Entertainment - Kamal Hassan's Marmayogi

CHENNAI: After the multi-role mega Tamil film `Dasavatharam', actor Kamal Hassan is preparing himself for his next big budget multi-lingual venture, `Marmayogi' (mysterious saint). The film, to be directed by the actor himself, would be produced by his Rajkamal Movies in association with Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd. And as with many of his films, speculations are ripe in the Kollywood (Tamil film industry) about the story line of the new project while the film unit is tightlipped. While one theory is that it is a children's film where the actor dons the role of a guide, another predicts that the movie is a remake of the Val Kilmer-starrer `The Saint', where the Hollywood hero donned multiple roles. The actor is known for his panachea for multiple roles, as he did in `Michael Madana Kama Rajan' and `Dasavatharam'. It is also speculated to be a competition to the multi-crore Rajni-starrer `Robot'. Kamal Hassan has already donned the role of director in his critically-acclaimed `Hey Ram,' a plot intertwining pre and post-Independence India, `Virumaandi' and `Mumbai Express." With the actor sporting a thick beard and film stills showing him with long, undone hair and wearing classic battle robe, rumour mills has it that `Marmayogi' could be a remake (read `Inspiration') of Mel Gibson's `Braveheart'. Yet to go public on his project, all Kamal Hassan had to say was that he would make the official cut soon, and the aim was to "make a quality offering to the people." In a release here, Kamal Hassan said, "our aim is to make a quality offering to the people by way of the multi-million dollar venture and the producers are committed in this direction." The producers said the film is in its very nascent stages. According to a release from Saimira, the cast and technical crew are yet to be finalised for the film. "The project of this size and nature could not be implemented without a proper exploitation plan and a viability study," P S Samynathan, Chairman and Managing Director, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd, said adding the same applied for the cast and crew. "Utmost care will be needed to decide on lead artists and technicians," he said. He said the film would be made in three langauges-- Tamil, Telugu and Hindi-- and there were also plans to make it in English `natively'.