Kamal Haasan, a Padmashree awardee, is the most decked out actor in the history of Indian cinema. At the age of his just 7-years, he won the President's Gold Medal for his debut film 'Kalathur Kannamma'. Apart from many awards related to movies, he is also awarded with an honorary doctorate by Sathyabama Deemed University in 2005.
An Indian film actor, screenwriter, producer and director, Kamal Haasan is considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He had won several Indian film awards, including 4 National Film Awards and 19 Filmfare Awards as of now. Kamal Haasan has represented India 7 times at Oscars. This is the most by any actor including 3 successive movies in the years 1985-1987. Among those seven movies, he directed one movie from that. Below there is a listing of those magnificent seven movies of Padmashree Kamal Haasan that represented India at Oscars and became India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in their respective years.
Saagar (1985)'Saagar' is a 1985 Bollywood film directed by Ramesh Sippy. The film starred Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia along with Kamal Hassan in lead. The film was India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1985. This was the second case in the history of Filmfare Awards where an actor has been nominated for both Best Actor as well as Best Actor in Supporting Role. The previous nominee for both awards was Ashok Kumar (for Aashirwad in 1970). Kamal Hassan eventually won the Best Actor award, his first and only award in that category for a Hindi film.
Swati Mutyam (1985)'Swati mutyam' was a 1985 Telugu Film written and directed by K. Vishwanath. The film starred Kamal Haasan and Raadhika in lead roles. The movie won accolades at Asia Pacific Film Festival in both "Best Film" and "Best Actor" categories. The movie was sent by India as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1986.
Nayagan (1987)'Nayagan', also known as Nayakan, is a 1987 Tamil film, written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Based on the real-life Bombay underworld don Varada aka Varadarajan Mudaliar, the film starred Kamal Haasan in lead role. Kamal Haasan's performance as Velu Naiker earned him a National Film Award for Best Actor. The film was sent by India for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 60th Academy Awards. In 2005, the Time Magazine included Nayagan in its list of "All-Time 100 Best Films". It was also remade in Hindi as Dayavan in 1988, starring Vinod Khanna and Madhuri Dixit in lead.
Thevar Magan (1992)'Thevar Magan' is a 1992 Indian Tamil film produced by, written by, and starring Kamal Hassan in the title role. It was directed by Bharathan and also stars Sivaji Ganesan, Nassar, Revathi and Gouthami in important roles. The film was a blockbuster and completed a 175-day run at the box office. India chose this film as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 65th Academy Awards. The film won five National Film Awards, including the Best Tamil Film Award, Best Supporting Actress Award (Revathi), and a Special Jury Award (Sivaji Ganesan). It was later remade in Hindi version titled as Virasat (1997) by Priyadarshan that starred Anil Kapoor in lead role.
Kuruthipunal (1995)'Kuruthipunal' is a 1995 Tamil action film directed by veteran cinematographer P. C. Sriram. The film stars Kamal Haasan in the lead role, with Arjun and Nassar in supporting roles. The film won the Cinema Express Award for Best Film - Tamil, while Kamal Haasan won Filmfare Award for Best Actor - Tamil. The film was India's official entry for the 68th Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category.
Indian (1996)'Indian' is a 1996 Tamil political thriller film directed by S. Shankar and produced by A. M. Rathnam. The film stars Kamal Haasan in dual roles with Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar, Sukanya and Goundamani appearing in other pivotal roles. Indian was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1996. The film also went on to win three National Film Awards including that of Best Actor for Kamal Haasan's portrayal, while his performance also saw him win at the Filmfare Awards and the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. The film was dubbed and released in Hindi as 'Hindustani' with a couple of scenes to be re-shot.
Hey Ram (2000)'Hey Ram' is a controversial bilingual Tamil and Hindi film. It also had a simultaneously produced Hindi version and was released in 2000. The film was written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan and he also starred as the protagonist in the film. Along with him, Shah Rukh Khan also played an important role in the film. 'Hey Ram' was chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars to be considered for nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for the year 2000.
Many critics and trade analysts said Kamal Haasan would have won many Oscars if he had been born outside India, but the Padmashree awardee said he want to make his own style of movie in his own country instead. Well, Oscar is hopefully very soon near to him!