How the idea for Tamil film Apoorva Sagodharargal released on April 14, 1989.( A Hindi-dubbed version was released on June 4, 1990.) took seed and step by step formation into an iconic movie. Look at detail contribution by each and every actor and writer to the making. Film was Produced by Kamal Haasan when he had literally no money as his bank was swiped clean by his then wife Vani. Success of the film was crucial to his existence. Sunject was rejected by K Balchander to many others. He took risks personally.
Kamal actually stood in a holed and closed up tunnel upto his thighs facing a Real Bengal Tiger that was maybe 50 feet away
Yes it was a circus tiger and there were 50 men with hose pipes but even then KAMAL COULDN'T EVEN RUN If the tiger decided to take a swing. Imagine if the pipes had failed or water supply was interruptws. Today risk insurance on a lead is ₹250 Crore, back then there was NO RISK INSURANCE at all. Nagesh was actually lifted by an Elephant but it was an Circus elephant
A Same elephant which threw an acrobat in the air and hit a cricket ball with a bat in its trunk
NNagesh back then was around 60 years old One wrong move and he could have been trampled. By comparison Yogi Babu had risk insurance of ₹20 Crore for Dikkiloona for a mild scene depicting electrocution.
IDEA WAS BORN
n 1985/86, the Madras Society invited Kamal and the team to the Circus as VIPs for a special show. Kamal, Gemini Ganesan, Manorama, Nagesh were all invited for a special show. During the show Kamal asked Gemini “Is there any other film apart from Mera naam joker made on the circus?”
The answer was No
Kamal saw a few dwarves as clowns and immediately he felt he could do a film as a circus clown in love with a circus acrobat with a tragic ending
He finally developed a script and sent it to his mentor Balachander for the screenplay
Yet Balachander wasn't too hot for the idea
Balachander was by then heavily into part production and financing and felt that the movie couldn't raise any funds
Balachander said it was not a great idea to make a movie of this concept
He said it would be an ART FILM at the best
Kamal shrugged and the idea was dropped and the script was forgotten
In 1986
Kamal Hassan was in Bangalore for the premiere of a film of Kannada Actor Shivaraj Kumar and his debut film. He had been invited by Dr Rajkumar himself, the same iconic actor who was kidnapped by Veerappan
Here he met Singeetham Srinivas Rao, an old acquaintance with whom he had made the FIRST FILM of Rajkamal, RAJA PARVAI.
They were both put up in Windsor Manor Hotel (Now ITC WINDSOR)
So the next day, they met and SSR talked to kamal of an idea for a silent film, a fully silent film inspired by Charlie Chaplin films. He showed the script
Kamal was deeply interested
Soon a businessman named Nagaraj who ran a travel agency and financed films in Kannada, joined them and told Kamal he was a co producer
By evening KAMAL had committed dates for Pushpak and EVEN BOOKED WINDSOR MANOR for 24 days and SSR set off to mumbai to talk to a Hindi Actress (Forgot her name. Ultimately Amala Akkineni was cast)
The movie was PUSHPAK and would be an iconic film
However during this meeting, Kamal spoke of his old idea of a Dwarf in a circus falling in love with the Lady acrobat.
SSR was interested and said “Let's discuss this later”
Through 1987/88 - SSR lived in Bangalore
He was the family director of the Rajkumaar family and had three projects with them - one for the father and two for the sons (Older one and middle one)
He thought a lot and finally felt that the script would fail
He met Kamal later and said THE SCRIPT would not work and the film would be a commercial failure
A Tragedy of a Clown falling for a lady acrobat would never work on audiences
The investment would be too high
Kamal then wasn't keen to let the idea go. He felt IN HIS GUT it was a good idea.
