The chameleon-like Kamal Hassan, 55, is a 
megastar who has been weaving magic on the silver screen for close to half a century with the sheer range and depth of his performances. He’s been there and done it times without number, but the multi-talented actor manages to keep his enthusiasm for the medium alive. He still goes where few dare to – and all in a day’s work. Being a maverick comes easy to Kamal Hassan.
His box-office draw is second to none, but he remains a thinking man’s thespian. In an industry where mass entertainment is the principal credo and an actor is as good as his last hit, he has raised the bar above the mundane and the middling, constantly daring to push into directions and zones where the medium receives an abiding fillip.
A one-man creative powerhouse, Kamal Hassan has over the years worn multiple hats: actor, writer, producer, director, choreographer, lyricist. No matter what role he has assumed behind the camera or before it, he has always had a way of stamping his authority on it.
From the film that made him a superstar – K. Balachander’s Apoorva Raagangal (1975), in which he played a young man who falls in love with an older woman – to his latest release, Unnaipol Oruvan, a remake of A Wednesday that sees him match wits with Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, Kamal’s career has been a constant voyage. His innate ability to keep stagnation at bay has helped him evade the image trap that many superstars falls into.
Kamal began his career as a child star in A. Bhimsingh’s Kalathur Kannamma (1960). He was only six years old. It was as if he was born for the movies. And with each step he has taken since then, he has strengthened that aura.
The 1970s saw him achieve a string of successes in socially-inflected films directed by mentor K. Balachander (Avargal, Moondru Mudichu, Manmadha Leelai, 16 Vayathinile), who often cast him alongside Rajnikanth and Sridevi. As the choreographer-turned-actor continued his ascent through the next decade, his star turns in Balu Mahendra’s Moondram Pirai (1982) and Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan (1987), in which he donned the garb of a real-life mafia don in Bombay, elevated Kamal to the ranks of Indian cinema's finest onscreen performers.
In Apoorva Sohadragal, which had him in a double role, he played a dwarf. In Michael Madhana Kamarajan, he played quadruplets. In films like Thevar Magan and Anbe Sivam, he continued to relentlessly push the boundaries of his craft. He even slipped into the guise of a woman in Avvai Shanmughi. Last year, he was seen in ten onscreen roles in Dasavatharam. Nothing seems to be beyond this man.
As a director, too, Kamal Hassan has chosen to plough a lonely furrow, making his debut in 2000 with Hey Ram, a provocative fictionalised account of the events that led to India’s Partition and the subsequent assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He then wielded the megaphone with success yet again in Virumandi, a film that revolved around the theme of capital punishment.
Kamal is approaching his 50th year in the business. Is he jaded? Not by a long chalk. His fans can expect a fresh start from the man who never repeats himself.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
megastar who has been weaving magic on the silver screen for close to half a century with the sheer range and depth of his performances. He’s been there and done it times without number, but the multi-talented actor manages to keep his enthusiasm for the medium alive. He still goes where few dare to – and all in a day’s work. Being a maverick comes easy to Kamal Hassan.His box-office draw is second to none, but he remains a thinking man’s thespian. In an industry where mass entertainment is the principal credo and an actor is as good as his last hit, he has raised the bar above the mundane and the middling, constantly daring to push into directions and zones where the medium receives an abiding fillip.
A one-man creative powerhouse, Kamal Hassan has over the years worn multiple hats: actor, writer, producer, director, choreographer, lyricist. No matter what role he has assumed behind the camera or before it, he has always had a way of stamping his authority on it.
From the film that made him a superstar – K. Balachander’s Apoorva Raagangal (1975), in which he played a young man who falls in love with an older woman – to his latest release, Unnaipol Oruvan, a remake of A Wednesday that sees him match wits with Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, Kamal’s career has been a constant voyage. His innate ability to keep stagnation at bay has helped him evade the image trap that many superstars falls into.
Kamal began his career as a child star in A. Bhimsingh’s Kalathur Kannamma (1960). He was only six years old. It was as if he was born for the movies. And with each step he has taken since then, he has strengthened that aura.
