Kamal Haasan has talked about 70 Indian films that have changed him "as an actor, as a person". Interestingly, 10 of them are Telugu movies, some of which he acted in.

The 1957 masterpiece 'Mayabazar' is one of them. "Well-planned film, taking a story from the Mahabharata and interpreting it in a novel way. Technically superior. There were a lot of special effects, very tedious to put together at that time," he writes.

The legendary ANR's 'Sudigundalu' is also one of the films that profoundly impacted the Universal Star.

Two of the choices will surprise you.

Megastar Chiranjeevi's 'Manavoori Pandavulu' is his all-time favourite: "This was a modern version of the story of the Pandavas. Later Bapu also remade it into a Hindi film Hum Paanch (1980). But I think the Telugu one was more original, done differently. I learnt a lot about framing from him (Bapu)," the great talent writes.

Not many know that 'Manam' is one of the dearest movies to his heart! "This is a very special film. I started as a dance assistant in Telugu films and my hero was superstar Nageswara Rao. They would often call me to choreograph for him. He saw me go from that to an actor to a star. He did this film after he realised he had cancer," he writes.

The other movies are: 'Maro Charitra', 'Sommokadidi Sokokadidi', 'Sankarabharanam', 'Amavasya Chandrudu', 'Sagara Sangamam', 'Swati Muthyam', and 'Pushpak' (the silent movie).