‘We needed someone to pull off a Sivaji Ganesan, DQ did it’

CHENNAI: Actor-producer Rana Daggubati reached Chennai on early Monday morning on a delayed flight from Hyderabad. Yet he looked brisk and beaming with energy as he was one of the firsts to reach the venue—followed by Bhagyashri Borse and Dulquer Salmaan. He sits and looks around the Arcot Road behind him. “This is where cinema began. Right behind us was the Vijaya Vauhini Studios. In fact, my grandfather, Rama Naidu worked there in production. Then there is Gemini Studios, and then further down, there is AVM. Studios were bustling with cinema productions those days. And we have brought them alive in Kaantha. The beautiful Madras is recreated in our film,” says Rana with a smile.

The dapper Dulquer Salmaan arrives as he is being strongly vouched to win a National award for his performance as TK Mahadevan in Kaantha. Moreover, having his base in Kerala and Rana’s base in Hyderabad, he tells DT Next about making Kaantha as a Tamil film. “The story decides the language. Also, Selvamani is Tamil and the story was more apt to be made in that language. Moreover, I have spent a considerable amount of time in Chennai. The audience here has been appreciative about my work and they accepted me and have given me a space. Kaantha is a step in taking that forward. We wanted to deliver a strong content for the Tamil audience and we made Kaantha,” he adds.

Rana’s character of Phoenix in the film is larger-than-life and is a story by itself. Dulquer laughs when we ask Rana if there will be a spin off for Phoenix in future. “I am ready. If Selva is ready too, there will certainly be one,” he says with a smile. Despite sharing screen space with veterans like Dulquer, Rana and Samuthirkani, Bhagyashri has put up quite a show in the second half of Kaantha. “I should thank my director for extracting the best out of me. Also, I thank the team too for giving me the space for my character Kumari. Selva had given me the right playground and all I had to do was to be good in the game,” she replies.

Selvamani says that this script was written in 2016 after his visit to the California Film Festival. “I wanted to make a film like those I watched in the festival. I came back and wrote Kaantha. It wouldn’t have been possible if Dulquer hadn’t accepted the film. I wanted someone to have the aura of Sivaji Ganesan sir. Dulquer did it for us,” says the filmmaker.