Kamal Haasan’s films that were too ahead of their time

Kamal Haasan turns 71

Even in an industry driven by stars and box-office numbers, Kamal Haasan stands out as a filmmaker who didn’t just make films, but also launched experiments. Many of his ventures were bold, ambitious and conceptually far ahead of their era.

Here are some of his most visionary projects that either re-emerged later or never saw the light of day. But if you look at them now, they seem prescient in hindsight.

Aalavandhan (2001)

Aalavandhan featured Kamal Haasan in two wildly distinct dual-roles - one a polished, upright officer; the other a psychotic twin. Often cited by critics as one of Indian cinema’s most technically audacious films, it was way ahead of its time. Cinematographer Tirru said to Film Companion, “The film was an outlier… At a time when dual roles only meant a mere costume change, Haasan really put in the work to present two distinct characters.”

The film also employed motion-control cameras, manga-style sequences, and extreme physical transformations, that too in the year 2001. Reviews at that time were mixed. But two decades later, as one writer put it, “Those very techniques that people weren’t familiar with back then are being celebrated today.”

In late 2023, Aalavandhan was confirmed to be re-released on December 8, in over 1000 theatres.

Marudhanayagam (announced 1997)

In October 1997, Kamal Haasan launched Marudhanayagam, a historical epic centered on the 18th-century warrior Muhammad Yusuf Khan, with Queen Elizabeth II as chief guest at the launch. Haasan himself called the story deeply personal. “The character of Marudhanayagam has sunk deep into me… I can empathise with him…” he had said.

Despite lavish sets, test shoots, and international plans including collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber, the film was indefinitely shelved in 1999 after the British co-producer backed out.

Later Kamal Haasan said in an interview with Pinkvilla, “If I play him today, somebody might calculate and say that he died at 40 and why is this old man playing that.”

Other shelved projects

Beyond these two, Kamal Haasan’s career catalogue includes several other “ahead-of-their-time” projects that remain unmade, like Marmayogi, Thalaivan Irukindran and others.

These films were built on futuristic or philosophical themes. They were period fantasies, spy comedies, political thrillers, often limited by budgets, producers or the infrastructure of Indian cinema at the time.

Why “ahead of its time”?

These films were made with technical ambition applying motion control, digital VFX, dual roles shot in novel styles (Aalavandhan).

These films experimented with genre. Some were Historical sagas with pan-Indian scope (Marudhanayagam), spy-fantasy hybrids and more. There was boldness in the concepts with themes of identity, conversion, time-zones, drugs, twin personalities, futuristic tech, all far removed from mainstream Tamil cinema circa 2000.

What once surprised the audiences is now celebrated. Simply put, the audience's sensibility and streaming has finally caught up with Kamal Haasan’s vision.