The above pic has a self-explanatory email sent to me by Sriram.
Before that, my rambling note. I saw. I read. I was thrilled, excited and also sad. I hate to believe rumors that Camel Hassan‘s ‘to-be magnum opus’ Marudhanayagam will never get to see the light of the silver screens. I have my own reasons why Marudhanayagam should and should not release. The reasons why it should outplay the others. I expect just like millions of other kollywood fans, Kamal’s dream would reach the screens and entertain us. Though wanting to explain the reasons in detail, holding you back before reading the email isn’t quite right. Here you go.
Hi Guru,
I have been quite a frequent reader of your blogsite. I am too as passionate as you are about stuff like music, movies etc…Just wanted to share this incident with you.
Few months back I had this official trip to Switzerland, France and Belgium… And during one of those weekends at Evion, France, I met this French guy at a Cruiser in Lake Evion who happened to be my friend’s old time mate. Once after he knew that I was an Indian, he immediately started to converse about Kamal Hassan. Did although pronouce it in a wierd “Camel Hasaan” way… He told me that he had worked in a French production company and spoke very highly of Kamal whom they met during his visit to France in 1997-98 for Marudhanayagam related work. The whole conversation with him ranged from films to Kamal to the very very special Marudhanayagam. He was asking me if I had Marudhanayagam DVD and if I could get him one! And after when he heard that the film wasn’t got to be made, he was little put off as he said he had seen about 15 minute footage on Marudhanayagam and was amazed by the performances and script. He said its sad that such ideas and importantly days of hard work has been locked and never let out. It seemed that the range of the protaganist character in the movie was phenomenal, the adjective what he exactly used. As the character travelled from an untouchable lower caste to a near revolution to an almost death to joining an army force and then on to lead a kingdom.
I was just amazed by his narration for few reasons that his experience with Marudhanayagam happened before 6-7 years and importantly that he actually never knew the story or read the script. He said he had just seen the footage and a ppt presentation in french. He also claimed that Marudhanayagam was planned to been shot in French too apart from English.
I had to leave soon and before leaving I got a promise from him for mailing me pictures of MN which after initial hesitation he did. It was a wonderful experience to talk to someone knowledgable as him and bout something really Indian and that too to a French who loved Lagaan and kept humming Orey Chori from the same soundtrack (was a huge follower of AR).
After few weeks I did get a whole lot of Marudhanayagam Pictures and wav files of some french and tamil dialogues.
Guru, I am sharing few of them and I am sure you will be as thrilled to see them as I was. Keep posting blogs and opinions and your views does matter mate and its become a daily routine to checkout updates and articles on stuff like Google, AR, Maniratnam, IR to Kamal, Movies, Carnatic etc. Way to go. keep ’em coming.
With regards,
Sriram
Attached Pictures –
P.S – Did this meet the expectations from yesterday’s build-up ?. If you didn’t find yourself replying, Amaampaa Amaam then Jillunu Oru Panner Soda Adinga, Saar.
kirukkal.com 
59 responses to “Camel ‘Marudhanayagam’ Hassan”
Fantastic pictures! You made my day…er…week!
LikeLike
Fantastic LG, thanks a ton to you, Sriram and the French person for sharing the pics.
Kamal is more like the indie filmmakers in the US, but then a project like Marudhanayagam would need the backing of a big production house, and definitely in the scale of Universal or Tristar likes.
One can only hope that one of these biggie studios notice this project.
We have so much history and fantasy tales that would give the likes of Gladiator, LOTR and Narnia a run for the money…. if only they got made on a grand scale…….. sigh!!!
LikeLike
Good post..
but its actually tragic and ended up to be MurderNaayagam.
It could have very well been India’s Oscar quite convincingly!
The sad part is even if the funds were to be available now,we don’t have the Kamal of the 90s to act in it!
Anymore pictures?also the wav files?
LikeLike
gr8 pics!! n happy to see first hand info abt this on ur blog!!! though its sad tat the movie hasnt progressed yet!!!
LikeLike
Great pics lazy.
Followed the link to your earlier post on the Rising – funny how it seemed like a sure shot hit at the time of launch, but turned out to be a dud.
Maybe (just maybe), Marudhanayagam being called off was a blessing in disguise (remember aalavandhan?)
VIDEO, please! Thanks!
LikeLike
can you post rest of pics n videos sriram
LikeLike
Pictures are really good. So can expect one more post on detailed analysis “why Marudhanayagam should and should not release”
LikeLike
My God!…Give kamal all the energy and money to carve this kaaviyam.
LikeLike
Awesome stills.
Hype Justified.
Thanks.
