Kamal Haasan, the film’s writer, director, protagonist, confirms that his co-actor has finally got more than a wristwatch from the association
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 4, 2018)

When Interstellar and Dunkirk director Christopher Nolan was in Mumbai last weekend, he met several Bollywood actors, cinematographers and filmmakers. Among them was Kamal Haasan who later sent a DVD of his National Award-winning political-thriller, Hey Ram, to the Hollywood filmmaker. The 63-year-old legend admitted that he was surprised to learn that Nolan had seen his 2015 Tamil drama thriller, Papanasam. “I apologised to him for seeing Dunkirk in the digital format and in return am sending Hey Ram in digital format for him to see,” Kamal revealed.

The actor-filmmaker-politician who also took part in a panel discussion with the American auteur, the Bachchans, Amitabh and Jaya, and Shyam Benegal, among others, informed that he was heartened that despite his stature, Nolan did not speak down to him and doesn’t take ‘brand Nolan’ too seriously. “He was speaking to me like any other filmmaker with all the problems of filmmaking and I found that really touching. Ang Lee is like that too,” said Kamal.

The South legend also met his Hey Ram co-star Shah Rukh Khan at the event and the duo reminisced about their shoot from almost two decades ago. Buzz is, SRK has bought the Hindi remake rights of Hey Ram.

Confirming the news, Kamal says with a laugh, “Shah Rukh only got a wristwatch for acting in my film at the time because by the end of it, I had nothing left in hand. Now, he is the brand ambassador for a watch brand. I am glad that he got the Hindi rights of Hey Ram from Bharat bhai (co-producer Bharat Shah). He should have some memory of the film as he gave his friendship and service for it.”

The film was written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, who also acted as the protagonist. Made in Tamil and Hindi, Hey Ram also featured Rani Mukerji, Hema Malini, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Atul Kulkarni, Vikram Gokhale and Nassar among a host of other talented actors. It narrated the story of Saket Ram which unfolds on December 6, 1999, the seventh anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, as the retired archaeologist lies on his deathbed.

It then flashbacks to the 1940s, when Saket Ram and a fellow archaeologist, Amjad Ali Khan played by SRK, are excavating the ruins of Mohenjo Daro in the Sindh province of pre-Independence India. Both are strongly opposed to the idea of Partition and Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s demand for the creation of a new country, Pakistan, with Amjad determined to stay back in India which he considers his homeland. The fear of riots shuts down the site and Saket Ram returns to Kolkata where life takes a drastic turn when he saves a Sikh girl from an angry mob only to see other Muslim rioters barge into his home to rape and kill his wife.

In this atmosphere of communal unrest, Gandhi makes an appeal for the two communities to co-exist peacefully, but believing this as an attempt to appease Muslims and treachery against Hindus, Saket Ram is drawn into a plot to assassinate the Mahatma. He carries this mission into independent India till a reunion with Amjad changes his mind. Gandhi is eventually assassinated by Nathuram Godse while Saket Ram lives by his principles till he is 89 when he dies with “Hey Ram” on his lips.

It remains to be seen how Shah Rukh will adapt this story if and when he does so.