This is the story of a pen that was born in 1981. It was a Dustin Hoffman fan back then. So it included a sweet little tribute to "graduate" in its adaptation of 'Butterflies Are Free'. As expected, the pen - which was also a highly rated actor by then had casted itself in the lead in this , which was then a small budget experimental cinema but is now considered path breaking. The subtle romance of Raajaparvai was just the perfect way for Kamal Haasan to launch his career in screenwriting. A career that 28 years later stands tall as one of the country's best.

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A few malayalam scripts and some unofficial screenplays later, Kamal collaborated with Sujatha to come up with the proper Indian combination of Indiana Jones and James Bond - From Credits to BGM to Action sequences and the plot as a whole, Vikram arrived on the Indian Screens, technically awesome but with too many loose ends. A work which any screenwriter of Kamal's standard can not be proud of. However, as we later realised, Kamal was only preparing for something much much bigger. Another collaboration with a person known to have written 'only' hit movies. It was a perfect match. While Panchu Arunachalam took care of the 'mass - pulse', Kamal brought in sequences which were a complete treat to any lover of great cinema. Aboorva Sahodrargal was a money making masterpiece / A commercial Classic / The pinnacle of mass+class/ The ultimate movie making output. And with this movie started the trend. A series of screenplays which take their sweet time to first get into the feel and later race off at an exhilarating pace, often ending with a complex chase in areas with heavy traffic. It had become the Kamal Stamp. Driving the car with the screenplay in the back seat and accelerating the vehicle into a bridge only to break off and free fall into the sea. But Aboorva Sahodrargal was very special. A comic take on the investigating policeman cliche and a sad tale of love failure injected into what was primarily a story of full blooded revenge.

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Commerce Done. It was time now for Self Indulgence. Four Years. Four Films. Such amazing displays of mastery over the way the pen is to be handled. Stunning Variety too. What colours ! There is comedy supreme, psychedelia delusional, drama burning hot and tragedy unbearable. Micheal Madana Kamarajan, Guna, Devar Magan and Mahanadi are screenplays whose quality,tautness,variety and supremacy can simply not be matched. At least not in Indian Cinema yet. Michael Madana Kamarajan may look simple on screen. But the flow from one character to the other and the final connectors are not easy to represent. It is done in such a subtle manner that one is made to believe that is the only way the story can move. There is class written all over this super efficient screenplay. Then there is Guna - A peek into the delusional world. A simple story laced with ironies galore and some very tough to write sequences. Guna still stands tall as one of Tamil Cinema's very unique and special films. Devar Magan is in a different league altogether. Definitely One of the very few adaptations of Godfather that Puzo and Coppola would actually be proud of. A high voltage Drama that has clinical intensity "written" all over it. Voted once among the most Important Tamil Films of all time, Devar Magan owes its everything to the tight narrative. Then of course we have the true masterpiece. The gut wrencher. The soul stirrer. The movie through which Kamal splashes all the ink from his pen on the audience. Till they have no option but to cry. Mahanadi is just as great as any story can get. Even on book, Even without kamal's histrionics on screen, Mahanadi will make you cry. Such is the agony in the tale. He had reached unimaginable screenwriting heights by this time.

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Post Mahanadi and Pre Hey Ram ( can be ranked number one and two among his works) , came magalir mattum (why kamal, why? ( chal its okay. it was at least well indianized) , Nammavar(WOW) and Kadala Kadala ( You are getting to form Boss) from Kamal's pen. Among these, Nammavar is a very very special film. A very well knit plot which impressed me particularly with its minor but very necessary references to the student life of the protagonist assistant professor.

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Then Brilliant ink started to flow again. It was now getting very complicated - dishing out masterpiece after masterpiece. Each one jam packed with multi layered themes, hard hitting ironies, convoluted themes, intelligent sub-plots and endless wit. Hey Ram, Aalavandaan,Virumandi and Anbe Sivam were such stunning products. Leaving out Aalavandaan( the screenplay which kamal thinks is warped, was written by him way back in the eighties during his mumbai days), the other three plots must have taken months of staggering research and hardwork to have materialized. Hey Ram which hits you on your face with almost every element of its story is among the most thought provoking films I have ever seen. Writing Virumaandi and making it visibly different from Roshomon should be included as the final question in an examination for picking the best screenwriter of the world. Anbe Sivam with its themes are no less either. So many issues, both burning and old, beamed onto big screen through a very simple story of two different men travelling together. Masterful is THE word.

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Mumbai Express was unique and Dasavatharam was a victim of its own budget. But he compensated in the latter with a flourish of just unimaginable witty dialogues. An article on his dialogue writing would follow soon. And one on Dasavatharam Dialogues alone is confirmed for sure. But I must confess, It gave me great joy and goosebumps rewinding through the career of one of the country's best screenwriters EVER. And if you still do not agree. The challenege is always open. Show me the Intensity, Show me the Variety and Show me the supremacy. I doubt if you can.