LikeLike
wav….
nice to see this pictures….
really looking for marudhanayagam to be on the screens…
LikeLike
quantum kickass post
LikeLike
Hi Lazy,
This person has an interesting point on the financial viability of Marudhanayagam.
Have a look at this URL http://urpudathathu.blogspot.com/
I too hope that Marudhanayagam gets made, not for the range of protagonist, but for the sheer talent of actors that were originally slotted in the movie – Kamal, Nasser, Naseerudin Shah, Om Puri, Pasupathi and many others from Koothu-p-pattarai, Of course one great character, Ilaiyaraja’s BGM!! With possibility of such a fare in the offing, one line to Kamal, “We are waiting with our vaazhai ilais, where is the food?” put in thamizh, தலை வாழை இலைகளோடும், பசியோடும் காத்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறோம், கமல் படைக்கும் நளபாகத்திற்காக…
LikeLike
Iam sure Marudhanayagam will hit the doors of Oscars and Kamal hassan will be crowned…..
We should pray kamal should take up the project once again ………
Nice pictures
LikeLike
ரொம்ப நல்லா இருக்குது!
(செக்குலர் அவார்டு நமக்கு உண்டா? 🙂 )
LikeLike
guru,
u r in a literal force to get and post those other contents frm ur friend
LikeLike
guru,
evanum unga post ai paaraattalai, all ar go ga abt only the MN pics, so this is the power of MN and kamal, so ur build-up was up to the expectations.
congrats and again, pls get and post the rest
LikeLike
Good post LG, but…..
However much i would like to see Marudhanayagam, i don’t think it will be made………..The major reason being that the subject is bound to ruffle more than a few feathers in certain communities…..
And Marudhanayagam in a traditional sense is no absolutely patritiotic hero…..
There are a lot of controversies relating to him and a varied opinions on his political actions.
Now one can shout one’s throat hoarse about the right of filmmaker to present his views and talk about the immaturity of the audience in not viewing a film as a film……but at the end of the day it will only be the fanatical idiots who will have their say like it ahppened in Virumandi..(though i felt in the end Kamal proved the more dignified victor in that case). And poor Kamal would have to relase the movie with some few hundred cuts or not be allowed to release the movie at all. Probably even the latter is a more preferable option …..look what happened to Mumabi Express….the removal of the first scene of the movie(The ‘ele nee etti po’ song) spoilt the whole movie…..the essence of the movie was lost in cutting out the song which had a poetic personification of lust and greed and could have wonderfully set the pace for the movie.
LikeLike
The pictures are indeed great.. The best part is the trailor didn’t give away even an inkling of the plot..
Thanks Lazy…
LikeLike
//You made my day…er…week!//
Rand Ramble, Actually it made my month !!
//One can only hope that one of these biggie studios notice this project.//
Vasanth, I am sure it would happen but then the worry is if kamal has got this dream alive or not.
LikeLike
//Good post..//
Raapi, Good photos-nu thaaney sollareenga. Naan onumey ezhuthalaye thalaiva.
//n happy to see first hand info abt this on ur blog!!!//
Kutti wall !!, infact i am happy to because i’m thrilled of marudhanayagam since the day it was started. the only worry is it hasn’t completed yet.
//VIDEO, please! Thanks!//
Tambara, i would also join with you and ask, VIDEO, please! Thanks!.
LikeLike
//Pictures are really good. So can expect one more post on detailed analysis “why Marudhanayagam should and should not release”//
Bi(r)lla, Certainly.
LikeLike
lazy,the “built up” was completely justfied .hey can u please post more pics.ask sriram for more.please please please.i really wanna learn more bout it.
LikeLike
ellarom geekuku oru perya OOOOO podunga…
Sokku photo Lazy…
LikeLike
//My God!…Give kamal all the energy and money to carve this kaaviyam.//
Saravanan, Kamal oru Naathigan. Neengalum kamala nambunga. !!
Jai Ganesh, I did read Narain’s account of Marudhanayagam the next day it was wrote. Even Chenthil had sent a bookmark to me about it. I certainly do not agree to parts of that post but yeah i see from where he is coming.
LikeLike
//quantum kickass post//
Sridhar, neenga physics student-a 🙂 Thanks.
//Iam sure Marudhanayagam will hit the doors of Oscars and Kamal hassan will be crowned…..//
Rajini Saravana, I only hope that Marduhanayagam doesn’t land up for oscars. oscars are not where a tamil film should target. if it reaches the crowd thats probably the oscar for Kamal.
LikeLike
//(செக்குலர் அவார்டு நமக்கு உண்டா? 🙂 )//
Thoda hero !! BTW, Ungallukellam award kudukka naanga yaaru sir 🙂
//congrats and again, pls get and post the rest//
Sillu, Athana parthen. Kadaisilla kokki pottuteengale.
