Mahanadi was based on a real life plot by my servants to kidnap my daughter: Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan had recently picked his list of 70 films that he believes has changed his life. The list included films from Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, and Kannada languages that were released after 1947. The column was written for Hindustan Times in accordance with the nation celebrating 70 years of independence this year.
Eight Malayalam movies found its way to the list. Interestingly, the list largely comprised of Kamal’s own films like Nayagan, Apoorva Sahothirargal, Dasavatahram, Anbe Sivam etc. Along with each movie, he also wrote a small note about what his opinion on the film.
The thing that instantly stuck everyone was the note he had written for his film Mahanadi. The movie released in 1994 was directed by Santhana Bharathi and scripted by Kamal Haasan. Kamal in the noted has revealed that the movie was inspired by a real life plot to kidnap his daughter. The actor, however, has refrained from naming his daughter.
Here’s what he has written,
I have never spoken of what prompted me to write Mahanadi. Now my daughters are old enough to understand the ways of this world I can …I guess. My household help, all of them, conspired to kidnap my daughter for ransom. They even did a dry run. By accident I discovered their plan. I was angry, unnerved and ready to kill for my baby’s safety. But I saw sense in time. I was to write a new script and I kept delaying it for a month. Later when I sat down to write, the script wrote itself ….may be assisted by my fear, apprehension and paranoia.
Mahanadi is an emotional story of a man who is caught in a conspiracy and ends up in prison. His daughter meanwhile is kidnapped and sold into sex work. The movie featured Kamal, Suganya, Cochin Haneefa and Poornam Viswanathan in major roles. Mahandi won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil in the year 1994.
