Born Into A Hindu Brahmin Family, Here's How Kamal Haasan Got His Unusual Name & What It Means

Is Kamal Haasan a Muslim?

The actor who is celebrating his 69th birthday today, is often confused to be a Muslim when he is actually not. Not many know that he was born into a Tamil Brahmin Iyengar family in Paramakudi in Tamil Nadu in 1952 to D Srinivasan, a lawyer and freedom fighter, who incidentally passed away on the same day as his birth date.

AFP

Do you know Kamal Haasan was initially named Parthasarathy?

Haasan was initially named after the Parthasaraty deity at Pallava-era temple in Chennai. His father later changed his name to Kamal Haasan. As per a popular theory, D Srinivasan changed his name to honour his friend Yaakob Haasan, with whom he briefly shared a prison cell during the freedom struggle.

This theory is however incorrect!

AFP

Haasan had earlier clarified that as per him, Kamal means lotus and Haasan is derived from hasya, the Sanskrit word for laughter.

November 7 is also the death anniversary of Kamal's father Srinivasan.

AFP

Talking about the influence that his late father had on his life, he had once said, "I didn¡¯t know the purpose of my birth, but its almost like he knew the purpose of my birth that he mentored and guided me. When he was asked why I was allowed to go into the field of arts and cinema instead of becoming an IAS officer, my father replied that I could become an artist first and then an IAS officer. He asked me to follow my path and guided me with his love as a father."

When he had enterted the world of politics in 2015, he declared himself as a rationalist and not an atheist.

Twitter

"I consider death as one of my phase in my life. That¡¯s why I celebrate my birthday and death anniversary of my father the same day. My rational thinking is not coming through politics. I don¡¯t want people to criticise my rational thinking. You talk about tolerance. Listening to chants on the one side and to hyms of other religion on the other side, which is also known as tolerance. I am not an atheist. I am only a 'rationalist,'" he was quoted as saying.

Also Read: 'KH 234': Everything You Need To Know About Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam's Thug Life

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