May 1st of 2021 on KH

Another media hype that befools people is the projection of Kamal Hasan.( KH )

As an actor, he shines best in comedy roles. He cannot weep or look sorrowful. This was commented on by producer Mukhta Srinivasan when he said audience booed him when he showed his reaction to his son’s death in “Naayagan”, copying Marlon Brando forgetting that this is a different culture.

If his film image and popularity are to help his politics what then is his Reel image?

He was a playboy in Manmatha leelai. He took delight in hurting sentiments of others in reel and in real lives. If people worshipped God in Temple Chariots, he delighted in breaking them into two.( Thevar Magan ) and he teased vegetarians by putting fish in their sambar.(MMK). He mocked the Brahmins by making his side-kicks do Sandhyavandanam with whiskey.(Panchavarnam)

MGR carefully cultivated an image of a good man fighting the evil and was a winner in films. This helped him to be a winner in real politics. His songs gave him a boost thanks to Vaali, his lyricist. In real life, MGR was a great philanthropist and a humanist. He knew he did not know. MGR respected women in reel and perhaps in real life too.

But KH had no such handle. KH played negative characters; glorified violence till the end of the film. His message was means did not matter as long as the end was good. In real and reel life, he never respected women. His dances were obscene, the type the youngsters used to see in the late 60s stealthily in what was known as Record dance . ( his dance with Ramya Krishnan in Panchavarnam is one such.) He claimed to be a rationalist but changed his name from Kamalahasan to Kamal Hassan believing in numerology.

How will this image boost his politics ? May be persons of similar thinking would be inspired to vote for him. His knowledge of public affairs, leave alone constitution, is next to nothing. His debate with Smriti Irani in Republic TV exposed his depth of ignorance. . He was using his Padma Shree Award as a title, which is prohibited. ( My earlier post on this perhaps stopped that.) Two people in Andhra Pradesh had been deprived of their awards in the eighties.

He called himself Gandhiji’s follower and his B team. People may remember how he set Karate Hussiney to raid Burma Bazar to stop the piracy of his movie DVDs and how one died in the scuffle. KH has now aligned with IJK Parivendar of SRM college which was selling PG Medical seats for crores. In a recent election speech, he said that the AIADMK Government worked against him and caused him a loss of Rs.66 crores. Otherwise, his wealth, now shown as Rs.174 crores would have crossed Rs.200 crores. He has a revenge to take. He did calculate that his anti-BJP postures would please the minorities and take him past the winning post. Mayura Jaikumar of Congress is also targeting the same section.

KH ‘ s party obtained 3.72% of votes in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Has he done anything to improve on that ? Hardly anything. He will get less than 3% this time. His convoluted sentences are meat for Memes. Clear thinking alone would bring forth clear speech. Yet he draws a crowd. Any actor of his standing should get that. Remember the crowd that Vadivelu drew in 2011 ? His failure to take off is media’s failure too. But sometimes, failures are remunerative.