Kanthasamy

Medium : Tamil
Starring : Vikram, Shriya Sharan, Prabhu, Krishna, Vadivelu, Ashish Vidyarthi
Director : Susi Ganesan
Music : Devisree Prasad


Though the director Susi Ganesan had given notable films like 'Five Star' and 'Thiruttu Payale', he became the talk of the town only when he started a mega project, 'Kanthasamy' with the national award winner actor Vikram. It is termed as one of the costliest films produced in tamil (produced by Kalaippuli S Dhanu). The hero desperately needed a hit after the failure of his previous projects like 'Bheema' and 'Majaa' (remake of 'Thommanum Makkalum'). 'Shivaji' fame Shriya Sharan is the heroine of the movie.


The pre release reports and promotion works of the film were gigantic. It made the project very big and created more expectation. The news regarding the different getup and appearances of Vikram and the shooting in Mexico all created the extra hype needed for the project. But the main challenge here is that any negative reaction for the output will affect such a big project too badly.


Rather than discussing the story of 'Kanthasamy', I think a comparative study with the same hero's super hit film, 'Annyan' is enough. Here also the story is based on the corruption, black money and the suffering of the poor people.

The hero, Kanthasamy (Vikram) is a CBI officer. He seizes the unaccountable money from the rich and distribute it to the poor. Like the website in 'Annyan', here the people writes their wish in a paper and hangs in a tree near the temple. In the night the hero takes a different appearance to destroy the evil. The director's way of showing the super heroism (with the help of hero's friends), felt amateur. Villain (Ashish Vidyarathi) and his daughter (Shreya) makes a plan and thus she gets closer to the hero since the former is being raided and a case is filed against him for doing illegal business.


When Kanthasamy's fame reached every where, police conducts an enquiry. Thus Prabhu's character reminds us of Charanraj in 'Gentle man', Nedumudu Venu in 'Indian', Prakash Raj in 'Annyan' etc. Since the director has not created any suspense in the hero's character, the power who attacks the villains is found out easily. The reason told by the hero for this is borrowed as it is from 'Annyan' amd 'Shivaji'. Anyway in the end, love matters becomes serious and the villains are destroyed accompanied by a lengthy speech by the hero. You have got comedy scenes by Vadivelu, as the side track, which is also below average only.


Frames captured by cinematographer Ekambaram ('E', 'Vettam' fame) are very rich. Fast cuts has been used by editors Praveen and Sreekanth to avoid lagging. Songs by Devisree prasad were good to hear, but it comes in un matched situation. Majority of songs sung by Vikram, were not visualized to the best level.


I don't know why Vikram had agreed to do the project which has got an identical story line with his previous hit project. One or two artists and their characters (like Charli) are also copied as it is. Thus Vikram's bad luck continues; it is time for him to try something different (now he will be looking forward for the release of Maniratnam's 'Ravana'). Susi Ganesan, who had also acted in the role of a CBI officer here, should be remembered as the director who did a mega project without a stable script which got released in 1000 theaters after the shooting schedule of 2+ years. He should study how director Shankar use the same kind of themes for his films which is told in a different style every time.



If the script side is weak, then extreme richness and gimmicks on the visuals won't save a project, 'Kanthasamy' is the best example. It is very sad to see that such a big amount had been invested for a film which doesn't have strength in its basic needs.


Rating : 5.5 / 10