in 2009, with lead role played by her father Kamal Hassan who is also co-producer of the movie under Rajkamal International. The bilingual, is a remake of the successful Hindi film,  “A Wednesday!”, but the soundtracks of both the projects are entirely separate. Apart from this, Shruti Hassan is also the vocalist of an alternative rock band.

As Actress

After pursuing a career in singing, Shruti Hassan branched out a career into modelling. She started by starring appearing in the Frappe! Magazine version of September 2007, since then she has gone on to appear in Verve. In 2000, Shruti Haasan made her cinematic debut in the Tamil and Hindi bilingual film “Hey Ram” directed by her father. She made a cameo appearance as the daughter of Vallabhai Patel in the biopic of Mahatma Gandhi. After rejecting prominent film offers, most notably the lead role in Venkat Prabhu‘s “Saroja” reports suggested in late 2007 that Shruti was set to make her full debut as a heroine in 2008 with a movie opposite Madhavan directed by “Nishikanth Kamath”. Despite Madhavan admitting that the news was premature, she signed up to the film, which was titled Endrendrum Punnagai, only to be stalled prior to production. Eventually Hassan signed up to Soham Shah‘s Luck opposite Imran Khan, a Bollywood film. However, despite the film gathering much publicity prior to release, it became a critical and commercial flop. Shruti Hassan’s second Hindi feature film was Madhur Bhandarkar’s romantic comedy “Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji” in which Shruti Hassan appeared in an extended guest appearance alongside an ensemble cast of Emraan Hashmi, Ajay Devgn and Shazahn Padamsee. Shruti’s performance gained poor responses from critics with a reviewer however the film went on to become a commercial success at the box office.

Shruti then went on to appear alongside Blaze in the promotional videos for “Unnaipol Oruvan” and “Eenadu”, the bilingual films in Tamil and Telugu starring her father, which she had composed the music. It was in the year 2010 that Shruti starred in an English film “Hisss” where she was seen as playing herself. This was yet again for a promotional video, so she had a special appearance. She made her Telugu debut in January 2011, acting opposite Siddharth in the fantasy adventure film “Anaganaga O Dheerudu” directed by Prakash Kovelamudi son of director K. Raghavendra Rao. The film was co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film opened to positive reviews, with her performance being praised with critics. The film however became a commercial failure at the box office, and the film failed to capitulate on a hefty promotional campaign which had been undertaken. In mid-2010, Shruti was signed by A. R. Murugadoss to star opposite Suriya in his next film 7aum Arivu, and the film's shoot began in June later that year.

The film opened to mixed reviews, but became commercially successful. Her next Telugu release was “Oh My Friend” a romantic comedy film alongside Siddharth again which also co-starred Hansika Motwani and Navdeep. The film opened to average reviews. Shruti Haasan was next seen in Aishwarya Dhanush's directorial debut “3” a romantic drama film co-starring Dhanush. The film only garnered average returns at the box office. Her second release in 2012 was Harish Shankar's Telugu film “Gabbar Singh” a remake of the 2010 Hindi film “Dabangg” with the version featuring her alongside Pawan Kalyan. The film went on to become a large commercial success at the box office and created more film offers for the actress. Her next release in Telugu is “Balupu” with Ravi Teja. Shruti will be a part of upcoming Telugu movie “Yevadu” which has Ram Charan Teja in the lead as well as Prabhu Deva's new venture in Hindi. This movie features producer Kumar Taurani's son Girish Kumar.

Star Portrait-Kamal Hasan

Kamal Hassan Profile:

A Versatile actor Kamal Hassan is known for his flexibility to percept into any kind of roles. He is one of the south film actors who have fans worldwide.  He is not only an actor, he is a script writer, and filmmaker, considered one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. Haasan is known for winning several Indian film awards, including earning the most National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards, and also has the distinction of being the actor with the most number of films submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition to acting and directing, he is a screenwriter, lyricist, playback singer and choreographer. His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films.

