1999---- My film debut ( Hey Ram)

March 26th 1999 is an unforgettable date for me.That's when I got to meet Kamal Hassan and landed a role in " Hey Ram". But let me start from the beginning.

On the evening of 25th Mar, Sudha got a call from her friend Tara Mohan. Tara is a model co-ordinator and occasionally gets calls from film production companies to locate artistes for specific roles. I was also at home and could hear only Sudha's end of the conversation." A swamiji's role? No I don't know anybody" etc etc. I asked her who was on the line and what was it about. She said that Kamal Hassan was looking for someone to play the role of a swamiji in his film " Hey Ram". I told Sudha to inform Tara that I was available and why didn't she recommend my name. I then spoke to Tara directly and said I was interested--- if only because it was an opportunity to meet Kamal. She then asked me to go to Kamal's Office next day morning in Alwarpet by 8 AM.

You must remember that this was March and the fiscal year ending for my company.There were a thousand things requiring my attention in the Office. I decided to skip all that and promptly reported at Kamal's Office in Alwarpet by 8 AM. There was one other person already there. 

I told the Manager that Tara Mohan had asked me to come for the swamiji's role in " Hey Ram" and to meet Kamal. He told me that Kamal was shooting in Mundakanniammal Koil Street in Mylapore and asked me to go there and ask for the Production Manager. He also told me that the other person waiting in the Office was also auditioning for the same role and asked me whether I could take him also.I said yes and we both went to Mylapore in my car.

Shooting was already in progress and I waited among the crowd.This street has a lot of old fashioned houses and is like a typical Brahmin Agrahara.However, what struck me was that all of the houses seemed to have balconies with railings. On a closer look, I realized that these were actually paintings which were hung to create a facade!! The Art Director who made this possible was Sabu Cyril. More about him later. The shooting scene involved Hema Malini and Girish Karnad who were the parents of Vasundhara Das and Kamal and his family were coming by car to "see" her. I realized all this later when I actually watched the movie.

As soon as one shot was over, there was a gap while they were setting up for the next shot.I went over to the Production Manager along with the other person and explained why I had come.He asked us to wait close by and said that Kamal would see us as soon as the next shot was completed. So we waited in the crowd.It was very hot and that day happened to be Rama Navami.

As soon as the shot was completed, the Production Manager asked us to go to Mundakanniamman Temple and wait there for Kamal. After a few minutes, he came.He first spoke to me and asked me whether I could speak Tamil and Hindi. I said yes.Then he asked me whether I could speak Iyer Tamil. I said yes and spoke a few words. Kamal then thanked the other person and told him he could go. He told the Production Manager that I was selected and told me that he would speak to me after the next shot.

Now I had become an "artiste" and you should have seen the change that came over. Earlier I was the aam aadmi struggling with the rest of the janata to get a peek into the shooting. Now, someone brought a chair for me and someone else got me a glass of buttermilk. Another person asked me if I was comfortable and whether I wanted an umbrella to shield myself from the sun!!

After the shot, Kamal came up again and we went inside the temple. He explained to me that I would have to dress up like the Shankaracharya and I would have to shave off my head and my moustache. Shaving off the head was OK ( more about that later), but I was a bit sad at the thought of shaving off my moustache. Kamal wanted the make-up man to make a kudumi for me. The he took a pair of scissors, cut off some of my chest hair and asked the make-up man to make a kudumi of the same colour and texture. That's perfection for you!!

Then he dropped the bombshell!!! He said we were leaving next day morning for Varanasi and asked me to collect my air ticket from his Office. I told him that the ticket probably needed to be booked since they possibly couldn't have known by name earlier. Kamal said that they didn't know who would be selected so they had booked a ticket in the name of Venkataraman!!

I was in a daze!! I had treated the whole thing as a lark and was very happy that my primary objective of meeting Kamal Hassan had been met.Now they had sent off the other person and I couldn't tell him that I was a busy executive with year-end targets to meet.

Anyway, I went to the production office and was handed over the ticket.Even here, I was treated more deferentially than the previous occasion.The Manager told me that the flight to Delhi was at 6 AM. He asked for my address and told me that a car would pick me up at 4.30 AM the next day.

