Dulquer Salmaan’s latest release, ‘Kaantha’, opened in cinemas worldwide on Friday, and social media reactions suggest the actor has delivered one of the most striking performances of his career. The Tamil-language period drama, long anticipated by fans after multiple release-date shifts, appears to have struck a chord with early audiences who rushed to theatres for the first shows.

The film, directed by Selvamani Selvaraj and jointly produced by Spirit Media and Dulquer’s Wayfarer Films, was initially expected to release in September. The team pushed the date forward to avoid a clash with the Malayalam box-office juggernaut ‘Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra’, eventually locking in a November 14 release. The delay seems to have worked in its favour, with audiences on X (formerly Twitter) calling the film a bold, atmospheric and emotionally charged drama anchored by Dulquer’s commanding screen presence.

Twitter reactions

About ‘Kaantha’

Set in the socio-political churn of 1950s Madras, ‘Kaantha’ unfolds as a gender-bending period narrative steeped in mood, meticulous art direction and evocative music. Early viewers have highlighted the film’s world-building, the performances of Bhagyashree Borse, Samuthirakani and Rana Daggubati, and the visual flair brought in by cinematographer Dani Sanchez-Lopez. The film has been dubbed into four additional languages – Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi – with Dharma Productions distributing the Hindi version across North India.

For months, the project had generated intrigue due to speculation that it loosely draws inspiration from an unrecorded chapter in the life of early Tamil cinema icon MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar.