Jackie Chan-Kamal Haasan Bond Over Broken Bones

When India’s most daring actor Kamal Haasan met Asia’s most wanted stunt hero  Jackie Chan, an instant rapport transpired.

The common ground between them?  Broken Bones.

Suffering from multiple fractures after a fall from the balcony in his office on Eldams Road in Chennai,  KamalHaasan laughs, “When I  met Jackie he asked me in that cute Chinese accent of his, ‘How many broken bones?’ I told him I had 33 broken bones. ‘Oh, you are getting there,’ he laughed. That’s how we connected.”

Kamal is full of admiration for Jackie Chan, “When he decided to crack the Hollywood code he could’ve been anyone. He could have been another Steve McQueen . Instead he chose to copy none of the big American stars. He chose to be himself. He didn’t change his accent when he went to the West. All of us Asian actors do that . My accent becomes ‘American’ the minute I land in the US. But to this day Jackie speaks in the same endearing sing-song tone that we heard when he first started.”

Full of praise for Jackie Chan’s tenacity and durability  Kamal Haasan says, “Just look at his childlike enthusiasm at 62. He still does his own stunts . And he’s unbeatable at action. He started his career as a Bruce Lee clone. But he knew if he continued on that path he would be compared to Bruce Lee all his life. So Jackie chose to be no one except himself.It takes guts to sell the Orient to the West without shifting gears just to feel a sense of belonging in the West. Jackie Chan is Jackie Chan. There is no other like him.”