Personal Life:

Kamal Haasan was born November7th, 1954 in Paramakudi, Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, in a Bhrami Family to a criminal lawyer named D. Srinivasan and Rajalakshmi, who was housewife.  Kamal Haasan was the youngest of four children, the others being Charuhasan, Chandrahasan and Nalini Raghu. His father was a strict person, he wanted all his sons to study and do well. The two elder brothers followed their father’s example and studied law. Kamal spent his childhood learning everything except staying focused on his studies. His eldest brother Charuhasan, like Kamal Haasan, is a National Film Award-winning actor, who appeared in the Kannada film “Tabarana Kathe” among others. Charuhasan's daughter Suhasini is also a National Film Award winner and is married to director and fellow Award winner Mani Ratnam.  Chandrahasan has appeared as the producer for several of Kamal Haasan's films as well as being an executive of Kamal Haasan's home production company, Rajkamal International. His brother's daughter Anu Hasan has appeared in several films in supporting roles, most notably in Suhasini's “Indira”.His sister Nalini Raghu is a dance teacher. Kamal Haasan later named an auditorium after his sister as Nalini Mahal. Her son, Gautham, played Kamal Haasan's grandson in his directorial venture, Hey Ram.

Marital Relationship

Coming to his Martial relationships, Kamal Haasan married danseuse Vani Ganapathy in a low-key affair. Vani put on the mantle of costume designer for her husband's movies and was publicised for walking along with Hassan into the Filmfare Awards South ceremony of 1980 immediately after their wedding. However, the couple split after ten years together, after Kamal Haasan began dating fellow actress Sarika, confirming in a later interview that he and Vani have never been in touch since their divorce. Subsequently, Haasan and Sarika lived together from 1988, and got married after having their second child. Of the two children Shruti Haasan was born 1986 and Akshara Haasan was born 1991. Sarika took a break from acting soon after her marriage. However, she replaced his ex-wife, Vani Ganapathy, as Haasan's costume designer, with work in “Hey Ram”. The couple filed for divorce in 2002 with Sarika estranging herself from Kamal Haasan by the end of the procedure in 2004.  His intimate relationship with co-star Simran, who is twenty-two years younger, became the reason for the split. However, Haasan's relationship with Simran was short-lived as Simran went on to marry her childhood friend in late 2003. Haasan now lives with former actress Gouthami Tadimalla, who starred with him in several films in the late 80s and early 90s. He had helped her during her traumatic breast cancer experience and the pair has been in a domestic relationship since 2005. Along with Shruti and Akshara, Gouthami's daughter, Subbalakshmi, from an annulled marriage also lives with them.

Film Journey

Kamal Hassan debuted as a child artiste in the film "Kalathoor Kannamma" (1960), which was released in the year 1960. Since then, he has starred in nearly 200 films in the major Indian languages Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. He has been a part of the film industry for 53 years. His journey in cinema has seen him don various roles from child artiste, to romantic lead to one of the most respected and revered heroes of the film industry today. He has famously said that he is a reluctant actor. He has an avid interest in every aspect of filmmaking and is known for his work as a choreographer, director, and writer, as well. He wrote his first script at age 18 for the film "Unarchigal" (1976), which was then followed by films that have gone on to become cult classics  Rajapaarvai (1981), Sathya (1988), Apoorva Sahotharargal (1989), Thevar Magan (1992), Mahanadi (1994), Kurudhippunal (1995), Avvai Shanmugi (1996), Hey Ram (2000), Pammal K Sambandam (2002), Panchathanthiram (2002), Anbe Sivam (2003), are a few of the films etched in popular memory for having set the bar for craftsmanship in the fields of screenplay, script, and dialogue. He is also a prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction in Tamil and his published work is testament to his constant exploration of structure and form. Kamal Haasan's strong convictions in his art have led to some of Indian cinema's most path-breaking films like “Pushpaka Vimaanam”.  Kamal Haasan also worked as a choreographer while transitioning as a well-known child artiste to the lead actor in a feature length film. Some of his best-known work as a dancer can be seen in “Saagara Sangamam”. Kamal Haasan is also a student of Carnatic music, studying under musical maestro Dr. Balamuralikrishna.  His career as a director began with the film “Chachi 420” the Hindi remake of “Avvai Shanmugi”. Since then he has called the shots for critically acclaimed films like "Hey Ram" and "Viswaroopam”.

