Kamalahasan Speaks – and I like that

In a column, Kamalahasan spoke of himself in the Telegraph- ETC, 31st Dec, 2004 issue. I would like to share it with you .

On self: I am first a fan of Kamalahasan. You must appreciate what you are doing. Tell me, when do you become a respectable person in society? When you start respecting yourself .That is when you take care of yourself. That is when you comb your hair, groom yourself and cleanse your body. You do all this because you respect yourself. You may not wear a dress because you may not look good in that. My being a fan of Kamalahasan is also like that.

On criticism: I might even agree with the person if it is sensible criticism. There are some people who criticize because they have to do to. Icon-bashing is the greatest of all sport. I can spot that at once.

On Performance: Very easy. If you kept criticizing yourself, the zenith of it is suicide , You hate yourself so much that you are you are ready to kill it . Yes, I said ‘it’ and not him or me. So criticism is easy. Some people suffer from it because they don’t know when to stop criticising. It is like eating sweets. You must stop when to stop.

On filmmaking: No profession is as versatile as this one. If you ask me how many days I work in a week, I would reply I don’t work. It has been nearly 20 years since I worked. Acting ceases to be work because I enjoy it. But it feels like working when I do bad work, especially when I know it is bad …. I am a fan of cinema. I am so fortunate that it also happens to be my chosen profession. That happens very rarely.