I came home and broke the news to Sudha.She told me that it was no surprise that I was selected since Kamal Hassan prefers slightly fair people.

I then went to the Office and tremblingly told my boss the whole story and asked for leave.He was very understanding ( maybe even a little envious) about the whole situation and told me to enjoy myself.

Next day, I got a wake-up call at 4 AM from Kamal Hassan's Office and the car came at 4.30 AM. Those were the days before you had to show your ID for airport entry and check-in, so I had no problem with checking in as Venkataraman.There were around 10 others from the film unit on the flight.  Kamal Hassan had grown a beard for his role and we were all proudly basking in the attention that we got from the other passengers for being part of his entourage.

We were supposed to catch a connecting flight at 10.30 AM from Delhi to Varanasi. For some reason, the flight got delayed. I was sitting next to Sabu Cyril in the flight. He introduced himself as the Art Director. I told him about the facades that I had noticed on the temple street the previous day and he said that this was his creation. Sabu also mentioned that being too good at his job didn't help and gave an example.For a Malayalam film, Sabu had created a set of the Guruvayur Temple and it was so realistic that he was expecting a National Award for Art Direction.He didn't get the award and later on he was told that the judges didn't even know it was a set and therefore he was not considered.He also told me of the lengths he went to create the pistol that Saketh Ram ( Kamal Hassan's character) carries in his bid to shoot Mahatma Gandhi.

Because of our delayed flight to Delhi, a message had been sent earlier to Delhi Airport to hold the Varanasi flight. As soon as we landed in Delhi, we were met at the tarmac by the Indian Airlines Staff and handed over the boarding passes for the Delhi-Varanasi leg.The checked-in baggage was also identified and transferred manually to the Varanasi aircraft.

We landed in Varanasi around 11.30 AM and went straight to a hotel. I was given a separate room. Kamal told me to get my head shaved in the evening and be ready by 3.30 AM the next day morning for the make-up man.

In the evening, I went to the nearest barber shop and got my head and moustache shaved ( Rs.6). Next day, at 3.30 AM,  the make-up man arrived with the ochre robes of a Shankaracharya along with the staff. I put on the robes,smeared vibhuti on my arms and forehead and , staff in hand, went down to the hotel reception. There were a group of Japanese tourists there waiting to visit the Sarnath Temple. They clicked their photographs with me. The car came and all of us went to Dasaswamedh Ghat by 5 AM.

By now a crowd had already gathered at Dasaswamedh Ghat. They saw me in my Shankaracharya dress and bowed before me. Some of them touched my feet and I kept repeating " Jeeti Raho Beti" and " Jeeti Raho Beta". As of that moment, I had no clue about what I was supposed to do in the film.

Then someone from the film unit came and told me that when the clapboard sounded, I was supposed to lead Kamal Hassan  down the steps to the Ganga river facing east. As the sun came up the horizon, we were supposed to raise our hands and bow before the sun.

I saw  some unit hands going around the ghat and covering some hoardings. I asked why and was told that the scene was set in the 1940s and therefore they didn't want the camera to capture any hoarding showing a relatively recent product.

Then I saw a few police patrol boats in the river. They were engaged to keep off any tourist boats who might be cruising the river in the early morning and thus come in the field of view of the camera.

While we were waiting for the sun to rise, Kamal's trainer handed him a set of really heavy dumb bells and made him go through his exercise routine. That's professionalism for you.

At 5.45 AM, I was asked to get ready. When the clapboard sounded, I walked slowly down the steps leading Kamal by the hand. There was a camera behind us and a camera mounted on a boat in the river in front of us. As the sun was about to rise, we suddenly noticed a tourist boat crossing the river in front of us. What had happened was that the police patrol was so interested to  see the film shooting that they forgot to keep the boat away from the shooting area.  By the time the boat crossed the field of vision of the camera, the sun had already risen .

in the sky.

Kamal was terribly upset and said that we would have to repeat the scene next day morning.

Fortunately, we had planned an extra day in Varanasi to take care of exigencies and this was an exigency. Anyway, we returned to the hotel for breakfast and I was told that we would be going back to the Ganga river for more shooting.

After lunch, we went back and crossed the Ganga river to the other side. There, I was handed my dialogues ( both in Tamil and Hindi) and asked to rehearse them.

