Kamal Haasan also credited sometimes as Kamal Hassan, is regarded as one of the best Indian actors of all time. He is also a screenwriter, director, producer, playback singer and lyricist who works primarily in Tamil cinema. He worked as a child artist in the 1960 Tamil language film Kalathur Kannamma, for which he won the President's Gold Medal. He met director K.Balachander who is frequently credited for shaping Kamal's acting skills. His breakthrough as a lead actor came in the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal, directed by K.Balachander, in which he played a rebellious youth who falls in love with an older woman. He won his first National Film Award for his portrayal of a guileless schoolteacher who cares for a child-like amnesiac in Moondram Pirai (1983). He was noted for his performances in Mani Ratnam's Nayagan (1987) and S. Shankar's vigilante film Indian (1996), which saw him playing dual roles of a father and a son. Since then he has appeared in a number of films including Hey Ram (2000), Virumaandi (2004), Vishwaroopam (2013) which were his own productions and Dasavathaaram (2008) in which he played ten different roles. Kamal was awarded the Kalaimamani award in 1979, the Padma Shri in 1990, the Padma Bhushan in 2014 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) in 2016.