1987-88 was a watershed year in Kamal Haasan's acting career. After stunning the world with the hugely acclaimed role of Velu Nayakar, Kamal ventured into a very unique project. Pushpaka Vimanam - The silent film. Any discussion about this film can not do without at least a five hundred words about the genius of Singeetham Srinivaasa Rao - the writer director of this, probably India's shrewdest movie ever. Every single minute of the two hour long master piece is filled with deep allegories that make you think. The social satire just hits you on your face. In this film, even minute sounds have a meaning. To watch the film is an unforgettable experience. It forces you to wear your thinking caps and you return from a film, a learned man. To convey some of the most complicated social theories in a story as simple as this requires very effective narrating skill and Singeetham seems to have loads of it. I promise to come up with a scene-by scene analysis of this silent piece of mind blowing poetry. Lets get back to the point.

Pushpak would not have been Pushpak had the unnamed protagonist not been played by Kamal. In the initial scenes at the shawl, Kamal is expected to show only the very basic human emotions of disgust, jealousy, hunger and irritation. The ball starts rolling when Kamal is amazed by the carelessness of the drunk resident of Pushpak - the hotel for the rich. The way his body reacts to the surroundings in the scene when he drags the rich man to his room to tie him up is probably the most natural set of human reactions I have seen on silver screen. Kamal reacts to every single sound and every single motion, afraid that some one might find out. And there is no over action, though the scene provides ample scope for it.

As if this was not natural enough, Kamal comes up with yet another gem when inside the room 3039 of Pushpak, when he looks at a mirror as big as him. Shocked, thinking that he has actually seen some other person, Kamal gets his eyebrows sky high and falls off on the bed. A beautiful combination of the face and body - Like how a brilliant painter would use the variety of his colours and the speed of his brush.

Since there are no dialogues and there is no one's voice over to remind us of the fact that Kamal is actually staying in a place that is not his own, everything is left to his expressions alone. When Amala slaps him during the dinner scene, Kamal gives an expression of grief combined with shock and a sudden sense of realisation. Clearly differentiating between how it would have been had it been just grief and shock and no realisation. The reaction is a thing to remember. In a similar such sequence, Kamal is inside Amala 's room as a waiter , hiding under a bench and Farida Jalaal slaps him. There is double irony for the viewer here because firstly Kamal can't shout a word as the film doesn't have dialogues. But secondly Kamal actually can't shout a word because otherwise Farida Jalaal, who should not see him, will hear it. Again, Kamal differentiates and gives the expression that perfectly fits the latter situation.

Next comes the crucial scene in the film where Kamal realises the fact that some is out to kill the man whose room he is occupying. When returning to the city after knowing the truth, he looks at the beggars death and at the completely inhumane act of the corporation boys who drop the dead body in the middle of the road and run behind the money from the beggar's bag. Kamal's eyes tell us that he is currently equating himself with those corporation boys and is terribly ashamed of what he has done in the last few days. No one else is explaining all this. Only Kamal and his eyes.

Through out his stay in Pushpak hotel, Kamal buys and wears very costly dresses which do fit his body. But in order to send the message across to the viewer that the protagonist is actually new to all this richness, Kamal deliberately looks very uncomfortable in everything he wears. A stunning piece of homework. The difference is even more striking when you see the same kamal look very comfortable in similar dresses he wears in other films.

The best scene among all is definitely the one where among loud fun fare and magic, Kamal is to explain to Amala, through sign language, that he does not own the room and that all he has done is wrong and that he is leaving it now. He writes the letter but they don't show the text. Its all through his hands that point away from the hotel, his tears that mock at his own ironic situation and his eyes that feel sad for leaving amala mid way through a very heart warming love story. Kamal is like an expression - machine. You name it and he has it. From the basic to the most complex. Every thing is in that brilliant face.

As an actor in such a silent film. one is both literally and figuratively dumbfounded. But to come up with a performance that subtly conveys to the audience more than what words could have said or frenzied action could have done , requires tonnes of expressive talent. I have an endless collection. Declares Kamal Haasan.