Vikram 1986: Check out some of the fun facts about the Kamal Haasan-starrer, directed by Rajashekar

The old Vikram was released on May 29, 1986. Kamal Haasan, in a recent press meet, said, he was looking to get the new one out in the theatres, on the same date, but somehow, it got pushed to June 3

A collage of Vikram poster; a still from the 1986-film

Here's a list of things you are probably interested to know about Vikram 1986 which starred Kamal Haasan, in the lead.

1. Vikram was produced by Kamal Haasan's home banner, Raaj Kamal Films International. This was his second film, as a producer, after Raja Paarvai, which was his 100th film. Notably, Kamal worked as a screenwriter, too, in the latter, directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao.

2. Both Vikram and Raja Paarvai had music by Ilaiyaraaja.

3. Novelist Sujatha kept writing columns, episodically, about his experiences of being a part of Vikram. And, that was published weekly in a Tamil magazine! Maybe, that exercise was team Vikram's equivalent to the Twitter spaces now. Vikram had dialogues by Sujatha. And, the screenplay was by Kamal Haasan.

4. Vikram was directed by Rajashekar, who made Thambikku Entha Ooru, Mappillai, Padikkadavan and Dharma Durai with Rajinikanth.

5. Vikram wasn't Rajashekar's first film with Kamal Haasan. The filmmaker made Kaaki Sattai with the actor in 1985. In a press meet that was held in Chennai recently, Kamal Haasan referred to Rajashekar as this era’s KS Ravikumar. Rajashekar was a commercially successful director, Kamal Haasan emphasised.

6. Interestingly, both Kaaki Sattai and Vikram bore a lot of similarities: Ambika was the heroine; Sathyaraj played the villain and Kamal played a cop.

7. Kamal Haasan wanted Mani Ratnam to helm Vikram. This was before Nayakan happened in 1987.

8. Vikram had Sathyaraj in the role of a villain. The latter made his acting debut in Sattam En Kayil, which had Kamal in the lead role. This was in 1978. Eventually, both collaborated on Pagadai Panirendu, Mangamma Sabadham, and Japanil Kalyanaraman.

9. Speculations were abuzz that Vijay Sethupathi reprised the role of Sathyaraj's character from the original in Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Vikram. Courtesy: Those one-sided glasses!

10. The Kamal Haasan-starrer marked Malayalam actor Lissy's debut in Tamil cinema. The title credit had Preethi, instead of Lissy, who was her character name in Vikram. Raadika Sarathkumar had been dubbed for Lissy’s role. Both of them were invited as guests, at the Vikram audio launch. Raadika and Kamal Haasan also had done films like Swathi Muthyam and Per Sollum Pillai.

11. Vikram was Dimple Kapadia's only Tamil film to date. Also, the film had Bollywood actor Amjad Khan, in the role of a villain.

12. In Vikram, the makers had created a fictitious kingdom called Salamiya. Artists spoke the Salamiya language, which was equally fictitious. In fact, Kamal Haasan created both. The Salamia-related scenes were shot, apparently, in Rajasthan.

13. Dharmaseelan, the famous stunt director became Vikram Dharma, after featuring in the Kamal Haasan-starrer. He was Kamal Haasan’s body double, for a long time.

14. Vikram's album was the first Indian soundtrack, recorded through a computer.

15. Vikram was the first Tamil film to have a budget of over Rs 1 crore way back then.

16. Kamal Haasan's elder brother Charuhasan played a key role in Vikram. And, it's said that his character was inspired by M from the James Bond series.

17. Kamal Haasan donated the proceeds of Vikram’s first show to UNICEF, which was then collecting funds for the welfare of underprivileged children in South Africa.

18. In Vikram, Kamal Haasan's wife was played by Ambika, who gets killed early. Besides her, Kamal Haasan's character had two more women in his life.

19. Vikram was said to have been heavily inspired by a medley of James Bond films.

20. Vikram wasn’t a critically acclaimed film, but it went on to run in theatres for 100 days!

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