Kamal Haasan worked as a barber to ‘insult’ his mother, says he would’ve died penniless in an auto rickshaw had he not heeded guru’s advice

Also read – Kamal Haasan was asked why he married twice ‘despite coming from a good Brahmin family’: ‘I don’t follow Lord Rama’s path, but his father’s’

He said that Balachander was inspired by this story, and used it in the climax of his movie Zara Si Zindagi. He said that when he was 19, he told Balachander that he wanted to become a director, but Balachander strongly dissuaded him from pursuing that path. The filmmaker told a young Kamal that he would spend his life travelling in auto rickshaws if he became a director, and was the first person to suggest that he had the qualities to become a movie star. “Forget riding an auto rickshaw, I would’ve probably died in one had I not taken his advice,” Kamal said.

The legendary actor-filmmaker said that he has seen several of his friends, many of whom were more talented than him, lose their lives in tragic circumstances. “The died on the streets,” he said, reflecting on the advice that Balachander gave him. “That’s how I decided to totally go into acting. If I had made that mistake, he would’ve been right… I’ve seen many of my friends die like that… That is why I am grateful to Mr Balachander, because I could’ve gone down that route. I would’ve died with my angst, with my unfulfilled dreams, in an auto rickshaw. And nobody would know that there is a dead body in the auto rickshaw.”

Kamal Haasan is one of the most acclaimed movie stars in Indian cinema history. He will next star in the film Thug Life, directed by his longtime friend, the equally acclaimed Mani Ratnam.