Kamal Haasan: 12 interesting facts that you probably didn't know

Kamal Haasan. As they say, "The Daniel Day-Lewis of Indian cinema".

An actor, director, choreographer - dancer, lyricist - composer - singer, screenwriter, art director, make-up artist, technician and producer; Kamal Haasan is truly the most multi-faceted talent in Indian cinema. He started his acting journey with the 1960 Tamil film 'Kalathur Kannamma' at the age of four and after appearing as a supporting actor in several films, got his first lead role in K Balachander's 1975 drama 'Apoorva Raagangal'. In his career spanning over 6 decades, he has acted in over 230 films in Tamil and other industries including Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali. Here, we have gathered some amazing facts about Kamal Haasan that you probably didn't know.

1. Kamal Haasan's real name is Parthasarathy Srinivasan.
2. For his brilliant performance in the debut movie, he received the prestigious President's Gold Medal at the age of four.
3. At the age of 18, he wrote his first script for the movie 'Unarchigal'.
4. From playing a gangster in 'Nayagan' to playing a dwarf in 'Appu Raja', from playing an old lady in 'Chachi 420' to playing an intelligent spy in 'Vishwaroopam', Kamal Haasan defines the word 'versatile'. His wide range as an actor makes him stand out from the others. In 2008, he stunned each and everyone by playing 10 absolutely different characters in the movie 'Dasavathaaram'.
5. Kamal Haasan is the only actor who has got a Filmfare Best Actor award and a Filmfare Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination for the same film ('Saagar').
6. His performance in Mani Ratnam's 1987 film 'Nayagan' is still considered as one of the best in his entire filmography. Also, Time magazine rated the film as one of the top 100 best films of all time.
7. His seven movies have been submitted from India to the Academy Awards under the Best Foreign Language Film category. This is still a record.
8. In 1994, Kamal Haasan became the first Indian actor to get 1 crore rupees as remuneration for a single film.
9. He can speak fluently in several languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Hindi, English and French.
10. Renowned Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Tarantino once said that an action sequence in his film 'Kill Bill: Volume 1' was hugely inspired from Kamal Haasan's film 'Abhay' (Hindi remake of 'Aalavandhan').
11. He is the highest Filmfare Award winner (19 times) in the history of Indian cinema.
12. Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, the two biggest stars of Tamil movie industry, have acted in 19 movies together.

Kamal Haasan is a genius in truest sense. For his contribution to Indian cinema, he has received several prestigious awards including Padma Shri in 1990 and Padma Bhushan in 2014.