Ulaganayagan Kamal 50 – Oru Thodarum Sarithiram (By Vijay TV) – Photo gallery 2009

Kamal Haasan’s 50 glorious years in front of the camera were celebrated in good measure at an event titled ‘Ulaganayagan Kamal 50’ that was held at Nehru indoor stadium on Monday evening.

The highlight of the evening was the coming together of Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth, Mammootty, Mohanlal, Venkatesh and Sarath Kumar, who were given the pride of place along with legendary director K Balachandar. Many leading technicians, directors and the legends of Tamil film music - Ilaiyaraaja and A R Rahman - came to wish the universal hero.

It was a well organised event that went on for nearly five hours. One of the major highlights was Kamal Hassan’s interaction with all his yesteryear heroines - Jaya Chitra, Revathi, Radhika, Urvasi, Nirosha, Lissy, Sarnya, Tabu, Shobhana, Meena and Gowthami. When the ladies on stage constantly pulled his leg, Kamal joined them for a photo opportunity and said, “I’m very comfortable with women, as you can see. That’s because I grew up in a large household full of ladies.”

Prabhu Deva and dad Sundaram Master performed a special medley of dances and songs from Kamal films, which got a thundering ovation. Then, there was ‘Kamal unplugged’, a medley of songs from Kamal films sung by his favourite singers SPB and Hariharan. Later, Shruti Haasan sang some of Kamal’s songs from his early films. Maestro Illaiyaraja too sang a poem that he had penned for the occasion.

The best was saved for the last when stars like Mammootty, Mohanlal, Venkatesh, Prakash Raj, directors KB, Shankar, K Viswanathan, SP Muthuraman and finally Rajinikanth gave highly emotional speeches. The entire audience stood up and clapped when Kamal made an emotional thanksgiving speech and at the end, went down on his knees and bowed down to the audience.

Updated:
South Indian biggies Rajinikanth, Mohanlal, Mammootty, Victory Venkatesh and Sarathkumar came together on Monday in a grand function organized by Vijay TV in Chennai to celebrate versatile actor Kamal Haasan’s five decades in film industry.

Praising his esteemed colleague Kamal Haasan, Mohanlal said: “The industry is proud to have an actor who could be looked upon as a fitting role model for upcoming heroes.”

Choreographer-actor-turned-director Prabhu Deva, his father Sundaram, Bharatanatyam dancer-actress Shobana and students of John Britto dance school presented dance items during the occasion, while Vivek, Parthiban and Jayaram took their turns to compere the show along with Gopinath.

Radikaa Sarathkumar organized an interactive session where Kamal chatted with yesteryears actresses Gautami, Revathi, Rohini, Jaya Chitra, Lissy, Tabu, Urvasi and Meena. ‘Kamal unplugged’, a music performance by Hariharan and S.P. Balasubramaniam, was also presented at the occasion. It was followed by Kamal’s daughter Shruti Haasan’s performance.

Oscar winner A.R. Rahman, producer A.V.M. Saravanan, veteran actress Saroja Devi, directors Balachandar, Balu Mahendra, S.P. Muthuraman, Dharani, Mysskin, A.R. Murugadoss were present among others.