The 1970s saw him achieve a string of successes in socially-inflected films directed by mentor K. Balachander (Avargal, Moondru Mudichu, Manmadha Leelai, 16 Vayathinile), who often cast him alongside Rajnikanth and Sridevi. As the choreographer-turned-actor continued his ascent through the next decade, his star turns in Balu Mahendra’s Moondram Pirai (1982) and Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan (1987), in which he donned the garb of a real-life mafia don in Bombay, elevated Kamal to the ranks of Indian cinema's finest onscreen performers.
In Apoorva Sohadragal, which had him in a double role, he played a dwarf. In Michael Madhana Kamarajan, he played quadruplets. In films like Thevar Magan and Anbe Sivam, he continued to relentlessly push the boundaries of his craft. He even slipped into the guise of a woman in Avvai Shanmughi. Last year, he was seen in ten onscreen roles in Dasavatharam. Nothing seems to be beyond this man.
As a director, too, Kamal Hassan has chosen to plough a lonely furrow, making his debut in 2000 with Hey Ram, a provocative fictionalised account of the events that led to India’s Partition and the subsequent assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He then wielded the megaphone with success yet again in Virumandi, a film that revolved around the theme of capital punishment.
Kamal is approaching his 50th year in the business. Is he jaded? Not by a long chalk. His fans can expect a fresh start from the man who never repeats himself.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
Posada directly reported – appealing consent to join the synchronizing junta for four violent exile factions, including an organisation called RECE that was operated by Mas Canosa. “I will give the Company all the intelligence that I can collect,” Posada had pleaded and promised. “I will gain a more solid position between the exiles and, because of that, I will be in a better position in the future to perform a good job for the Company,” he had convincingly added. Other documents reveal that Posada had been briefing CIA on the actions of Mas Canosa on the regular basis since mid 60s. For example, in July 1965, Posada informed CIA that he had finished the circuit for two ten-pound Limpet bombs that were to be used exclusively against USSR and Cuban ships that were temporarily stationed in the Mexican port of Veracruz. The bombs constituted of some eight pounds of Pentolite explosives each and a pencil detonator. The operation was planned by Mas Canosa.
index – Sensex was at a multi-year low of 8,509. On that day when Delhi-based Sahadev – who has been a keen follower of the market and an avid investor – was asked about his investment plans, he answered, “Are you crazy? The market is going through a real bad phase and if you don’t want to burn your money, just sit quiet. Wait till the bulls return to the market.” Today, the market is again on an upswing and the Sensex has climbed over 3,000 points in less than 50 trading sessions between July 14 and September 18 to come close to 17,000 from 13,800. This rally has given Sahadev enough confidence to return to the market. And he is not alone. Millions of retail investors who kept themselves away from the market after losing billions in the market mayhem of 2008 are now returning with renewed expectations. Probably, they all think the way Sahadev thinks. But the question remains, is it actually the right time to invest? Well, as some market man had once said, there is no right or wrong time to enter the market. It’s all about how and where you park your money!
glory, holding a nation of a billion people in thrall even though she has been in semi-retirement for some years now. On September 28, she turned 80, but the honey in her voice is still magically intact. Every female singer, including her gifted sister, Asha Bhosle, has been assessed against the benchmark set by Lata. But there has not been no one quite like her.
Varanasi with its much photographed 84 ghats forms one of the most fascinating backdrops to the mosaic of the physical and the metaphysical, the earthly and the spiritual. In its serpentine galis, with names as evocative as Khoya and Kachauri, exist hundreds of temples and hotels where the devout come to wait for death. It also houses the Bharat Mata temple, the only one dedicated to the motherland. Shenhai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, one of the city’s best loved sons, had after the 2006 serial blasts that rocked the city famously remarked, “In Kashi every Hindu is a Muslim and every Muslim a Hindu.” Besides its spirituality, Varanasi’s other famous exports are its silk and hand woven carpets. The city also has the Benares Hindu University with a student strength of 20,000.
