Even before the word method actor was common language , you saw the impact of it when you saw Kamal Haasan on screen. In 1977 he learnt ventriloquism to play a role in the movie Avargal. He has spoken Tamil in many dialects including Sri Lankan Tamil. He learnt direction, sound recoding, several art forms ranging from dance to martial arts. He is almost a walking encyclopaedia on cinematic craft.
He himself says ' the only time he is happy is when he is in front of the camera'. Although recently he has become more megalomaniac than before, nobody can take away the body of work he generated in the 80s where directors were emboldened to try different characters and storylines just because they knew Kamal Haasan could do justice to them.
Moondram Pirai (remade as Sadma in Hindi) is that classic that ran on a Kamal Haasan performance so sincere , so layered and yet so engaging that there is no debate that this is a performance that stays behind with you long after the movie ends.
Before I saw this movie, I always thought movies end happily. Happys ending as Shreyas Talpade says in Om Shanti Om. So the scene for Day 3 is really the unhappy end to this movie.
Kamal Haasan plays the role of a school teacher(Seenu) who rescues a girl (Viji) suffering from retrograde amnesia from a brothel . He slowly falls in love with her , Sridevi playing the kiddishness to the hilt. Her parents finally find her and after being cured by a doctor, she leaves town. As she is leaving town Cheenu tries to remind her of him and uses a lot of antics to show that.
As he realizes the futility , Yesudas sings soulfully of a memorable past that will not come back. Just like the days when Kamal Haasan used to act for good directors without posturing.
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