Dialogue writer Kantharaj SS doesn’t like chasing recognition; he wants to let it arrive quietly, carried by the audience, not by noise but with the words. “With Darshan’s The Devil, I got my payment, my credit, and extreme love from his fans. When my dialogue is printed on the back of an auto, that’s more than enough. For a dialogue writer, the best reward is when a line goes viral.”
And one such dialogue doing the rounds is, “Hethavarige hegana muddaadre, naavu aane hethidivi. Garva ede.” This has become the film’s pulse.
Shaping the voice of a film built around Darshan’s mass persona and director Prakash Veer’s emotional framework meant walking a precise line. “There is mass, there is the hero’s image, and there is the story’s demand. And when you think of fans, you find space for them too. That balance between fire and restraint is everything,” Kanthraj explains ahead of the film’s release.
Interestingly, his entry into the project wasn’t exactly planned. “I had narrated a different script to Prakash, and he had okayed it,” he recalls. “When I called him later, he said, ‘Keep that aside. We have to work on Darshan’s film.’ During that discussion, I began giving dialogues straight from my mind. Prakash liked that spontaneity.”
Darshan, he says, was crystal clear about his expectations from day one. “He said none of the dialogues should hurt any other star or their fans. He was very particular about the character and how it should speak. He understands the responsibility of every line.”
The Devil marks Kantharaj’s first full-fledged star-driven project after Padavi Poorva, Iravan, and the upcoming Mango Pachcha. With Darshan playing two shades, it pushed the writer into a new zone. “My agenda was simple: don’t disturb the emotion, don’t disturb the image.”
He also asserts that fan expectations worked their way into the writing. “I studied where fans usually whistle,” he says, adding, “I kept that in my head while writing. Only a couple of lines evolved during the shoot.”
His references oscillated between Darshan’s earlier films, fan culture, and the hero’s journey. Kantharaj, who stayed closely involved during the shoot, says, “I was on set for most of the filming, except for songs and fights.”
When asked about what alternate title he’d give The Devil, Kanthraj signs off by saying, “The King.”