The scene is this. Saketh Ram's ( Kamal Hassan's character) first wife ( Rani Mukherjee) is killed during the partition riots in Calcutta and Saketh Ram comes back to Madras. He has a reluctant marriage with Vasundhara Das and comes under the influence of leaders of the Hindu Mahasabha and is convinced that Mahatma Gandhi's soft attitude towards the Muslims is the reason for the communal riots. Saketh is now chosen to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi. Prior to that, he makes a visit to Varanasi to shed his Vaishnava background and become a more militant Saivite. 

This is what he tells me in the dialogue and then I am supposed to initiate him into Saivism.

We completed the dialogues with some retakes and Kamal Hassan taught me some of the nuances of dialogue delivery. 

That evening, the film crew ( except Kamal Hassan) got together and I heard a lot of film experiences being exchanged.

Next day ( it was a Saturday), we repeated the exercise . I was woken up at 3.30 AM, got dressed and we were back in Dasaswamedh Ghat by 5 AM. This time, the police patrol crew were alerted to be more careful. As the sun rose, Kamal  and I were in the water and we raised our hands upwards in salutation. The scene was captured perfectly. 

There was more to come. In order to complete the rites of initiation, he was required to remove his sacred thread, cut it and fling it in the water and also remove all his clothes. We were in slightly shallow water and the cameraman told Kamal that his underwear could be seen. So we moved in a little deeper and Kamal shucked off that too. I am yet to see a higher degree of professionalism than this.

All the while, I was required to stand beside him and close my eyes and keep muttering my prayers. In order to show that Kamal was now beyond worldly desires, there was a young woman who was supposed to be bathing in the water and we were supposed to totally ignore her. It was difficult, but I managed it.

Meanwhile, all kinds of flotsam and jetsam was floating in the river and coming close to me. Since some cremations are done in the burning ghats of Ganga river, I was scared that some body part would float near me, but fortunately no such thing happened.

The shooting was completed by 8 AM and then we were on our own till the next day ( Sunday) when we were supposed to catch the flight to Delhi and onward to Chennai.

It was close to Holi. So I wandered around the shops close to Kashi Vishwanath temple and had thandai ( a drink which has some opium put into it). It put me in a mildly euphoric mood and I spent the rest of the day happily.

Next day ( Sunday), we caught the flight to Delhi and were waiting in the lounge to catch the connecting flight. Actor Om Puri wandered in from some other flight. He wanted to meet Kamal, but Kamal was engaged in discussions with a writer. So he spent time with us and cracked jokes with cameraman Vasu and Sabu Cyril.

On our return to Chennai, I dropped off Sabu Cyril at his residence in Kodambakkam and came home.

End of Hey Ram shooting experience.  Next day, I got some strange looks when I went to the Office since I had shaved off my head and my moustache.

There's more to this story. Sometime in November 1999, Sudha got a call to do the dubbing in Hindi for the voice of Sushila Nayyar ( an aide of Gandhi who later on became Union Health Minister). When she went to the recording studio, she happened to meet Kamal Hassan and told him that her husband ( me) had also acted in the movie. Immediately, Kamal asked his people to make her more comfortable since she was an " artiste's" wife. Sudha was very peeved. She said  to me " Here I've been in the dubbing field for more than 10 years. Now you do a two-bit role and suddenly you have become an " artiste."

The film premiered on 18th Feb 2000. A couple of weeks prior to the premier, I was just surfing through the TV channels and suddenly saw myself with Kamal Hassan in the sunrise scene. The promos were on for " Hey Ram" and I must have seen myself about a hundred times on TV.

One of my friends ( who didn't know that I had acted in the movie) told me that he saw someone remarkably like me in the " Hey Ram" trailer but thought it couldn't be me since the moustache was missing. I said that it was indeed me and that I had shaved both my head and my moustache for the film. That's when he said " Yeah, I noticed only the missing moustache. There isn't much difference between the completely bald head and how you're looking now."

There's one tailpiece to this saga. " Hey Ram" was nominated for the Oscars and I told my niece Archita that I had been nominated for " Best Debut in a non-speaking role" and would be attending the Oscar ceremony and might even pick up the Oscar.