Kamal Haasan meant to star in film by oldest living active director in world when he was 20, it's releasing when he's 71

TAmil asterisk Kamal Haasan was late in Hyderabad, where he tended to(p) an case hosted in honour of the domain’s oldest living and active filmmaker. This 94-year-old veteran beat Clint Eastwood’s record for directing Juror #2 (2024) at 93. Kamal spoke of how he learnt of an upcoming Telugu release when he was only 20, and the film is finally only releasing now, when he’s 71.Kamal Haasan about 94-year-old veteran filmmakerKamal was talking about Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, whose upcoming musical Sing Geetham is releasing on June 11. Talking about his long association with the filmmaker, Kamal said, “I think Mayabazar was released in Chennai on April 12, 1957. Now, on June 11, two months after…that’s how it’ll feel for him, I know. Nothing has changed, and cinema is with him till today. And that’s very rare.”He revealed that he was only 21 when he first worked with Singeetham, stating, “I don’t know what’s the youngest in the group of the direction team. 24? I met him before that. I was 21 when I did all that these boys had done with him. I was inadvertently, willingly, his assistant director. It so happened that I’m also the producer of the film. But the main idea was to work with him.”Kamal then revealed that he and Singeetham had decided on two films when they first met, but only one materialised. “Our first movie happened casually somewhere in Bombay. One day we must do a film, and we met after Filmfare awards at Taj Hotel. Then he told me two stories. One of them was called, at that time, Advaita. And we made that film,” he said.The other film was Sing Geetham, which took over four decades to finally see the light of day, said Kamal. “The other movie we kept talking about, we couldn’t make nearly 45 years ago. That is this movie. I was 20 when we were talking about it. Now I’m 71, and I see this movie. Some ideas are ageless. And that is why he’s like that, he’s full of ideas. And hence, age is just a number.” Sing Geetham, which was meant to star Kamal, now features Ahilya Bamroo, Ayaan K., and Shalini Kondepudi in lead roles. How Singeetham Srinivasa Rao is world’s oldest living active filmmakerThe world’s oldest filmmaker was Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, who directed at 104 and died at 105 in 2015. Clint Eastwood held the record for the oldest living and active filmmaker, having directed Juror #5 (2024) at 94. Now, Singeetham breaks that record with the Telugu film Sing Geetham, his 61st feature, at the age of 94. He will enjoy the record until Mel Brooks, now 99, releases his upcoming film, Spaceballs: The New One.