The internet went viral last week with speculation that the first look of Kamal Haasan's Uttam Villan is 'inspired' by a photograph taken by French photographer Eric Lafforgue.
Speaking out on the allegation for the first time Kamal pooh-poohs the plagiarism charge. "Theyyam is more than 1000 year old art. The make-up was done by a good artist who is probably a third-generation practitioner of this art. The lighting might have been similar."
And then the maverick actor sniggers, "It is like saying two lovers one leaning on another's chest looking in the same direction is a copy of the Ek Duje Ke Liye poster. My film has a Theyyam dance fusion with Tamil Nadu's Kooththu tradition."
Painting the face for that look was not easy.
Says the actor, "That is not a mask. It is painted on my face. It took 4 hours to paint my face. It is a tradition handed down from many generations. The artist claims he might be the 20th generation artists doing the same thing."
Uttam Villan chronicles the life of a superstar who decides to make a period comedy called Uttam Villan.
Discloses Kamal Haasan, "There is a pun on the word 'villan'. ... Vil means 'bow' and villan means 'archer'. We have already an edited length of 18 minutes with 7 scenes in the hard disk. You can expect some stunning performances from all the actors."
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