Kamal Haasan, who shared his words of appreciation for his mentor and veteran Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, one of the towering filmmakers in India, who is coming up with his film Sing Geetham at the age of 94, reflected on changing landscape of filmmaking from passion-driven to profit oriented.
Speaking at the pre-release event of the film, Kamal Haasan said, "Cinema is fundamentally driven by passion. Only after that does it become a business. But today, the situation has been reversed. Even before a film is made, people start calculating whether it will collect Rs 100 crore or Rs 200 crore."
He then recalled how their film Pushpaka Vimana (1987) was made on a budget of just Rs 15 lakh, but gave them the satisfaction of making a Rs 150 crore film. "It's not an exaggeration. It must have already collected Rs 200 crores. That's the truth of the industry that we don't realise or fully monetise. We are still learning. Singeetham's passion has not dwindled at all and I don't see why the industry should lose its passion," he shared, urging the new-age filmmakers and industry people to learn from veterans like Singeetham.
Kamal further noted how no one can guarantee that a film will be a success or a failure. "But we can say with confidence, ‘We will be happy with this film when it is completed. If we are not happy with it, we simply will not release it. That is exactly what happened with Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989)," he noted, underlining how filmmaking begins with "euphoria", but eventually shifts to a "blame game" or "sharing awards". "When it comes to a failure of a film, the blaming begins. That award, we (Kamal and Singeetham) were willing to take. Everyone will leave and we will hold onto that award. Pushpaka Vimana and Mumbai Xpress (2005) are examples. Nobody can say which is a good film. In the same way, the cast doesn't decide it as a 'big film'. A great idea is where a film begins," he explained.
Reflecting on the making of Apoorva Sagodharargal, Kamal Haasan revealed that the team took the bold decision to scrap nearly 20 days' worth of footage after realizing the film was not shaping up as intended.
"We completely discarded the footage shot during the first 20 days. Had we continued with that version, it would have turned out to be a failed film," he said. According to the actor, the team chose to halt the project despite the financial implications, believing that creative integrity was more important than salvaging already-spent investments.
"We stopped that failure before it happened. We had to answer for the money that had already been been spent, but we firmly believed that it was better to do the right thing than to continue with something that was wrong," he added.
Haasan also spoke about the challenges of bringing the iconic character Appu to life. He admitted that even after filming a few scenes, the team had not figured out the right approach for portraying the short-statured character. "Even after shooting three scenes, we still did not know how I was going to portray Appu," he recalled, adding that the breakthrough came only after extensive brainstorming and experimentation.
For the unversed, Kamal starred in multiple films directed by Singeetham, such as Raja Paarvai (1981), Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989), Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990), and Magalir Mattum (1994), among others. Notably, the upcoming film is produced by Nag Ashwin, known for helming Kalki 2898 AD, starring Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, and Kamal Haasan, among others.