He spoke to his friend ANANTHU who immediately said GO TO PANJU HE CAN DO SOMETHING
Panju was Panchu Arunachalam, then in financial trouble after Japanil Kalyanaraman had bombed
Panchu Arunachalam
Panchu was given the story and Kamal wanted a way to make a commercial film
Panchu immediately said “Make the Dwarf the hero”
Kamal countered how a Dwarf could sing and dance and do the normal romance scenes
Panchu said “Get another hero. A Double Role. Brothers” (Since Kamal was a lead hero , it wouldn't be right for a junior hero to romance with a heroine)
Then Kamal said “How can one brother be a Dwarf and another be normal and what would the normal brother do in the circus”
Panchu was stuck
After a while he said “Someone poisoned the mother and one brother suffered due to this”
Bit by bit, piece by piece - Panchu over the next couple of weeks wrote the plot to ABOORVA SAGODHARARGAL
Kamal made the following changes :-
- Normal Brother is not in the circus.
- Adoptive mother necessary
- Four villains instead of one main villain
- The Dwarfs main intention would be REVENGE and it would be set on by a confession the mother would make after he attempted suicide
Originally MOULEE was asked to pen the dialogues but Kamal instead wanted Crazy Mohan
He appeased Moulee by giving him a ringmaster role
Nagesh was roped in and he made two changes
The name DHARMARAJ was Nageshs idea (Originally it was ANNAMALAI😄).Nagesh felt it wise to give the DHARMARAJ to someone who committed a lot of crimes.
Prem Nazir was the initial choice for the character of Sethupathi; because he was unwell at the time, Haasan himself played the role. Ravikanth and Chinni Jayanth appeared in minor roles as Raja's friends, but their portions were deleted from the final cut. Haasan had included a character for Krishnamachari Srikkanth, but the character was later removed. Stage actor Suppuni was offered the role of a handicapped character, but declined.
The last scene had Srividya ask the Dwarf to forgive Nagesh and Nagesh confessing and going to jail and a court acqutting the Dwarf due to lack of evidence with Janagaraj turning hostile (Like Vivek in Anniyan)
Nagesh didn't like it
Nagesh said “How can this woman whose husband was brutally murdered by Dharmaraj, be okay to forgive and send him to jail”
So the iconic scene of Srividya and Kamal where she silently agrees to his decision became the LAST PIECE OF THE PUZZLE
The court scene was ignored and the CRIME DOESN'T PAY was followed with the Dwarf going to jail.
- 1989 Winner Cinema Express Award - Tamil Film Industry. Best Film. Kamal Haasan.
- 1989 Winner Cinema Express Award - Tamil Film Industry. Best Actor. Kamal Haasan.
- Haasan had considered making a sequel to Apoorva Sagodharargal, which would revolve around Appu escaping from prison. He even had one scene ready, and described it in 2021 as being "high up in the mountains with a high tension cable walk and Appu would be the only man to walk across the high tension cable but unfortunately, he chooses a windy day and that's how he loses his pole". The film was later dropped because, according to Haasan, "we wanted to stop being technobrats and become entertainers".
- Filming and post-productionThe portrayal of a dwarf by the normal-sized Haasan required different techniques for different camera angles. A pair of special shoes was prepared to be attached to the folded knees of the actor for the straight angle shots. Haasan adopted a particular way of holding up his arms to match the appearance of his shortened legs. For the side angle shots, a trench was dug up just to cover up the actor's legs from the feet to knees, with special shoes attached at the knee level. A scientist from Bangalore was employed to assist with the special effects for the dwarf. Rao noted Appu would lend "attention and sympathy from the audience" and he made sure Raja "got equal attention and sympathy".S. T. Venky made his debut as visual effects designer for this film and also became the first person to use digital technology in visual effects. Animals used in the films were trained by Ravindra Sherpad Deval. The circus portions in the film were filmed at Gemini Circus and in Cochin. The song "Raja Kaiya Vachchaa" had many scenes inspired from Grease (1978), including the transformation of the old car into a new one, and the dramatically changing costumes of the dancers. The song "Ammava Naan" was initially dumped after the script went through changes, but after many days of running successfully in theatres, it was re-included as an added attraction.[b] While filming the climax, Nagesh insisted on performing his own stunts rather than using a double.
