Actors Rajinikanth, Mohanlal, Mamooty and Venkatesh waxed lyrical on Kamal’s contribution to the film industry. “He has been an inspirational factor for the youngsters. The industry is proud to have an actor who would be looked upon as a fitting role model for the upcoming heroes,” they said, as Kamal expressed his gratitude towards his colleagues in the film industry and his fans for their unflinching support.
As a tryst with the female leads of his yesteryear movies, actor Radhika organised an interactive session with Gautami, Revathi, Rohini, Jaya Chitra, Lissy, Tabu, Urvasi and Meena who shared their thoughts on working with Kamal.
Introducing Jaya Chitra as his first heroine, Kamal said all his co-actors have made his working experience pleasant and they have been an integral part of his learning experience. “I have done only four films with him. But each one has been a milestone in my acting career,” Gautami told the gathering at a jam-packed auditorium.
Actor Prabhu Deva dedicated a dance performance by him and his father dance master Sundaram. The event was punctuated with dance performances by Shobana and students of John Britto on popular numbers from Kamal’s movies. Vivek, Parthiban and Jayaram took turns to compere the show along with Gopinath.
The speakers urged the State government to name Eldams Road after Kamal Hassan, who “symbolises the growth of Tamil cinema.”
‘Kamal unplugged,’ a music performance by Hariharan and S.P. Balasubramaniam, was held. It was followed by Shruti Haasan and Ilayaraja’s medley performances on Kamal’s evergreen film songs.
Personalities from the film industry such as A.V.M. Saravanan, Saroja Devi, Sivakumar, A.R. Rahman, directors Balachandar, Balu Mahendra, S.P. Muthuraman, Dharani, Mysskin, A.R.Murugadoss and Cheran, actors Sarath Babu, Prakash Raj, Prabhu, Abbas, Madhavan, Karthi Sivakumar Arjun, Sameera Reddy, Sandhya and many others took part in the function. Cinematographer P.C. Sreeram and Ravi K. Chandran were part of the show.