Following the demise of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, actor Kamal Haasan took to Twitter to recall his two meetings with the late British monarch. The Queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland last week at the age of 96. The longest-reigning monarch of Britain, she sat on the throne for over 70 years. Kamal said he met her twice, once during her visit to India in 1997 and the second during the actor’s visit to Buckingham Palace in 2017. The actor recalled how he hosted her for what was “probably the only film shoot she ever attended.”
Queen Elizabeth visited the sets of Kamal’s ambitious movie ‘Marudhanayagam’ in Chennai in 1997. The movie, which was eventually shelved, was to be the biggest Indian movie ever. The queen had inaugurated the shoot along with the then Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi. Recalling this, Kamal tweeted, “I was saddened to hear the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II of England. She was loved not only by the British but also by the whole world. Twenty five years ago, she accepted our invitation and attended the opening ceremony of Marudhanayakam. It was probably the only film shoot she attended.”
Kamal shared a picture of himself greeting the queen from when he visited the Buckingham Palance in London back in 2017. “I still vividly remember meeting her at the Palace 5 years ago at a cultural event in London. My deepest condolences to the people of England and the Royal Family for the loss of their beloved Queen,” he wrote.
‘Marudhanayagam’ was directed and produced by Haasan, and he also played the role of 18th-century warrior Muhammed Yusuf khan. The movie was estimated to be made on a budget of £8.5 million at that time but couldn’t be made as an international company funding the budget backed out.
