Kamal Birthday Special Article

The multi-talented actor, who juggles many hats and dabbles in everything cinema, Kamal celebrates his 57th birthday today. At 57, Kamal has achieved everything, reached the pinnacle of cinema and won as many awards as there are around (at least in India). Kamal epitomizes the word 'cinema' for many of his contemporaries and fans of Indian cinema in general for his versatility in acting. In the capacity of an actor, screenwriter, songwriter, playback singer, choreographer, director and producer Kamal has completed an envious and eventful 50 years in cinema - a feat so phenomenal only very few could achieve.

Kamal was a child prodigy and he made his debut when he was four in Kalathur Kannamma, in 1959. His brilliance in acting in the movie as an orphan kid fetched him the covetous National Film Award for Best Child Artist. From then on, there has been not much of a looking back for him. After acting with all the prominent stars as a child artist, Kamal joined the TKS Nataka Sabha performing in stage plays organized by them while learning the art.

His first film as a grownup was in Maanavan, which was released in 1970 in which he performed a dance - a skill he would nurture and pioneer in later years. After his role in K Balachander's Arangetram he followed it up with more character roles before settling for a lead role in a Malayalam film Kanyakumari. His debut film in Malayalam fetched him a Filmfare award, a rare feat given that Kamal is new to the language. What followed was a tirade of movies in all south Indian languages, commercial, experimental and otherwise. Kamal has carved a niche for himself in Bollywood movies as well with hits like Saagar.

His impressive career spanning four significant decades saw many regional and national awards and movies that reiterated Kamal's acting prowess establishing him as one of India's foremost actors. Apart from holding a record number of awards - as much as five national awards and numerous Filmfare awards - Kamal also holds the Indian Government's prestigious Padma Shri award. He holds the record for having received the maximum number of Filmfare awards - 19 in total for various languages.

Every Kamal project turns out to be the cynosure of eyes and his latest Viswaroopam has already created flutter among his fans.

At this juncture, when he celebrates his 57th birthday, AccessKollywood joins his fans and well-wishers across the world in wishing him a happy birthday and many more victories.

• Ilayaraja's goodwill!