The moment the government announced the Dada Saheb Phalke award for veteran filmmaker K. Balachander, Kamal Haasan was absolutely elated. The actor has conveyed his happiness to all his media friends stating,"I have done about 36 films with him… Truly, even the ones that didn't do well are my favorites - even the ones where I did bit roles - it was not about the ego... the honor of working with him was always there… I don't know about many others but I'm very proud and I think he's very important and even as an old man I would still remember him – he's that important a part of my film career.. I have had many gurus in various sections of life and this part is very important... it's as important as Shivaji Ganesan Sir was to me and he didn't guide me by the hand.. This gentleman did that. The other gurus gave it for everyone... They were like listening to all India radio... But he personally led me and that was like a blind man crossing the street - that's how we were when we came and he led us across the street…"