on which stands the temple of Ma Kamakhya, one of the most revered of the 51 Hindu peeths, Shakti is worshipped in her every manifestation: apart from Ma Kamakhya, there is Kali, Tara, Chinnamasta, Bogola, Dhumabati, Bhairavi, Matangi, Kamala, Xuroxi and Tripura Sundari. Here, there is the said, and the unsaid. The Yogini Tantra (c 1350) and the Kalika Purana (c 10th century), both of which were written in Kamrup, the Assam of the yesteryears, provide specifications of how far each temple should be from each other. It is part of tantrik calculation. Here, every puja is tantrik though no “dikshit” tantrik talks of the details of this puja. Kamakhya was the epicentre of Hindu tantric school of thought and practice. It retains its pre-eminent position. 
by Rishi Vyas at the beginning of kalyug, approximately 5000 years back. A recent Oxford University study asserts that the ancestors of the British people were cannibals, as if calling them apes was not enough insult! Respect for creation and everything within it and beyond it, is characteristic of Indian culture. Our Vedic ancestors were descendents of Herculean beings who not only gave the world the knowledge of the material world but also the etheric world. Any serious practitioner of the subject of spiritual sciences would clearly see the devolution of mankind, which was anticipated by the Vedic Rishis hence they gave to the world tools as per the anticipated capacity of the beings who would inhabit this planet at different points of time – poetry, art, romance, economics, medicine, physics, chemistry, dance, music..........peace; you name it and they gave it.
might think. Indeed, India is in. In virtually every place on the earth, there is a little corner that is forever India. India, driven by its new-found economic clout, has taken its rightful place on the world stage in a range of spheres. But, miraculously, even as it absorbs numerous global influences in different fields of endeavour, it remains firmly rooted in its past. Tradition and modernity co-exist in this land of a billion people. This co-existence might not be peaceful at all times, but it holds despite many pulls and pressures. The notion of nationhood in India hinges on its in-built cultural, social and religious diversity. Our politicians may not always have done justice unto us, but India's democracy, warts and all, has withstood many ravages. The electorate has repeatedly called the bluff of many a counterfeit political movement and moved on. So when one talks about things that set India apart, where does one really begin? India is home to every major religion in the world, its citizens speak a bewildering array of languages and dialects, and its population is made up of a wider swathe of races, tribes and linguistic groups than probably any other nation in the world. India itself is a unique phenomenon, so there is no end to things that lend the nation its unmatched character.
has scheduled to hold the Presidential, legislative and local election on May 10, 2010. A formal colony of Spain and the United States, Philippines has lot of hope from the upcoming President as the country has been hit hard by global recession. It further aims to revive its economy with a fresh election and a new president. Unfortunately, the reality doesn’t seem to be as glassy, as people of the country are expecting nothing drastic out of this election as the same old corrupt and greedy dynasties are going to end up running this beautiful south Asian country.
latter causes itchy rashes on the skin. He has also planted odallam, a poisonous-fruit tree. These, Dayal maintains, are nature’s purifiers. They absorb poison from the soil and atmosphere and make the environment healthy, therefore becoming necessary evils. Then again, the oleander’s beautiful flowers, and banyan and the holy basil etc lend the necessary aesthetics and produce oxygen in abundance. Dayal mixed organic farming and naturopathy after he met the late CRR Varma, the pioneer of naturopathy in Kerala. He thus does not believe in the use of fertilizers as being necessary to cultivation; they only serve to poison the produce, causing killer diseases like cancer, nephro-ailments and liver cirrhosis. In one part of the land is a pond, the soil dug out of which has been shaped into a hill. The pond acts a reservoir for rain water, while the hill prevents wind turbulence around the region. There is also a kavu (forest) temple nestled in the woods dedicated to the serpent gods, as is common practice in Kerala. Each evening, Dayal unfailingly lights the lamp in front of it. Even though this forest is hardly 10 years old, the trees and the hill and the creeper canes give the look of a perfect ancient Kerala kavu.
any ministry. It’s purely the Prime Minister’s prerogative. I’ve only said that I don’t want law [ministry] as two of my children are practicing law and there would be a conflict of interest.