Kamal Haasan, widely respected and admired in the Indian film industry, is often praised as someone who would have won many Oscars, if he had been born outside India. He is known for having starred in the largest number of films submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Kamal Haasan was born on 7 November 1954 in the town of Paramakudi in Tamil Nadu, to a criminal lawyer named D. Srinivasan and his wife Rajalakshmi. Kamal Haasan, has also been mistaken for a Muslim due to the Arabic surname, and was stopped for his name at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2002. However, Kamal Haasan clarified in an interview with Karan Thapar in BBC that his last name 'Haasan' is, in fact, of Sanskrit origin from the word 'Hasya', which was his father's wish. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting, earning him the honorific name Universal Hero. In addition to acting, screenwriting and directing, he has also featured in films as a songwriter, playback singer and choreographer. His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. Kamal Haasan was six-years-old when he faced the camera for the first time in Kalathur Kannamma, in 1960 and won the President's Gold Medal. Kamal Haasan's breakthrough into lead acting came with his role in the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal, in which he played a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. He made his Bollywood debut with Ek Duuje Ke Liye, the remake of his Telugu-language film, Maro Charithra. He made his 100th film appearance in 1981 with Raja Paarvai, which also marked his debut in film production. He acted in Saagar, released in 1985, India's representative for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. In 1986, he acted in Swathi Muthyam which portrayed him as an autistic person attempting to change society. The film was India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards. Kamal Haasan appeared in Mani Ratnam's 1987 film Nayagan that portrays the life of an underworld don in Bombay, nominated by India for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards. It was included in the Time's All-TIME 100 Movies list. In 1997, Kamal Haasan began his first directorial venture, Marudhanayagam, which failed to complete its schedules with only half an hour and a trailer being recorded during its shoot. It had been speculated to be the biggest and most expensive film in Indian cinema. Moreover, the film was launched in a highly publicized ceremony by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom during her visit to India in 1997. Due to budget constraints, the film failed to materialize into a feature film. He filmed his second directorial venture, Hey Ram, a period drama told in flashback with a semi-fictional plot centring around India's Partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The film was India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. In 2008, he appeared in Dasavathaaram portraying ten distinct roles in the venture. It is known to be one of the first modern sci-fi films made in India, it also remains one of the most expensive Indian films ever made. In Canada, the film was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the first Tamil film to be done so. Kamal Hassan's next venture is his Hollywood debut in a movie produced by Barrie Osborne where Kamal's co-star would be a 7-year old girl. To play army major in Alavandaan (Abhay), he went to the NDA for a crash course. Kamal has attended workshops for make-up techniques in US for several years and once trained as a make-up man under Michael Westmore. He has sung close to 70 songs in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and English. Kamal Haasan, a Padma Shri awardee, is the most decorated actor in the history of Indian cinema. At the age of seven, he won the President's Gold Medal. Haasan holds the record for the most number (four) of National Film Awards for an actor. Moreover, Haasan holds a record nineteen Filmfare Awards, ranging across five languages. After his latest award in 2000, he wrote to the organisation requesting exemption from further awards. In 2003, his films Hey Ram, Pushpak, Nayagan and Kuruthipunal were showcased under the "Director in Focus" category at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Despite his celebrated film career, his personal life had some setbacks which have been exploited by the media. In 1978, at the age of 24, Kamal Haasan married Vani Ganapathy. However, the couple split after ten years together, after Kamal Haasan began dating fellow actress Sarika, Subsequently, Kamal Haasan and Sarika lived together from 1988, opting to marry only after having their second child. The couple filed for divorce in 2002, with Sarika estranging herself from Kamal Haasan by the end of the procedure in 2004. Haasan now lives with former actress Gouthami Tadimalla. He had helped her during her traumatic breast cancer experience and the pair have been in a domestic relationship since 2005. He is father of two daughters, Shruti Haasan and Akshara Haasan.