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{mosimage}I have always been saying that Kamal is my favourite Malayalam director and I go to his movies irrespective of the cast and comments, only for his name. Most of the time Kamal didn't disappoint me. I just want to share a small introduction about him to you all. Kamal, whose real name happens to be Kamaludeen, started independently as film maker 19 years ago with "Mizhineer Pookkal", after assisting different schools of cinemas like Bharathan, P.N. Menon, K.S. Sethumadhavan. Their diverse backgrounds helped Kamal in assimiliating the best of the worlds combining creative sensitivity with commercial sensibilities that enables his products dearer to classes as well as masses, aiming for both box office and critical acclaims.

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{mosimage}Basking in the success of two of his latest films, director Kamal is not content to sit back and relax. He is into his next project and shaping the script at home, at Kodungalloor. He had made 35 movies till date with one in Tamil and Hindi each, the rest in Malayalam. "Never take rest, never rest on laurels" is the secret of Kamal's success. Kamal has an astounding success ratio of 90% with 23 silver jublilees. Simple, Soft spoken and modest, not letting success over his head, Kamal still makes films like a diligent newcomer and gets himself contemporary with times.

Prithviraj, who had worked with Kamal in the campus hit "Swapnakoodu" says "When we go to set we (Kunchacko Boban, Jayasurya, Meera Jasmine & Prithviraj) will try to behave like a college goers, while Kamal will still comedown a level more like a pre-degree student." Thats why his movies celebrate youthfulness, an ever changing characteristic found in Yash Chopra & K. Balachander only. Kamal made 3 campus hits "Niram" with Kunchacko Boban & Shalini, "Swapnakoodu" with Kunchacko Boban, Prithviraj & Meera Jasmine and the last one being "Nammal" with all new star cast riding solely on Kamal's name. At the times of Malayalam movies' identity crisis came these movies, people started associating Kamal with campus movies. "But these are the only campus movies I made. I make sure that I do a totally different subject after one film usually. For instance, `Rappakal' is a story about a big family, about roots, while `Perumazhakkalam' was a movie about two women who faced opposing situations, a different ambience," he says.

Filmography

{mosimage}Kamal always love to experiment by shifting the subjects. When riding high on the success of "Niram" he made his offbeat dream project "Madhuranombara Kaatru", which is based on his favourite novel "Swapnagalil Kaatru Veeshi.." with Samyukta Varma & Biju Menon in lead. At times of his high box office command he made a telefilm "Meghamalhar" with same pair. Asianet TV which funded the project, decided to release it in theatres that set a trend at the box office, which even Kamal wouldn't have dreamt of. Kamal says that `Meghamalhar,' which depicted the romance between two married persons, was accepted by the audience. Why? "Because there was a bit of hypocrisy involved. When they found that they were falling in love, they cut the relationship and that was something that our society approved of," he laughs. Had they gone on with the relationship, the film might have bombed.

Kamal has an envious track record of handling subjects ranging from tragedies to comedies, campus love to matured love & even extra marital affairs. If "Niram", "Nammal" and "Swapnakoodu" celebrated campus love, his poetic "Meghamalhar" discussed about two mature individuals falling in love out of marriage. "Mazhayetthum Mumbe..." & "Ee Puzhayum Kadannu" were about the sacrifice for lover's family whereas "Manjnu Pol Oru Penkutty" was about tackling incest relationships. His "Ulladakkam" was a psychological thriller while "Kaikoodanna Nilaavu" was an out and out emotional thriller. "Gramaphone" is about a musician's return to his roots. "Perumazhakalam" was bold in its own terms conspicous by the absense of male leads. Kamal designs the looks of his movies beautifully. If "Ee Puzhayum kadannu", "Kaikoodanna Nilaavu" and "Rappakal" were typically rustic with that "Naadan" flavour of Kerala, "Niram", "Swapnakoodu", "Nammal" and "Manjnu Pol Oru Penkutty" will put any Bollywood movie to shame at its shoestring budget.