5 min readChennaiJun 7, 2026 04:08 PM IST
Four decades ago, somewhere in Kerala, Kamal Haasan and director Singeetham Srinivasa Rao were sitting together talking about a film. Not Pushpaka Vimana, which they were already working on. Another film entirely, one where every line of dialogue would be sung. Nobody would agree to make it but they kept talking about it anyway. 45 years later, that film is releasing on June 11 as Sing Geetham, directed by Singeetham at the age of 94.
Talking about the film at a pre-release event in Chennai, Kamal reminisced about the first time he met the director. “Our first movie happened rather casually when we met in Mumbai. That day we spoke about two films, Pushpaka Vimana and Sing Geetham. I was 20 when we were talking about it. Now, I am 71 and I get to see this movie. Some ideas are ageless, and that is why he is like that. He is full of ideas. And hence age is just a number. Like take two, take three, take four. That is how he treats it.”
What Pushpaka Vimana meant to them
Kamal Haasan has spoken about 1987 dialogueless film Pushpaka Vimana made with Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, that won the National Award and became one of the most talked about experiments in Indian cinema, many times over the years. During the event, he once gain spoke about Pushpaka Vimana and said, “We were so proud about Pushpaka Vimana, that we shot it in air condition because we shot in a five-star hotel. While others praised us for the movie without dialogues, we were happy that we worked with an AC.”
Talking about the shoot of the film, Kamal recounted, “I’ll brush my teeth, rehearse. I’ll go have a bath, comb my hair and take one begins. That is how we worked in the film. I still miss those days.”
On what the industry has forgotten
Kamal Haasan further pointed out how the industry has slowly replaced the question of what a film should be with the question of what a film should make. “Understanding cinema is all about passion and then only it becomes a business. We are doing it the other way around, as just we check how much it will make. We evaluate it by 100 crores, 200 crores, 300 crores, but that’s not how we are supposed to do it. The day we made Pushpaka Vimana for 15 lakhs, we felt like we made 150 crores and that is not even an exaggeration.”
He then offered what might be the most honest definition of a successful film. “Nobody can write out a pronoun and say this film is a success, super hit film. Nobody can say this will surely fail. But we can say we will be happy at the end of this film. If we are not, we want to re-release it. How simple is that?”
The films that only they know the weight of
Kamal Haasan also spoke about Apoorva Sagodharargal, the 1989 Tamil comedy in which he played a dwarf, and how close that film came to being abandoned entirely. “We scrapped the first 20 days of shoot. That would have been a failure for him if we wouldn’t have done that. We stopped it from becoming a failure and the decision was made by the two of us. We had to answer for the money spent on the 20 days’ shoot. But we were not worried because we know that is wrong and we wanted to do something right. Only we know the tension of doing that film because it was the two of us who were responsible. Even Singeetham did not know after three shots how I am going to continue being a dwarf. It came to us after a lot of hair loss.”
Story continues below this ad
He then turned his attention to Mumbai Express, the 2005 Tamil comedy that has never received the recognition either of them believes it deserves. “We probably enjoyed most. It was a very difficult film to shoot because it was sunny in Bombay, and had no relevant permissions to shoot. But we enjoyed doing Mumbai Express. We did a lot of experiments. It is also the first digital movie shot on 720p.”
Also Read: Janhvi Kapoor called Buchi Babu Sana India’s ‘most rowdy director’ before Peddi backlash
Then he said something that applies equally to Pushpak Vimana, Mumbai Express, Apoorva Sagodharargal and every film the two of them have made together. “For us, one such award is Pushpaka Vimana, and the other is Mumbai Express. Who said it is not a success? Ask us and you will know. That is the spirit one must carry, and this film (Sing Geetham) has it. ”
Speaking fondly about Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, he remarked, “Now he is going one step forward. He is always ahead of Gen Z and I am happy to celebrate a young man like Singeetham. Age is a nuisance but the mind can surpass it and he is a great example. I want to be his assistant director to maintain that state of mind.”
