Trivia About Kamal Haasan’s Avvai Shanmugi Aka Chachi 420 Every Fan Must Know

Kamal Haasan, who is widely regarded as one of the most versatile actors in Indian cinema, has always been credited with thinking out of the box when it comes to his on-screen appearance. While he explored controversial political themes with Hey Ram and Anbe Sivam, he has also attained a reputation for experimenting with different looks in his movies. He is one of the very few actors in Indian cinema who has utilised heavy prosthetic makeup for several characters, which rendered him unrecognisable, the most famous being Indian, Avvai Shanmugi and the spectacular Dasavatharam where he appeared in 10 distinct roles.

And, we are here to share a small trivia from his movie Avvai Shanmugi which was released in 1996.

If you remember the movie, the actor appears in the get up of an elderly woman and enters the home of his ex-wife as their daughter’s nanny in order to win them back. The comedy-drama was directed by KS Ravikumar and also starred Gemini Ganesan, Meena, Nagesh, Heera, Manivannan, Nasser among others. Kamal Haasan had dedicated the role of his female character to his mentor and stage actor ‘Avvai’ DK Shanmugam, who was famous for playing female roles in stage plays. Kamal Haasan’s make-up for this particular character used to take five hours. Wait, it doesn’t end here. The make-up used to last only for five hours.

Now, coming to the trivia we promised you, do you know that the attire Kamal Haasan appeared in was not the one the makers initially wanted him to wear? Kamal Haasan was initially supposed to be playing a young woman instead of an elderly one and there was even a photoshoot with the get up conducted. Take a look at the early version of the character.

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However, plans changed as Kamal Haasan was interested in enacting an elderly woman and the result was what you saw on screen. The movie, which is believed to be inspired by Mrs Doubtfire starring Robin Williams and directed by Chris Columbus, was so popular that Kamal Haasan made a Hindi remake of it the next year titled Chachi 420, where he reprised his role from the original.

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