Tamil songs that reiterate the brilliant dancer in Vikram actor Kamal Haasan

Very few actors in Indian cinema are as versatile as Kamal Haasan, who can sing, dance, produce, write, and direct—all at once. Ulaganayagan entered the film industry when he was three. He acted as a child artiste in the 1960 Tamil film Kalathur Kannamma, for which he won the President's Gold Medal. Since then there's no looking back! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the golden era of Tamil cinema (the 70s & 80s) truly belonged to Kamal Haasan, who was at the top of his game. Whatever he touched turned into gold—from Salangai Oli, Apoorva Sagotharargal, Michael Madana Kama Rajan, Vetri Vizha to Kaadhala Kaadhala. Those were simply the days!

The story of Kamal Haasan began when he was 12—a time his mother thought that he would be thrown out of school, the third one he was admitted into. One evening, she took him to a Kuchipudi recital at the Museum Theatre. The boy, who’d grown up with Bharatanatyam, was fascinated. Kamal Haasan told Baradwaj Rangan, “I think it was the exotic form of somebody dancing on a plate.” Such is Kamal Haasan's love for dance.

Kamal told The Hindu, “When I was 16, I felt I might be left with some effeminacy because of all the dancing. I was so full of classical dance that I wanted to get away and do something else.”

Speaking about learning dance from Thangappan master, Kamal Haasan told the Hindu, that he has never seen someone so large-hearted. "Even when he was choreographing, he’d give the camera to (RC) Sakthi and me and say, ‘We’re running out of time, we’re waiting for artists, I have to be here, you guys take the camera, go shoot the rest of the song and bring it back.’ It was all very touching and very exhilarating for us!"

Further, Baradwaj Rangan had written about how Kamal Haasan had a hand in choreographing most of his dance movements on screen, along with the late dance master Raghuram. Over the years, Kamal Haasan’s films not only featured dance but other arts as well—shadow puppetry in Anbe Sivam and Dasavatharam; Theyyam, villu pattu, kalari and koothu in Uttama Villain.

Kamal Haasan told Baradwaj Rangan, that he was "trying to bring a lot of great talented people into this cinema, which is very versatile and accommodating."

"I want to give everything that I have, to this medium (cinema)," said Kamal Haasan.

With the release of Lokesh Kanagaraj's Vikram fast approaching, we collate a list of songs, which highlight the dancer in Kamal Haasan:

Ilamai Itho Itho (Sakalakala Vallavan)

Ennadi Meenatchi (Ilamai Oonjaladugiradhu)

Kaalam Kaalamaga (Punnagai Mannan)

Annathey Aaduraar (Apoorva Sagodharargal)

Raja Kaiyya Vecha (Apoorva Sagotharargal)

Thakitta Thakitta (Salangai Oli)

Unakenna Meley Nindrai (Simla Special)

Rum Bum Bum (Michael Madana Kama Rajan)

Rukku Rukku (Avvai Shanmughi)

Kalakapovathu Yaaru (Vasool Raja MBBS)

Unnai Kaanaadhu (Vishwaroopam 1)

Single Kiss-Kay Love-a (Uttama Villain)