#20YearsOfThenali: Five facts about the Kamal Haasan-starrer that will interest you

Kamal Haasan and KS Ravikumar’s Thenali turns 20 today! The film, which had subtly touched upon mental health issues, stars Kamal as a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee suffering from multiple phobias. The movie, which also has Jayaram, Jyotika, Devayani, Delhi Ganesh, Ramesh Khanna and Madhan Bob, among others, was a BO success and also won awards. Here, KS Ravikumar lists out a few interesting facts about the film…

Kamal Haasan had approached KS Ravikumar to direct a film after his Marudhanayagam had gotten postponed. He also asked the filmmaker if he would produce the film. Ravikumar says, “Kamal sir said, ‘Dhairyama pannunga sir. I’ll give you call sheet. Unga office la vandhu paduthudaren. Eppo venumo koopdunga’. He was very encouraging, but I was still not prepared. Padayappa had just released and Rajini sir used to come to my office often for discussions. One day, I told him about Kamal sir’s offer. He also said, ‘Nalla vishayamache, poi advance kudugnga’. Since everyone was for the idea, I arranged for finance and signed up Kamal sir.”

Kamal Haasan is known as Ulaganayagan, and the first time the title was used was in this film. The director says, “Kamal sir helped me a lot while making the film. So, I wanted to do something special for him and decided to give him the title Ulaga Nayagan. When I told him of my plan, he was not too keen, but I landed at his home with a camera. He had changed his get-up as he was preparing to shoot Aalavandhan. But I told him I only wanted to shoot his eyes. We shot in high speed, and at the count of five, asked him to wink and smile. I took that footage to the CG department and came up with the visuals – we show his Alwarpet office, pull back to show Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India and then the world, which becomes a small, black circle, which is his eyeballs, and he winks. The terms Universal Hero and Ulaga Nayagan flash on the screen. Idhu enakku romba perumayana vishayam.”

Ravikumar and Rajinikanth would often meet for discussions at the former’s office. Once, during a meeting, he heard the story of the film and suggested the title Thenali. “I pitched it to Kamal sir and he liked it. It was only much later that he knew it was Rajini sir’s suggestion,” says the filmmaker, adding, “He had also heard another story I was working on and said he was willing to do it if Kamal sir wasn’t doing it. He had titled that film Madana, which I later made as Varalaru.”

Though AR Rahman was the first choice for the film, the composer had refused the offer because he was busy with Hindi and Hollywood films. “Rahman was working on Mudhalvan, which Shankar was also producing, while doing Padayappa. I asked him if he would compose music for my production as well, and he agreed. But when I approached him for Thenali, he was busy and didn’t take up the film. So, I started scouting for others. But one day, Rahman called me to his studio and said that one of his films, Water, had been delayed and he could work on Thenali if I hadn’t already signed up someone else. And, I hadn’t,” he says.

One of the highlights of the film is Kamal Haasan’s Sri Lankan Tamil. But did you know that the diction was not part of the initial scripting? Ravikumar reveals, “We had completed the screenplay, but I was not satisfied. I told Kamal sir that like how the mami get-up was a plus for Avvai Shanmughi, I wanted something for this film, too. That’s when he remembered another story he had narrated to me. It was about two guys who meet in a train, lock horns, become friends and ultimately, one of them sacrifices his everything for the other guy. He wanted to make the film with Mohanlal then. Though I loved the story, I told him I couldn’t do it because as a commercial director, I didn't want my hero failing in life. The story was later made as Anbe Sivam. As per the original plan, in the story, his character speaks Sri Lankan Tamil. So, he decided to use that diction in Thenali.”