Rajinikanth, Vijay, Stallone, Schwarzeneggar, and as the long list would go on , are 'heroes'. They repeatedly play characters that have super powers to bash up all the bad men on the earth. These are stars whom the kids and the masses love. No one looks at the actor or even the person in these stars. They only see the 'hero' in them. Watching these superstars perform is like looking at a your favourite WWE wrestler pin down his opponents. Their performances either have too many expressions or there is a complete lack of them. One can't really call it even acting per se. Mindless, but fun - guaranteed.

Nasseruddin Shah, Nagesh, Nana Patekar, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman , Tom hanks and as the not so big list would go on, are 'actors'. They don't have a following among the kids, masses and the front benches. They are purely a connoisseur's delight. They are performers and every film critique would love to write a tribute to their works These are people who literally live the character that they play and bring out a huge variety of emotions on screen. Watching them perform is like watching an artist paint a beautiful portrait of a character that is in his mind.

Where would you place Kamal Haasan in this classification? Is he a hero who also acts or is he an actor who is also a brand/franchise? The issue is slightly complex and has been primarily responsible for an audience that is often confused with its opinion on Kamal Haasan. Even among his die hard fans there is a confusion. While one set would prefer Mahanadi to Avvai shanmukhi any day, the other would want to see more Dasavatharams and less of Gunas. The reason for all this is that Kamal has done it all. Been everywhere, seen everything.

In fact in1981-82, he acted in a film that fetched him the national award for that year (moondram pirai) and also in another movie which was the biggest commercial blockbuster of that year (sagalakalavallavan). Just that in 1996, the wiser kamal haasan combined both these tasks in one single film. (Indian)

So here is a look at kamal the hero - who has given the masses unlimited entertainment, and kamal the actor who has given my pen a thousand words to write . And also, a fascinating combination of both.

1) KAMAL THE HERO - If you go to a village or a small town and ask people why they love 'kamala' haasan (Many women still refer to him like that), they would tell u stories of his sagalakalavallavan where he looked awesome, danced like a dream , sang, jumped, waved, made fun and finally tricked the wrong man into the climax trap. They will talk to you about guru, simla special, oru kaidhiyin diary, vetrivizha, sathya,vikram, soora samharam and the likes - movies where the hero kamal has done everything that is expected of any other on screen super hero.

2) KAMAL THE ACTOR - This one, as I said, is for the puritans. It is not simply that they call kamal the finest actor in India. They have gems like moondram pirai, saagara sangamam,saagar, nayagan, pushpak, michael madana kamarajan, guna, devar magan, mahanadi, kurudhipunal, heyram, anbesivam, virumandi and many more to support their arguments. In these movies kamal has been thoroughly brilliant with his unmatchable display of a gamut of emotions. Rarely can u see both brilliance and versatility and brilliant versatility in one single actor's performances. Kamal is that rare impersonator, who flawlessly imitates every character that is written for him in the script.

3) KAMAL THE ACTOR, WHILE BEING KAMAL THE HERO - "Commercial classic". Ever heard of this phrase? It is a form of cinema that kamal has continuously indulged in throughout his career. These films have everything that a tamil producer wants (read, comedy,action, sentiment, all in one) and along with these, they have a sensational performance from the male lead. Aboorva sahodrargal, Indian, Chachi 420, Dasavatharam - All fall into this very special category - Some thing no other Indian actor has really managed to achieve.