LikeLike
//And poor Kamal would have to relase the movie with some few hundred cuts or not be allowed to release the movie at all. //
Mutrupulli, Bang on. Agree with your comment. Its a paradox. I only wish we have an anniyan who could handle such fanatics.
LikeLike
//The best part is the trailor didn’t give away even an inkling of the plot.. //
Thanks Bart. Chumma oru thrill thaan. After isnt it boring to read a passage of blogpost every day. it was fun for me and I hope it was for others too.
Infact some close friends didnt comment and they ent me an email asking me. only then i knew that they were read this blog so regularly 🙂 i should say it brought to light the people whom i thought had no clue of this blog’s existence.
LikeLike
Hey Guru,
I’ve been an enthusiastic reader of your posts. Very Inspiring. Kamal hassan is probably one of the greatest Indian actors around and it’s unfortunate that he chooses to act in only one movie or so per year..Looking forward to V.V
But coming back to MN..rumor has it that the production was shut down cos Kamal got into some legal issues with the Alwarpet benefit/chit fund..I dunno if you remember, but it was a big controversy at that time…with the chit fund going bankrupt and kamal’s company being one of the primary loan defaulters..
Perhaps somebody can verify the truth behind these rumors and probably throw some light on this story.
-Nav
LikeLike
Great lazy…sure met the expectations!!.Thanks a lot for sharing it…im just prayin that this movie shud be completed..its good that through ur blog that lost feelings abt the movie are being revived..n plz do write ur opinion abt d movie..
LikeLike
Hey damn neat. My day is incomplete without reading ur blog. And today its been made!!! Semma treat.
LikeLike
Did this meet the expectations from yesterday’s build-up ?.//
இந்த மேட்டருக்கு,, இன்னும் ரெண்டு பதிவு பில்ட்-அப் குடுத்திருக்கலாம்..
கலக்கல் மேட்டர். கலக்கல் படம்..!!
LikeLike
Its awesome man!!!. Can you please publish the rest fo the pics and wav files as well. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
LikeLike
If im correct the symbol at the bottom of picture is darwin fish rite??…is it there to indicate that the french guy too is a atheist like kamal??.
LikeLike
Darwin fish …lazy intha picturelayuma … carla than irrunthuthunnu sonnenga … 🙂
LikeLike
Kamal’in vaarthaigal, kavithai
Kamal’in seiyalgal, izhakiyamm
Kamal’in dhairiyamm, nerruppu
Idhu avar’inn kuripppu..
Thalaivaa nee Marunayagan’aganai ezhuppu!!!
Thanks Lazy…
LikeLike
Navneet:
What I heard was that Kamal had borrowed 20 crores for Marudhanayagam (7 crore spent) + Hey Ram (18 crore budget) from Alwarpet Benefit Fund. We know what happened to the money…
LikeLike
That atheist fish in the corner- is it there by coincidence? Is it a part of the picture? Would have been great if it was a movie file instead of a still picture.
LikeLike
thalai,
make sure that you watermark the pics…either with your blog url, srirams name, french person name or something unique….you never know which magazines will flick this…
btw, worth every bit of the build up!
LikeLike
Couldnt See the Pictures as my Server is blocking the Image getting Downloaded..Hmmmm…
LikeLike
Too late. Its too late now. Kamal is too old for this kind of movie. The closest example I can think of is Braveheart and Mel Gibson was around 38-40 yrs old when he did that.
Having said that, I do hope the story comes to life on screen with someone else as Marudhunaayagam. Yes it would be a sacrilege for the purists here, but a story like that begs to be told.
BTW, has everyone seen the Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu trailer? I cannot believe how jaded Kamala looks in it :((
LikeLike
Er, cant believe I made a spelling mistake there 😀
Am putting the first photo on my blog and linking to this post LG..
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing the pictures. Bad that the movie was not released. Kamal an intellectual pervert. You just can’t stop appreciating this guy. Putting his heart and soul into cinema and being well read without a formal education. Even if you do not like his style, he makes you raise your eyebrow in awe or in disdain at what he does.
Geetha
LikeLike
Kamal did mention in one of his recent interviews that he has about 30mins of fine shot Maruthanayam and even if he is not able to complete the whole movie he would happily release the 30min portion of the movie just for his fans.Hope he does soon!
LikeLike
Made my mouth water. If Kamal doesn’t have money to finish a magnum opus..I am not sure why others arent supporting him on this one. Rajini Mani etc can essentially pour in money. he can lobby to some hollywood biggies.
some scenes may get cut in india but he can release it independently in Canada, US, UK etc.
imagine it had PC Sriram as cinematographer. How long has it been since these 2 combined for a movie.
