Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan’s 2000 film Hey Ram, which was made simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi, has an Aparna Sen connect that no one knows about. While promoting her recent film Coolie, Shruti Haasan revealed to Sathyaraj that her father learnt Bengali and even named Rani Mukerji’s character in the film after Aparna to impress her. Here’s what she said.

Kamal Haasan’s love for Aparna Sen

Shruti and Sathyaraj were discussing Kamal’s dedication to his craft when it came up that he learnt Bengali to do a film in the language. Sathyaraj also pointed out that, like her father, Shruti knew multiple languages. Revealing that it was not just that, Shruti stated that Kamal took up learning the language out of admiration for Aparna.

She said, “No, no. Do you know why he learnt Bengali? Because at that time, he was in love with Aparna Sen. He learnt Bengali to impress her, he did not learn it for films,” with a chuckle. Delving more, Shruti also mentioned that Kamal was so enamoured by her, he even named Rani after her in Hey Ram. “Even in Hey Ram, Rani Mukerji is named Aparna after her,” added Shruti.

About Aparna Sen

For the uninitiated, Aparna is an actor, director, and writer known for her work in Bengali cinema. She is also Konkona Sen Sharma’s mother and has nine National Film Awards to her credit. She is well-known for acting in films like Basanta Bilap (1973) and Memsaheb (1972), and directing 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) and Goynar Baksho (2013).

Hey Ram was written, directed, produced and starred Kamal, apart from Shah Rukh Khan, Rani, Hema Malini, Vasundhara Das, Naseeruddin Shah and others. The film was controversial for its depiction of Gandhi and the events surrounding his death, but received critical acclaim. Kamal was last seen in Mani Ratnam’s Thug Life and Shankar’s Indian 2.