Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
Dulquer Salmaan’s upcoming period drama Kaantha has run into legal trouble just days before its scheduled theatrical release on November 14. B Thiagarajan, grandson of legendary Tamil actor and Carnatic musician Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, has moved a Chennai court seeking to halt the film’s release, alleging that it portrays his grandfather in a defamatory manner.
According to LiveLaw, Thiagarajan claimed that Kaantha depicts Bhagavathar, popularly known as MKT, as “a man of loose morals” who spent his final years blind, impoverished, and living in penury. He argued that this version of events is entirely false, stating that Bhagavathar, despite a career setback following his implication (and later acquittal) in a criminal case, continued to live a dignified and financially stable life until he died in 1959.
The plea added that although MKT’s vision had diminished, he was never blind, and that he remained a devout, charitable, teetotalling figure who enjoyed enormous respect in Tamil Nadu.
The petition further contended that filmmakers are legally required to seek permission from a public figure’s surviving legal heirs when drawing from their life — a step Thiagarajan alleges the Kaantha team did not take.
He argued that even with name changes, if a viewer can reasonably identify the personality being referenced, the depiction amounts to tarnishing the image of someone who cannot defend themselves. The plea seeks a permanent injunction on the film’s release, screening, distribution, and future streaming.
The makers of Kaantha have not yet issued an official statement on the plea.
In the run-up to the film’s release, however, Dulquer Salmaan and the film’s team have maintained that the film is “entirely fictional” and not based on any real individual. Co-producer Rana Daggubati also dismissed the allegations as “pretty baseless” during a question and answer session on X, reiterating that the film has “no real reference at all.”
Directed by Selvamani Selvaraj, Kaantha stars Dulquer, Samuthirakani, and Bhagyashri Borse, alongside Rana, and is produced under the banners of Dulquer and Rana.
This is not Dulquer’s first brush with pre-release litigation. His 2022 film Kurup, based on fugitive Sukumara Kurup, also faced legal challenges before eventually achieving commercial success.