Kaantha (Tamil, 2025)Director: Selvamani Selvaraj
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| https://www.myvue.com/film/kaantha-tamil |
The film marketed itself as a fictionalised account of the life of the first Tamil cinema superstar, MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar (MKTB). However, when I watched it, I realised it had nothing to do with MKTB, his downfall, the crime, or the tragedy that befall him.
Just to clarify, MKTB was the first Tamil megastar, at a Beatles-level. In the conservative Indian society of the time, women would gape and faint at his first appearance in a film. During the curtain raiser of a particular film, he is said to have winked at the camera, causing a row of enamoured young women to faint. One of the qualities many prospective brides listed was for the groom to have long hair and a cropped MKTB-style cut. One of his films, 'Haridas' (1944), was screened for over three years, spanning three Deepavalis and filling the cinema to capacity. It holds the record for the second-longest-running Tamil film after Chandramukhi (2005), at 784 vs 890 days respectively.
As MKTB was riding high, he, along with NS Krishnan and Sriramulu Naidu, a renowned director, was charged with the murder of a notorious tabloid owner, Lakshmikanthan, in 1944. Lakshmikanthan specialised in publishing sleazy half-truths about movie stars, and many enemies sought his downfall. The trio faced trial in India, and Naidu was acquitted. MKTB and NSK appealed to the Privy Council in London, which is equivalent to the present-day Supreme Court of India, and were acquitted in 1947.
The multiple trials drained most of MKTB's finances. To add insult to injury, he was ostracised as a criminal, even after the courts cleared him. His popularity plummeted. Even his singing performances were shunned. The public felt that he was too tainted to sing the divine songs, and his music was fit for Goddess Sarasvathi. He died a broken man at 49 due to complications of diabetes.
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| https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245145/ |
On the other hand, Kaantha's story, undoubtedly set during the golden days of Tamil cinema, depicts the ego clashes between a popular actor and his mentor, the director who introduced him to the screen. Caught in the middle is a new actress, brought in by the director to complete his long-overdue project. She is torn between following the director's instructions and her growing feelings for the main actor, who, however, is married. The actress is shot dead, the police move in, and the rest of the story revolves around discovering who the killer is.
The film is quite enjoyable, nonetheless. One should not, however, ask absurd questions like what a 1970s transistor radio is doing in the set of a 1940s period drama. For the record, the first transistor was invented in late 1947 at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey. The first transistor radio was released in 1954.
