We had come to Latha Chiti's Ashok Nagar house for summer vacations. I am not sure if Akka was there with us that day, but i clearly remember going for the noon show with Chiti, Amma and Atul. Singaravelan was my first ever trip to a theatre. And i remember loving everything Kamal Haasan did on screen. I sang kakeekekoo along with him and was addicted to O langa Sri Langa Cobbara Thenga by the time we left the theatre. Even as we were returning home by auto, Chiti said "Aanalum Unga Kamalukku Height pathadhu". Did she assume that this four old year kid is a Kamal Fan or did she think this film of his has made him one? Did she know that from almost that very moment, Kamal became my favourite Tamil Hero?

"Aana avan dhaan nalla acting panran. Azhagavum Irukaan. Rajini oda" retorted my mom. Her metamorphosis from a hardcore rajini/mgr fan to a devotee of Sivaji and Kamal is a very interesting case. Unlike those who say they like Kamal more because they are fans of good artistic cinema, she still maintains that Kamal simply entertains her more than anyone else. We came back home and both Atul and I sang Olanga SriLanga almost non stop for the next two days. Then My mother (or was it Periamma ?) got me a video casette. Looked like just another casette - black rectangle with a white label and some tape inside. We played it in the VCR and there was an old man showing a movie to a group of kids. "Kadha Kelu Kadha Kelu" he said. Four infants taken away by four different people is what i could make of the first song.

And that is how the romance of my life got started. From that day onwards, Akka Appa Amma and I watched Michael Madana Kamarajan at the rate of minumum one view per week to a maximum of 2 views per day. For almost eighteen years now, we have always used dialogues from this movie in our daily conversations and whenever we feel like it, we watch the movie and laugh our hearts out. There is no other film that has become so much a part of our lives and no other film has made us laugh this much. MMKR had set a trend. Ever since then, we have thoroughly enjoyed every other comedy film from Kamal Haasan, most of them on first day, noon show.

The next Kamal Comedy film that all of us watched in theatre was Magalir Mattum. This time Akka played the addict and kept repeating the "moonu paeroda scooter eppadi pohum" dialogue even after we reached home. A great laugh we again had. As it happens with most Kamal films, the dialogues just stuck with us. They came into our home and nudged us away from all potentially dull moments. One of us would utter that dialogue over dinner and the entire family would laugh remembering the scene. Golden moments those.

Raajam Paati, was there when we watched Avvai Shanmukhi in theatre. I was ten by then and even though I still was not in a position to enjoy all the adult stuff that i had by then also missed in MMKR and Singaravelan, I did get some glimpse of it. A wider view, if one can call it that. And we laughed again. Through out the film. We discussed his mannerisms for weeks after the show. And the admiration just kept growing. Kadala Kadala was even more special. Prabhu Deva was already a rage and watching him perform with our kula deivam was a memorable experience. Situations from the movie still remail fresh in my mind. My father, not a movie buff by any standards, is one of the many die hard fans of that ajay ratnam sequence in the film.

By the time Pammal K Sambantham, Panchathantiram and Mumbai Express released, I had watched MMKR, Singaravelan and Kadala Kadala a lot of times on TV and had also caught up with the brilliantly shrewed adult comedy that I had missed when I was a kid. "Konjam Thooki Kaami. Chi ponganna vekkama irukku" from MMKR falls under one such category. A million puns in one small line. For the kid and for the one who wants one :D. "Can i have an ammuks"?
More than these, my mental maturity also allowed me to grasp some inner serious meanings these comedies wanted to convey. The entire murugan episode in Kadala Kadala is one such mega mock at theism. The imaginary father-death-flashback from Singaravelan is just as good as a spoof on masala cinema can get. Such minor flashes of artistic and issue based brilliance struck me only when i watched them recently.

Another very interesting episode is when Amma Appa Perimma and I decided to watch Mumbai Express first day night show. Sunil had seen Chandramukhi that night. We met at school the next day. I told him that all of us loved the film and this is probably Kamal's best after MMKR. Only later did I realise that apart from the four of us, Only Ajay Srinath and Bharadwaj Rangan had loved the film. No one else in the whole wide world. But i can still recommend this flick for lovers of dry and black humour. Infact Perimma was amazed by what she had seen "Evalo talent illa ivanukku? Ivalo nalla sirikkavechirikaan nambala eppodhume" , she said

They say films are just for time pass and don't mean much to life. They are wrong. There are films and there are people who without our own knowledge become an integral part of our household. In no time, we own their lines and before we realise, we start playing their roles. Kamal and his brand of comedy means more to my family than an old photo album does. Because when we watch his movies, we relive the happiest and the funniest moments of our lives.