Kamal Hassan, one of the multi faceted Indian actor, started his film career as a child artiste in a Tamil Film 'Kalathur Kannamma' (1960). In a career, spanning four decades Kamal has acted in more than 200 films in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. He has played a number of variety characters including freedom-fighter, classical dancer, blind violinist, dwarf clown, mentally challenged man etc. Kamal has won the National Award thrice. He has also been honoured with the award Padmashri (1990). Like many actors, Kamal's personal life has been a subject for the media.