Awards and Honours   

Kamal Haasan is one of the Padmashri awardees, and he is the most decorated actor in terms of awards in the history of Indian cinema. He holds the record for the most National Film Awards for an actor with four, three awards for Best Actor and one for Best Child Artiste. Moreover, Kamal holds a record nineteen Film fare Awards ranging across five languages and after his latest award in 2000, wrote to the organisation to exempt him from further awards. Sathyabama Deemed University awarded Kamal Haasan an honorary doctorate. He received the Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema at the 2006 ceremony of the inaugural Vijay Awards. He received the Living Legend Award in 2007 from FICCI, which recognizes outstanding personalities from the entertainment arena and honours them with awards at their annual global convention, FRAMES. In 2010, the United Progressive Alliance government organised a retrospective of Kamal Haasan's films. During that event, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the actor fell under a special category, as his cinema broke barriers of language and region. The same year, the Government of Kerala honoured him for completing 50 years in Indian cinema during the inauguration of state-wide Onam celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram. In 2009, Kamal Haasan was appointed as the chairman of FICCI Media and Entertainment Business Conclave, organised by the entertainment division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).He has recently been roped in to be part of academic advisory council for ISFM (International school of Film+Media). Kamal Hassan was also recently invited on board an American ship as a special friend of the US Government. In April 2013, Kamal Haasan received an award on behalf of the Indian cinema, presented by Chris Brown, Executive Vice President, Conventions & Business Operations for the National Association of Broadcasters, part of the New York Festivals International Film & TV awards.Coca-Cola India has recognized 20 luminaries of the film industry with the launch of the 24th Edition of the Limca Book of Records 2013 - ‘Cinema Special’ Edition, acknowledging the extraordinary achievements of 20 Indian Cinematic Icons as "People of the Year", including Kamal Haasan. Other recognitions include a string of Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Nandi Awards, Screen Awards and Vijay Awards, including four separate awards for his performance in “Dasavathaaram”.

Kamal's relative is Mahesh's mother!

Currently Prince Mahesh Babu is busy shooting for his '1' Nenokkadine directed by Sukumar of 100% Love fame. Kriti Sannon is starring in the film in which even Mahesh's son Gautam Krishna is starring.

According to sources Kamal Hasan's neice Anuradha Chandra Hasan will be seen as Gautam Krishna's mother. Anuradha starred in films like Evaraina Epudaina as Varun Sandesh's sister in law and Ram's sister in Endukante Premanta.

Kamal thanks Tollywood supoort on Viswaroopam

http://youtu.be/RGaZgfN9q3w

Rajani, Kamal's new bonhomie

Kamal Haasan 'Vishwaroopam' is all set to see the light in Tamilnadu after successful negotiations between Kamal Haasan and Muslim orgnisations. Kamal also agreed to edit the objectionable scenes. Even Chief Minister also agreed to cooperate with the producer in relaesing the film. However, the film released all over the country and getting positive talk. Many celebrities expressed their solidarity to Kamal Haasan.

All the celbrities one side and superstar Rajnikanth showing his support is one side. Rajnikanth who met Kamal Haasan shouldered his support to his long time friend. Speaking on the occasion, Rajnikanth said, " If Kamal incurs a loss because of Viswaroobam, I will act in Kamal’s next film without taking any remuneration. By doing so I will be able to compensate the losses he has incurred."

