Kamal Haasan's 5 experimental films that went on to become box-office successes

Kamal Haasan's movies have seen the critically and commercially acclaimed actor essay characters and tell stories that seldom have ever attended before. Ever since his debut with Maanavan in 1970, the veteran actor has gone on to star in films like Abhay, Appu Raja, and Chachi 420, amongst others. This article is essentially an enlistment of all of those Kamal Haasan's movies that have seen him play characters that have been deemed to be quite a deviation from the norm and have proven to be success stories. Read on for more.

1) Abhay

Abhay sees Kamal Haasan play the character of Nandhu, a delusional man with an abusive childhood. In order to settle scores with those responsible for the same, he takes to the killing of the orchestrators of the same, except, the people that he is going after are not even remotely responsible for what happened with him. His performance has been described as "haunting" and "spine-chilling" amongst others. The film, which has a rating of 7.2 on IMDb, is available for streaming on Disney+ Hotstar for free. As per Box Office India, the film was made for a total of 40 Lakhs INR and went on to collect close to 9 crores worldwide during the dawn of the 21st century.

2) Appu Raja

The film that basically normalized the portrayal of characters dealing with Dwarfism, Appu Raja tells the story of a vengeful son who goes out on a spree of settling scores with those who wronged his police inspector father. His portrayal was described by many as "unpredictable" "mercurial" and even "emotional". The film, which has a rating of 8.3 on IMDb, is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Although the film's official box office numbers aren't available as yet, it is a unanimously agreed-on fact that the film was a major success.

3) Chachi 420

In this film that bears a striking amount of resemblance to the Robin Williams-starrer Mrs Doubtfire, Haasan, who is also the director of the feature, plays a divorcee who disguises himself as a woman in order to take up the job of a caretaker so that he could spend more time with his daughter. His portrayal of Laxmi Godhbole, as well as Jaiprakash Paswan, has been described as "emotional" "heartbreaking" and "hilarious" by many. The film, which has a rating of 7.4 on IMDb, is available for streaming on YouTube for a fee.  As per a portal known as BestOfTheYear, the film, which was made for a total of 5 crores, grossed approximately 20 crores worldwide.

 4) Dasavathaaram

One of the very few Science-Fiction-esque films that Kaasan has been a part of, Dasavathaaram sees him play the character of a scientist who is in a race against time in order to save his country from a potential mass disaster. His performance in the film has been described as "effectively restrained" and "compellingly brooding" amongst others. The film, which has a rating of 7.2 on IMDb, is available for streaming on YouTube for a fee. As per a report on BestOfTheYear.com, the film was mounted for 60 crores INR and collected close to 180 crores through ticket counters worldwide.

5) Kuruthipunal

The film which started the trend of sleek and slender songless action features, Kuruthipunal tells the story of Adhi (Haasan), a policeman who plans an operation in order to catch a dreaded terrorist, Badri, and save innocent lives. But, when Badri threatens his family, the viewers find the protagonist in a conundrum. The plot of the film sees him trying to achieve both the objectives; which are those of stopping a terrorist in its tracks and make sure that his loved ones come out of this situation unscathed. His performance in the film has been described as "near-perfect" and "not the kind where one beats around the bush". The film, which has a rating of 8.5 on IMDb, is available for streaming on YouTube for a fee. The official box office numbers for the film haven't been made available yet, but it widely believed that the film was a commercial as well as a critical hit.