Best Movies of Kamal Haasan You Shouldn’t Miss Watching!

One of Tamil Cinema’s most celebrated son, Kamal Haasan is a known perfectionist in the movie industry. One can simply see his passion for acting, oozing through every movie he partakes in. A natural actor, ‘Ulaganayagan’ Kamal Haasan can get into the skin of any role and his penchant for experimentation and pushing the boundaries of film making makes him stand out as a versatile actor who ranks as one of the best that Indian cinema has to offer.

Last Updated on July 02, 2022

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11. Mahanadhi (1994)

Director – Santhana Bharathi
Streamer – Prime Video

A man is jailed after being conned by his business partner, and his family decays from within. The sin of greed is explored here as we see how the desire to earn money can ruin an entire family. The movie is meant to be provocative and questions us on our role as viewers to daily misconducts and misdemeanours that occur everyday. Kamal Hassan is magnificent in his role as the father who’s hell-bent on getting his family back together. Mahanadhi is not for the commercial audience. It’s an art film and a very underrated masterpiece, Mahanadi is a must see for those who haven’t seen this.

10. Vikram (2022)

Director – Lokesh Kanagaraj
Streamer – Disney+ Hotstar

[Also feat. in our ‘Best Tamil Movies Dubbed in Telugu on OTT’ list]

Preview Only: Virumaandi, a Kamal Hassan directorial, revolves around the interview of two prison inmates, the direction of their life, and where they have ended up. It also explores the controversies of death penalty. Ahead of its time, persuading the audience to understand that there are flaws in the criminal justice system. The use of the Rashomon effect in this film neatly explains the difference and introduces new details that were intentionally omitted to elucidate this point.

9. Virumaandi (2004)

Director – Kamal Haasan
Streamer – Prime Video

[Also feat. in our ‘Best Tamil Movies Dubbed in Telugu on OTT’ list]

Preview Only: Virumaandi, a Kamal Hassan directorial, revolves around the interview of two prison inmates, the direction of their life, and where they have ended up. It also explores the controversies of death penalty. Ahead of its time, persuading the audience to understand that there are flaws in the criminal justice system. The use of the Rashomon effect in this film neatly explains the difference and introduces new details that were intentionally omitted to elucidate this point.

8. Hey Ram (2000)

Director – Kamal Haasan
Streamer – Prime Video

[This film is also feat. in our ‘Best Tamil Movies of All Time’ list]

Preview Only: Hey Ram, a fictional Indian drama tells the story of Saketh Ram, a disillusioned man who tries to kill Mohandas Gandhi. After sectarian violence claims the life of his wife, Aparna, Saketh becomes a Hindu extremist, and, although Muslims are responsible for his wife’s death, he begins to blame Gandhi and his tolerant approach to religious differences. Concerned only with his idea of vengeance, Saketh is consumed with zealotry.

7. Indian (1996)

Director – Shankar Shanmugham
Streamer – AHA Video

Preview Only: Shankar’s 1996 blockbuster, Indian, co-starring Kasthuri, Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar as the female leads, revolves around a veteran freedom fighter named Senapathy learns a rare form of martial art that enables him to kill anyone with his bare hands. He uses that to end crime and disciplines the culprits on his own.

6. Vishwaroopam (2013)

Director – Kamal Haasan
Streamer – Disney+ Hotstar

[This film is also feat. in our ‘Best Tamil Movies on Hotstar’ list]

A Nuclear Oncologist salvages her affinity with her effeminate-bearing husband, after she realises he’s a spy. Kamal Hassan’s proves once again that he still got the sauce. The movie before the glorious fight scene was all light and jokes, and it was breezy, and right after that change, it was a straight up crime thriller from there. Hassan uses his films as a platform to speak his mind, and Vishwaroopam is no different. A smart spy-thriller!

5. Panchathanthiram (2002)

Director – K. S. Ravikumar
Streamer – ZEE5

A Casanova and his four friends find themselves in hot soup when their holiday ends in the death of a sex worker. While the premise of the movie sounds dark and intense, Panchathanthiram is a full-on comedy where the audience are kept laughing throughout the whole film. Kamal Haasan teams up with veteran dialogue writer Crazy Mohan to deliver his brand of slapstick comedy that does not dilute the plot or the direction of where the movie is headed. Bursting with hilarious one-liners and wordplays, the constant bombardment of jokes and committed performance from all the actors and actresses in the movie makes this film a must-watch.

4. Moondram Pirai (1982)

Director – Balu Mahendra
Streamer – Prime Video

Have you ever had any doubt how to show someone how much you love them without uttering those three words? Kamal Haasan’s Moondram Pirai is a definitive guide. The heart-warming love story between a school teacher and a woman who suffers from retrograde amnesia, Moondram Pirai is perhaps, late actress Sridevi’s best performance to date. The movie is like a poignant poem or even a painting where you can feel the chemistry of the leads, the love and romance they exude from just the lead’s body language themselves.

3. Anbe Sivam (2002)

Director – Sundar C.
Streamer – Netflix

A cult classic that was way ahead of its time, Anbe Sivam is an outstanding film about a man who finds God in people and love. Partly inspired by the American comedy film, ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles,’ Kamal Haasan ingeniously combines his own ideologies about communism, religion, faith and love to preach his understanding of forgiveness, compassion and sacrifice for the betterment of mankind. Coupled with striking dialouges and heart wrenching scenes, Anbe Sivam is more of an experience and a lesson on humanity than a simple film.

2. Thevar Magan (1992)

Director – Bharathan
Streamer – NA

A village chieftains son who returns to his native village to seek his father’s permission to marry his westernized girlfriend, gets dragged into the village politics. Kamal Haasan’s character development is a filmmaker’s dream and the arc of transformation he takes throughout the film will enable the audience to fully immerse themselves in his character’s life trajectory. Paired alongside legendary actor, Sivaji Ganesan, the scene where the two actors interact with each other in the middle of their house would go down as one of Tamil Cinema’s iconic movie scenes. An intense film filled with symbolic moments and powerhouse acting and dialogue delivery, Thevar Magan is visceral.

1. Nayagan (1987)

Director – Mani Ratnam
Streamer – Prime Video

Based on a real-life don, Nayagan is India’s response to The Godfather. Situated in the slums of Bombay, Kamal Haasan’s now-legendary role as Velu Naicker is a performance that simply no one can outmatch. Hardly putting a foot wrong, Nayagan traces the life of an underworld Don from his rise to his demise in realistic fashion. With a dark narrative style and taut script, this movie is gritty and leaves the audience on the edge of their seat waiting for the next scene to blow their mind. Timeless and a classic, this Mani Ratnam’s film is cinematic brilliance.

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