Panchu Arunachalam is a veteran producer who produced many Tamil films under his banner PA Arts. He once expressed his desire to produce a multi-starrer movie featuring Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth under SP Muthuraman’s direction. However, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth had decided not to act together during the 1970’s. So, both stars agreed to work with Panchu Arunachalam under the condition of separate films.
So, Panchu Arunachalam decided that one film would be directed by SP Muthuraman while the other one would be directed by his assistant. Accordingly, the film starring Rajinikanth was directed by SP Muthuraman, and the film starring Kamal Haasan was directed by Muthuraman’s assistant, GN Rangarajan. Kamal Haasan and Rangarajan started working on the movie Kalyanaraman. The filming was completed successfully, and it’s worth noting that Kamal Haasan and GN Rangarajan were already friends before working on this film together.
After Kalyanaraman, GN Rangarajan went on to direct films such as Meendum Kokila, Kadal Meengal and Ellam Inba Mayyam. Later, when he produced and directed the film Rani Theni, Kamal Haasan played a special role in it out of friendship. Unfortunately, the film didn’t perform well at the box office. Following this, he produced Muthu Engal Sothu followed by Aduthathu Albert which faced financial difficulties. The last film he directed, Sir… I Love You was also left incomplete due to budget constraints.
GN Rangarajan managed to clear all his debts and save his house with the success of the film Maharasan. Yesterday marked the 31st anniversary of the film’s release on March 5, 1993.
After a twelve-year gap, Kamal Haasan teamed up with director GN Rangarajan for the fifth and final time. He took on this project solely to assist Rangarajan in overcoming his financial troubles. He grew a handlebar moustache for his role in the film. Remarkably, this marked Rangarajan’s last venture as a director.
According to an interview with Rangarajan published in Dina Thanthi’s Varalaatru Chuvadugal (Thiraippada Varalaaru 951), Maharasan proved to be a highly lucrative venture for him, aiding in his recovery from debt. Before this success, the director had mortgaged his property following the failure of his previous film. The profits from Maharasan enabled him to settle his debts and reclaim ownership of his home. In appreciation, Rangarajan named his house “Kamal Illam” as a tribute to Kamal Haasan.
The film received positive reviews which says “contains many entertaining segments and is likely to fare well commercially. Gopu Babu’s dialogues cater to the front-bench audience. Other reviews said “Don’t expect something as excellent as Devar Magan. Watch it if you’re a huge Kamal fan and in the mood for light-hearted comedy.” Some people praised Ilaiyaraaja’s music and the witty dialogues by Gopu-Babu but questioned the necessity of casting Haasan in a role typically portrayed by comedians.
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