Haasan started his career as a child artiste in 1960, and over his lifetime, he won four National Film Awards and 19 Filmfare Awards. He was awarded the Kalaimamani award in 1984, the Padma Shri in 1990, the Padma Bhushan in 2014, and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government in 2016.
In 2018, Haasan took the plunge into politics, launching his own party, Makkal Needhi Maiam.
FILM INDUSTRY
Born in a Tamil Iyengar family, Kamal Haasan was initially named Parthasarthy but his father later changed it. At the age of 4, Haasan won the President's gold medal for his performance in Kalathur Kannamma and acted in five more films as a child.
At the end of the 1970s, he had six regional Best Actor Filmfare Awards, including four consecutive Best Tamil Actor Awards. In 1987, he appeared in Mani Ratnam's directed film Nayakan, for which he received his second Indian National Award. The movie was submitted by India as its entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1987 Academy Awards. His other movie Hey Ram was also sent for Academy Awards in the year 2000.
In May 2014, he was appointed as the official Indian delegate to the 67th Cannes Film Festival.
In 2020, director Lokesh Kanakaraj announced that his next venture will have Kamal Haasan in the lead role with Anirudh handling the music and the movie has been temporarily named #kamal232.
Apart from acting, he has written stories for many of his movies. His production company, Raaj Kamal Films International, has produced several of his films and directed Chachi 420, Hey Ram, Virumaandi, and Vishwaroopam.
In 2017, he entered TV as he started hosting Big Boss Tamil which became one of the most-watched shows in the state.
OTHER WORKS AND WELFARE
Haasan is involved in various social services and converted his fan clubs into humanitarian organisations under the name Kamal Narpani Iyakkam.
In 2004, he received the first Abraham Kovoor National Award for his humanist activities. He has raised funds for an orphanage for HIV/AIDS-affected children as well as children's cancer relief fund. He was also nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Swachh Bharat Campaign.
In 2018, he launched his centrist party Makkal Needhi Maiam. He began his political journey from late President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s residence in Rameswaram. The party contested 37 seats in the 2019 Indian general election and lost. The party's vote share in the 2019 Lok Sabha election was 3.72 per cent.
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