Indian Robin Hood Kanthaswamy hits the screens on Aug 15

Kanthaswamy, originally uploaded by Indango.

The Tamil feature film Kanthaswamy directed by Susi Ganesan and produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu, with Vikram in the lead role and Shriya Saran, Krishna, Ashish Vidyarthi, Indrajith Sukumaran, Prabhu Ganesan and Vadivelu in the main cast, is also being released as Mallana in Telugu with versions in English, Spanish and Italian. The soundtrack was released on May 17, 2009 and the film is slated for release on August 15, 2009.

According to reports, Kanthaswamy, with a budget of Rs 70 crores, will hit screens in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with 600 prints and throughout world in over 1000 theatres, including 70 theatres in Kerala. Kanthaswamy was filmed in five countries.

The story (similar to the legendary Robin Hood or Kayamkulam Kochunni) of Kanthaswamy is based on the economic inequality prevalent in Indian society. The high-ranking investigating officer (the Superman-like hero) while handling problems relating to India’s security and development, investigates illegally owned assets and properties by rich businessmen and NRIs. He concludes that the wide gap between the rich and the poor is the root cause of the evils in society. He tries to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor by unearthing crores of rupees of unaccounted money siphoned off from India to various countries under fictitious names and distributes the money to the middle class and lower middle class people.

Trivia

The script writer and producer should have consulted some legal eagles, because such illegal investments, if at all re-possessed, can only be brought back by the Government of India and used according to Indian law, not as an investigating officer decides. To do what the hero does in this film, he will have to adopt the same criminal methods used by the very criminals who stashed away Indian wealth in tax havens abroad and dubious off-shore hideouts.

There are allegations that Kathaswamy is a remake of the Hollywood cult film The Breakfast Club. But director and writer Susi Ganesan claims that the film “has a more Robin Hood feel to it”. But I think Kanthaswamy is the avatar of Robin Hood, Kayamkulam Kochunni, Juraj Jánošík, Lampião, Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, Tadas Blinda and William Wallace, all rolled into one.

Vikram reminds one of an Indian version of James Bond while Shriya manages the look of the Bond girl Halle Berry, as you can see in the picture above. Forget the comparisons and enjoy the film which is going to be a blockbuster!