LikeLike
We are tamil fans we ll watch only movies that suits our brains we ll never improve our intellect by watcing gud movies, intelligent ideas like this are crap we want only “Kuthu paatu” 4 friends and a hero a glam doll as heroine, Matrix like fight scenes, we hate true art in any form.
This is the psychology of most(but not all) Tamil rasigans today, God has punished Kamal and gifted us by giving him a birth in India…. 😦 superb pics please do post more,atleast we ll see the pics and soothe ourselves
LikeLike
Maybe Camel Haasan should try to make the movie in english as well and release it all over the world. As far as I understand I guess it’s just the money that is a problem.
Good post… Great BLOG!
LikeLike
Lord of the Plains
Thanks a lot for the pictures. It’s awesome. Having seen the trailer, which was shown in Singapore, I could just say one thing. It was down right awesome.No.1 Reason is the film quality; the damn cinematography was so good it looked like a Hollywood film!! I was so lucky to meet him in person n I sat in the same row with him to watch the trailer!
This particular scene is where he blends himself with mud to escape the baddies who are chasing him. n he actually kills them one by one. It’s much thrillin then the scene in Rambo.. cos this was wat Marudanaaygam really did! There was this one scene that was shot fantastically..he would jump from one tree to another tree n landing on the bad guys n killing them quietly using his bare hands.. man.. I could just go on.
I just want to share some info. MARUDANAAYGAM IS IN THE WORKS SECRETLY! And just to excite u guys even more..Sean bean n few other well-known actors are acting in the film. Sean bean was signed way back in 1996. The movie has been taken in the right order so the to be shot portion needs the present day lookin Kamal to portray the aged Yusof Khan!
It would be really great if Mr. Sriram could contact me.I would want to see the pics and also share with him the pictures i took of the trailer n also share info. Thank you.
On final note…One of them here wrote Kamal is an intellectual pervert..well tat just means tat he/she is a dumb pervert!
Kris
LikeLike
Kris, you should say lor of the desert. he is came hassan as per that Fren guy.
LikeLike
Kamal should definitely make this film with some other actor in the main role.
LikeLike
Here’s some wacky news involving Kamal Haasan and Paris Hilton…
http://randramble.blogspot.com/2006/02/wacky-movie-news-kamal-haasan-paris.html
LikeLike
kris,
u should share those pics with us, too
LikeLike
Thirumbavuma…………….Kamal–Rajini ya…..
Thangathuppa…….L.G fans..
am waiting for 100 comments again…4 this post L.G make it work…..
LikeLike
hi lazy,
did the french person send the video files too?? eager to see the 15 minute footage if possible…
LikeLike
Kris! u’ve come up with some great news! u mean to say that Marudhanayagam is being shot without the media getting to know about it? Please throw more light on the topic and share with us whatever u know.
LG, the caps are great. Few years back I saw Kamal and his crew shooting this movie near Adhirampally falls in Chalakudy, Kerala. The spot was fully secured and outsiders were’nt allowed(Shihan Hussaini was in charge of security arrangements). The first photo reminds me of the dense forest near the waterfalls. Any idea where it was shot?
Kamal in an English movie..and that too with Paris Hilton? When did he start accepting hollywood offers?
LikeLike
Few Reasons why it will be made.
1. Digital format could cut his cost significantly(Mumbai express was perhaps a dry run)
2. Reach of global audience these days may help him realize his ROI
3. Overall cultural movement towards historical films IMHO is around the corner(raja raja chozhan, karnan, nadodi mannan, kattabomman etc to name a few were all accepted)
4. I hope he doesnt want us to see his career fade away with a regret
5. What the heck!Anniyan cost 30 crores.Risk is part of the business.He has more ‘balls’ than shankar.
LikeLike
HI
Its great to hear about maruthanayagam… Just pray that its gonna be released. If it does its gonna be the best film made ever in India… Common ya we need to someone to compete with the runaway leader Rajni… Something to compete with Sivaji which is expected to gross an astonishing Rs. 200 crores…
LikeLike
Excellent article..
you have to pay up for the ‘hype’ you have created for posting up the pictures! 🙂
looking forward for some more information.
p.s.: I hope you don’t mind me publishing the images and the article in my blog.
LikeLike
Why do we need another actor in the lead if Kamal has already shot those portions that require the younger looking Kamal! Hell! If this movie ever sees the light,I’m one person who is gonna watch it for Kamal & NOT FOR MARUDANAYAGAM’S HISTORY!
LikeLike