Actor Kamal Haasan’s next big release, Papanasam, a remake of Malayalam super-hit, Drishyam , where he plays a cable television operator and a father of two, is likely to release on July 3. Speaking to the media in Chennai on Thursday, Kamal Haasan said that Papanasam’s strength lies in its script. “It’s a script that has been tried and tested in several languages and has been proved successful. It is a film where even smaller characters are inseparable from the film’s world,” he said.
He also spoke a bit about how it was possible for the cast to speak the ‘Nellai’ slang spoken in Papanasam, a picturesque town in Tirunelveli district. “I have worked with three other writers in the film – Jeethu Joseph, Jeyamohan and Suka. Both Jeyamohan and Suka have intimate knowledge of the place and the slang and were often very sensitive to the way the cast uttered the dialogue. They would stop us even if there was a slight deviation,” he said.
Kamal Haasan also reserved a word of praise for the film’s director, Jeethu Joseph, who also wrote and directed the original. “Despite delivering a hugely successful film, he was open to new ideas and looked for ways to incorporate them. He knew when to give some leeway and when to pull people back,” Kamal Haasan said.
Actor Gautami, who makes a comeback to cinema and shares screen space with Kamal Haasan after a long time, said that Papanasam would reveal a new facet of the actor. “We all would have wondered what else Kamal Haasan can do differently. After all, he has done roles of many shades. In this film, he has displayed an entirely new facet of his acting,” she said.
When a question was raised about what he thought of the problems regarding the land deal in Nadigar Sangam, Kamal Haasan chose not to comment. The actor is currently shooting for Thoongavanam in Chennai, which is said to be based on the French film, Sleepless Night .
