10 supporting roles that helped further the Ulaga Nayagan's dominance

For those of us who've grown up watching Rajni and Kamal, we know the drill.

Big Star + Big Director + Big Composer = Big Bucks.

A few days back I was doing a rerun of Thenali (that KS Ravikumar/Kamal Hassan takeoff on 'What About Bob' that made a few zillions at the box office). As the scenes rolled by I did my usual, "If i was making this movie who would I cast as XXXXX".... I came up with a few names for all characters except two and one of them was Jayaram's (The other being Kamal of course :p).

A few days later I was typing away into the browser thinking of movies where supporting characters defined the very success of the big stars that the movies were meant as vehicles for.... I came up with a really long list and then decided to trim it down to movies which starred only the Universal Hero Kamal Hassan.


So here's my list of ten supporting roles that helped turn Kamal Hassan movies into blockbusters, furthering the Ulaga Nayagan's dominance.


Honorable Mention: Shahrukh Kahn in Hey Ram

Although Hey Ram didnt set the cash registers ringing like it should have, it gave us the pleasure of seeing Shahrukh and Kamal together, not to mention hearing Shah Rukh talk trash in Tamil... and you can trust Kamal to take a cute little singer and turn her into late-night masala channel.



#10 Karan in Nammavar

Before Karan turned himself into a snorting overweight lunatic whose movies miraculously turn into average grossers in the C-centers, he was a loser who acted bit-parts in low-budget commercial flicks..and before that he acted in one movie with the big K.





#9 Daniel Balaji in Vettayadu Vilayadu

Most of us nay-sayers didnt think this guy would prove worthy enough for the K to tangle with in this cat and mouse thriller by Gautham, but once the movie hit the screens, Daniel had us convinced...but like all traditional one-film-wonders he chose to act in a few crap-fests after this one.




#8 The entire cast of Sathileelavathi

This was originally going to be just Ramesh Arvind, but apart from that irritating 'almost sex' titillation with Heera this movie was a riot!








#7 Madhavan in Anbe Sivam

This movie was apparently K's answer to R's B. We all still ask ourselves if Sundar C came up with this one, but whatever.. i'm not complaining.. this movie transformed Madhavan from a buck-toothed a-center brat to someone who could hold his own against the best in the business.




#6 Mohan Lal in Unnaipol Oruvan

Mohan Lal is one stout piece of awesomeness who has
National Awards x 4
State Awards x 9
Filmfare Awards x 10

....Nuff said.



#5 Prakash Raj in Vasool Raja MBBS

For all his annoying gimmickry and mimicry Prakash Raj was probably the only person who could do to Kamal what Boman Irani did to Sanjay Dutt. So .... yeah...







#4. Jayaram in Thenali

They say Mohan-lal was initially slated to play this role, but I really couldnt see him as the superstar psychatrist who is brought to his knees by a hard-to-handle patient. I still remember waiting outside the theater with Ganesh, Sriram and Deepak to watch this one; hell bent on watching it for Jyothika and Jyothika alone...




#3 Pashupathy in Sandiyar

I know..they called it virumaandi in the end thanks to some whiney tamil politician, but without pashupathy's dark and rustic touch, this movie would've been a squib damper than the ending to a Karan Johar movie.






#2 Gemini Ganesan in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi

The day after I did a rerun of this in the USA, i went to a red cross camp to donate blood and they turned me away saying I'd been exposed to tuberculosis and malaria in India. Yes. I was also exposed to few million other seething Tamilians who wet themselves when they watched this movie.



#1 Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan in Thevar Magan

It is the year 1992 and Bharathan decides over some puttu and kadala that he's going to make a movie. He ropes in K and requests the best actor in the history of southern cinema to play his father. Most discering tamilians watched it ten times in a loop and randomly smashed things with their heads for a week after. A few zillionz later, that shameless king of B-country remakes 'Priyadarshan' decides that Anil Kapoor needs a hit and re-does the movie in Hindi (where it won another 8 filmfare awards btw...)

P.S. Any gems that deserve mention above? Put it in as a comment! :D

(Thats it for now ! Thanks for reading! Comment away!)