Kanthaswamy

Development

The inauguration of Kanthaswamy took place on 22 September 2007 at the Devi Paradise theatre in Chennai. For the event, a unique electronic invitation, made in China, was presented to guests who had been invited. The invitation was the size of a laptop and featured an 8-minute trailer of Kanthaswamy.^[5] Each invitation had cost about Rs. 15,000, making it the most expensive invitation in Indian film history.^[6] Following the launch ceremony, the team announced they had adopted two villages near Madurai; Sangampatti and Gandhi Nagar, to shoot in initially and then to provide basic amenities like school and proper roads among other things to the villagers for a year. The team, who were praised for their actions, were the first production team to take part in such activity in Tamil cinema.^[7]

In November 2007, the shooting was halted temporarily due to an accident that occurred at the shooting spot at the Chennai Boat Club. Cameraman Ekambaram was canning the shots as per director Susi Ganesan's instructions when a pole erected on the sets unexpectedly fell on the director's head, resulting in an injury.^[8] The film finished schedules at Italy, where the trailer was filmed as well as schedules in Tanzania, Kenya and Switzerland. During the production of the film, actor Raghuvaran died suddenly and hence subsequently, his role was replaced by Ashish Vidyarthi, which also led to a delay in the release of the film. A schedule in locations in Mexico was also held, after the team went location hunting there, with a song and several scenes canned.^[9]

Casting

Following the announcement of the project, Shriya Saran was signed in February 2007, when she was in the middle of completing her other projects Sivaji: The Boss and Azhagiya Tamil Magan.^[10] In September 2007, with the release of the trailer several other artistes names were featured as supporting cast. Prominent supporting actor Raghuvaran was selected to play as Shriya's father and shot scenes in the role, before his unexpected death during the production of the film, subsequently, his role was replaced by Ashish Vidyarthi.^[11] Prabhu was also added in a supporting role, as well as lesser established actors such as Vikram's father Vinod Raj, Y. G. Mahendran, Shiv, Arun Madhavan, Vinayak and Alex, whilst Mumaith Khan was assigned for an item number. Later on, veteran Telugu actor Krishna^[12] was signed to a role in the project as well as Indrajith who will do a villainous role in the film.^[13] Indrajith was selected for the role ahead of other prominent character actors Arjun Rampal, Irfan Khan and Suman.^[14] Along with the change of actor for Raghuvaran's role, Indrajith's role was taken by Mukesh Tiwari and the role created for Santhanam was deleted. Moreover, Vivek, who had featured in the original trailer, opted out and was replaced by Vadivelu. Mansoor Ali Khan took up a negative role in the film to make a comeback in acting.^[15]

The producer of Kanthaswamy, Kalaipuli S. Dhanu and Susi Ganesan, the director ensembled an experienced team to produce the film. Veterans Thotta Tharani, A. S. Laxmi Narayanan and Viveka between them, take care of the art direction, audiography and lyrics respectively. Devi Sri Prasad composed the music. While N. K. Ekambaram was assigned as the director of photography of the film, the film was edited by three film editors Praveen K. L., N. B. Srikanth and M. V. Rajesh. Kanal Kannan and Chatrapathy Shakthi are the fight masters for the film, whilst Mittra media are responsible for the publicity designs of the film outputs, adding to their work with the trailer and the invitations. The film is co-produced, by Chennai businessmen, A. Paranthaman and A. K. Natraj, along with Dhanu.

Tamil

The songs from the album was released to the public after an audio launch at the Chennai Trade Centre in Chennai on 17 May 2009. "En Peru Meenakumari" samples "Bambara Kannaala" from Manamagan Thevai (1957).^[16][17]

Telugu

"Naa Peru Meenakumari" samples "Pachagaddi Koseti" from Dasara Bullodu (1971).^[4]

Critical response

Sify reviewed that "the movie was a roller coaster ride of pure unadulterated masala. It praised Vikram and Shriya saying while Vikram rocked and the film belongs to him, Shriya sizzled throughout and carried the glamorous role with élan and the attitude".^[18] Rediff gave the film 2.5/5 stars and commented: "Watch Kandhasamy for its beautiful locales, a ravishing heroine, and Vikram's smile but go with nil expectations as this particular super-hero doesn't have much to offer a discerning viewer".^[19]

For the Telugu version Mallanna, Jeevi of Idlebrain gave the film a rating of two-and-a-half out of five and noted that "On a whole, Mallana is an example of what happens when popular screenplay goes wrong in any of Shankar's movies".^[4]

Box office

The film collected ₹ 13.7 million in the UK.^[20] In Malaysia it collected a $1,077,658 in its total run.^[21] In Chennai box office it collected ₹ 72.8 million in seven weeks.^[22][23][24]

Accolades

Amrita Mathrubhumi Award

• Best Actress – Shriya Saran^[25]

Edison Awards

• Best Public Relations Officer – Diamond Babu

Vijay Awards

The film has been nominated for the following categories:^[26]

• Favorite Hero – Vikram
• Favorite Heroine – Shriya Saran
• Favorite film – Kalaipuli S. Dhanu
• Favorite Director – Susi Ganesan
• Best Music Director – Devi Sri Prasad
• Best Art Director – Thotta Tharani
• Best Female Playback Singer – Rita
• Best Choreographer – Saravana Rajan
• Best Make Up Artistes – Nellai Shanmugam
• Best Costume Designer – Chaitanya and Sai