After last year's controversy over Vishwaroopam, when Kamal Hassan had even thought of quiting Tamil Nadu for a more secular place abroad, twelve months later, Kamal who has just been conferred with the prestigious Padma Bhushan, asserted, "I'm proud of this country and I know the country is proud of me too. This award is not for what I've accomplished so far but for the work ahead."

The 59-year-old actor, who has done around 190 films in a career spanning five decades, admitted that he had sat on the same staircase in his Eldams Road office in Chennai when he was a boy wondering if he'd ever make it in films.

It was here that he sat and wept when he lost his parents. And it was from here that he addressed the media last year when the Vishwaroopam controversy broke.

"My mindset hasn't changed but I've come a long way from the boy who'd stare blankly out at Chennai's Mount Road even as my family and friends teased me saying I'd end up rearing cattle.

"My mother would warn me that that's how I'd end up if I didn't study hard," the actor recalled, adding that his quest for perfection is like an insatiable hunger.


"Success makes one content but the journey towards excellence will always continue." So, will we write his autobiography some day? "No way," he retorts.

"Most autobiographies lie and end up offending everyone." He'd rather make movies. The next one is a sequel to Vishwaroopam which is fast nearing completion.

"We have just one song and a few scenes which need to be shot, after that the post-production begins. The movie will release in a few months."