Viswaroopam movie review

Rating : 3.25/5

Director : Kamal Haasan

Producer : Kamal Haasan, Chandra Haasan

Music Director : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Starring : Kamal Haasan, Pooja Kumar, Upendra, Andrea Jeremiah

 

Universal Star Kamal Haasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ is all set for a massive worldwide release today. The film will not be releasing in Tamil Nadu and a few areas of Hyderabad(for today only) due to objections from certain Muslim communities. Vishwaroopam has been made with a massive budget and the film has an ensemble cast that includes Kamal Haasan, Shekhar Kapur, Rahul Bose and Pooja Kumar. Let us see how the movie is.

Story :

Vishwaroopam is a multi-layered story that is set in USA and Afghanistan, over a period of many years. The movie starts off with Vishwanath (Kamal Haasan) and his pretty young wife Dr. Nirupama (Pooja Kumar). Vishwanath is a dainty fellow who teaches Bharatanatyam and does not have any of the masculine qualities that Nirupama, who is a nuclear oncologist, desires. As a result, she starts developing feelings for her boss Deepak.

But she soon discovers that Deepak is not the suave and intelligent fellow he seems to be. He is a shady operator who has links with a terror outfit headed by Omar (Rahul Bose). As she gets into trouble, she also discovers that her dainty husband Vishwanath has more to him than what meets the eye. He has a past, and he hooks up with Nirupama for a reason.

Vishwanath and Nirupama soon get entangled in a dangerous plot that seeks to explode a dirty bomb in the heart of New York City. Can they stop Omar and his gang of thugs? What is Vishwanath’s past? That forms the story of ‘Vishwaroopam’.

Plus Points :

As usual, Kamal Haasan is brilliant in this film. He just excels in whatever he does and being a method actor, he brings so much realism into his performances. The man’s passion towards cinema deserves respect. Sekhar Kapur is dignified and delivers a classy performance. Rahul Bose is highly effective as the terrorist boss Omar.

The surprise package of the film is Pooja Kumar. She delivers a nice performance as the naive nuclear oncologist Nirupama. There is something very charming about her and the voice used for her Telugu dubbing suited her role perfectly. Andrea Jeremiah is ok.

The film’s look and feel is on par with Hollywood flicks. Especially the cinematography and the action sequences. They are outstanding and credit must be given to Kamal Haasan for taking Indian cinema forward in these areas. The scenes shot in Afghanistan and the interval firefight with the US Army stand out for their superb execution.

Screenplay is excellent in the second half. I really liked a narration technique used by Kamal in the film for revealing key flashback episodes, where the camera freezes in Matrix style, and takes the viewer back in time.

A lot of work has gone into making this movie and it is apparent. The locales, the chase sequences and the scenes involving the US Army require tremendous logistical planning.

Minus Points :

The film is slow, sometimes quite painfully. This is more evident in the first half, where Kamal is shown for a while as a dainty fellow with feminine traits. These scenes will not go down very well with entertainment seeking movie lovers.

The songs in this movie do not really gel with the film and they should have been avoided altogether . They merely act as speed breakers.

This is primarily a spy thriller, but the gripping narrative that is required to make such films effective is missing here.

Technical Aspects :

Sanu Varghese deserves special applause for his brilliant cinematography. Afghanistan has been shot beautifully. The dusty mountains, the deserts and the vast expanses of wasteland – they all seem so majestic in the movie.

Editing could have been sharper, especially in the first half. Background music is good, though it seems to have liberally used a few sounds from ‘The Dark Knight’. Choreography of the action sequences is fantastic.

As a director, Kamal Haasan excelled in the technical aspects of filmmaking. But he should have speeded up the pace of narration in the first half.

Verdict :

Vishwaroopam is a technically brilliant movie, but its Box Office appeal will most likely be limited to multiplexes and A centers. Brilliant cinematography and superbly shot action sequences are major assets for the film. A very slow pace of narration at times and some poorly placed songs spoil the overall effect. Kamal Haasan deserves respect for having the courage to mount the film on such a scale and with such high technical values.

Vishwaroopam release date

http://youtu.be/9IOnFvaEGTE