Kaantha movie review: Dulquer Salmaan anchors slow-burning cinematic indulgence driven by great performances in mediocre story

Kaantha movie review: A visually rich period drama where Dulquer Salmaan shines as a self-absorbed star, but a genre shift in the second half make it an ambitious yet uneven cinematic experience

Kaantha movie review

Kaantha movie story:

TK Mahadevan (Dulquer Salmaan) is the talented protege of director Gothanda Raman aka Ayya (Samuthirakani), but soon outgrows the latter into being a star actor. But when they reunite for Tamil cinema’s first ever ghost film Shaantha, featuring debutant actress Kumari (Bhagyashri Borse), the ego drives Mahadevan and Ayya to lock horns, only to be boosted by an unexpected crime that takes place while making of the film.

Kaantha movie review:

Kaantha, which happens at some point around the 1950s in Madras Presidency, is a film about a film, and of course about the actors, directors, and many other cogs on the wheel who contribute to the filmmaking. Fresh off from independence, and when Tamil cinema began to experiment, in this case with its first ever ghost film Shaantha, comes the story of a director Gothanda Raman also known as Ayya. His mother’s death has paved to his script. Major studios existed, directors thrived and the actors, more so. If you are a superstar, you lived the luxury of dictating a film set, and Kaantha is exactly about one such actor. When Dulquer Salmaan’s TK Mahadevan walks into the shooting spot, he gets ushered and made sure every little inconvenience is addressed within seconds. We know that Mahadevan wasn’t born with silver spoon unlike his wife Devi (Gayathrie) who can speak English on the go fluently. Mahadevan never gets his Os right, when he says ‘aadience’, ‘draap’ for the words audience and drop. He was made to learn, adapt, earn stardom and comforts he enjoys now. Kaantha is brilliant in a way to show such little details beyond the glitzy world of glamourous shooting spots. But when it wants to become a real deal with its story, Kaantha gets criminally coy and distracted abysmally.

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We are taken into the sets of Shaantha, a ghost film which has newcomer Kumari (a pleasantly surprising Bhagyashri Borse), the newfound talent of Ayya. After being stalled, the sets of Shaantha have been revived once again with TK Mahadevan onboard with reluctant Ayya at the helm. Martin (Ravindra Vijay) of Modern Studios is backing the film. By this time, we already come to know that not all is right between him and his master Ayya. The egoistic clash between the two drive the first half superbly well, even though we are never shown how the relationship corroded besides some throwaway moments spelling jealousy and ego. For a film that is nearly three hours long, with little to no cinematic instants to resonate, Kaantha’s first half solidly relies on the power dynamics between Ayya, Mahadevan and Kumari. The last one, who is stuck between her master, and the man she is invariably attracted to, has some shiny moments reserved for herself. The close-up shots are exquisite and sight to behold when the actors act for the film they are filming. Bhagyashree truly makes the most out of her role, and pulls off the character with both her dramatic acting as actress of that era, and a woman caught between two men who are full of themselves. Dulquer as Mahadevan needs no mention, whose charm aces the role as self-obsessed actor par excellence. His cinematic knowledge comes through easily to the extent how he ghost directs certain scenes, making Kaantha as one of films that gets solely held together by performances. The little nuances, the camera angles, the momentous joys of an assistant director who is elevated temporarily, the driver who gets to hear the hush-hush matters; Kaantha gets them spot on.

In many ways, Kaantha is a piece of cinematic indulgent, for it takes you into an intimate tour into the sets of filmmaking. What can happen when actors can get too obsessive about themselves, what’s the fate of storyteller when his actors get beyond their characters and forge something more real, and why it is interesting to see how a film shapes up more than seeing the film itself. Kaantha gets these little details right, but when it comes to establishing the real understanding between its characters, especially that of Mahadevan and Gothanda Raman, it doesn’t work big time. The ego clashes are not explored enough, and only dilly dallies with mere mentions of the two men’s need to have each other at their feet. By the time you began to get the cusp of these two headstrong men’s relationship, Kaantha takes a genre shift in the second half, and goes into a whodunit zone. The saving grace of the latter half is Rana Daggubati’s Phoenix, a cop, who charms his way out through his eccentric investigative style. All though it might not really stick to the tone of what Kaantha had been so far, the little entertainment that his character exudes onscreen, does the little salvaging for the incoherent second half.

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The issue with Kaantha is that it neither has cinematic moments to keep us going, nor the clarity in the story it wants to say. Is it about the self-centred artistes and creators of film industry, or the clash between a person who creates a character and the one who brings it to life, the apathy of a woman caught between the clash of men, or even what interpersonal relationships could do on sets. The film dabbles all the above said sub-plots, and aided by superbly crafted cinematography and production design, Kaantha falls short of one thing; the establishment of its singular motive or idea. In search of these, the reminder left is Kaantha’s great performances and incredible technical prowess, but how much excellency of onscreen crafts can hold, when the paperwork has lots of blanks to fill.

Kaantha movie verdict:

Kaantha is anchored well with some great performances poured in by Dulquer, Bhagyashri, and others, but the gaps in writing, are evident too. The imbalance lays the film bare of its shortcomings, standing tall between enjoying the indulgent path it takes. The themes are there, that of obsession, narcissism, and fame. But only merely scratched, the intent is left lurking in the dark, making Kaantha a film that shines on surface with a hollow inside.

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