- Date of Release: 14 November 2024
- Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
- Language: Tamil
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Kanguva
Introduction
I did participate in a podcast on my friend’s Youtube channel during the lockdown wherein I had stated that the only way to prevent the Hindi Film Industry from making remakes is to have more PAN India films. Now when I look back at that statement, I actually cringe given the sheer number of films being passed off as a PAN India film. I wait for the day for them to be dubbed in Spanish, making it a PAN Spanish film too because the situation is getting atrocious now! Just to put it on record, all films cannot be PAN India films. Yet having said that, the issue with the new Tamil film Kanguva isn’t just restricted to its PAN India appeal. It sneakingly aspires to be an SS Rajamouli film while having the soul of a fragmented generic action entertainer that is over the top in every sense of the word. How else would you explain the ridiculous opening act of the film that made me glance at my watch every two minutes! For some strange odd reason, the protagonist (Suriya) is a bounty hunter, a profession that is not explained given how he transforms into a superhero in the final act. His friend and partner-in-crime (Yogi Babu) is introduced in a bath tub with women bathing him, again for no rhyme or reason. The protagonist’s ex-girlfriend (Disha Patani) is also a rival bounty hunter who is reduced to an eye-candy just like her previous outing in Kalki 2898 AD, while having nothing else to do apart from flashing her assets on a beach (don’t wish to objectify her but that is what the makers intend to do with Disha often, rather unfortunately) that has literally no relevance to the main story. My point is why do you need to resort to some mindless comedy that not only is unfunny with atrocious meme references that are now passe while also sticking out like a sore thumb in the whole film. Weirdly, this isn’t even the core issue of Kanguva that is no swayed with its scale that it refuses to incorporate a solid story in between.
Story & Screenplay
The literal concept of reincarnation on celluloid isn’t a novel one by any stretch of imagination. And immediately, this template (no, not the story just the template) reminded me of the Sushant Singh Rajput-Kriti Sanon starrer Raabta, wherein the current timeline of visions disrupting the life of a character, traces its roots to years in the past wherein the existing characters are different life forms. I have to admit, the transition to the past followed by a brief description of the land did garner some sort of momentum for the drama but once again, it all went downhill with the substandard writing that followed. One of the biggest letdowns of the writing is the characterization wherein so many characters aren’t written in the first place. The repercussions of this is that you don’t feel an iota of emotions towards any character. This is not to say that there are any tender moments in the film – there are zinch! The high pitch of the drama is so overpowering that at one point I felt that the characters were just randomly screaming without a solid purpose, something that made my ears bleed and how! The scale and ambition of the drama is the only virtue but even that isn’t done as well in this drama that so frivolous that I didn’t care at all after a point.
If someone were to ask me on the core of the film, then I would have immediately said the emotional bond between Kangaa and his adopted son, whom he takes care following the death of his traitor father. There was a lot of potential in the arc that the two characters would follow – from a resisting partnership strained with streaks of revenge to begin with, to something more fruitful in terms of the bonding. But the writing is heavy inclined to just focusing on their montage to showcase their relationship. And the events leading up to that are atrocious too! The slow-motion focus is only on character introductions and some handful of combat sequences, but where is the character development. How do the characters behave outside the conflict that they are in? What virtues do they possess while interacting with folks of their clan? Why do they keep shouting in this ‘deaf’ universe? Why did I choose to review this film? Some questions do not have any answers, I guess!
One of the most disappointing characters has to be that of Udhiran (Bobby Deol) that is not only ridden with stereotypes but is virtually ‘Not’ written in the script. I had so many questions about his origin story but the writers just refused to divulge any details. Also, his motivation to side with the Romans in invading the land of Kangaa was not established at all, while broadly painting him as an evil king. What is even more ridiculous is that he doesn’t go and have a face-off with the protagonist himself. He sends his sons who get randomly killed in an atrocious and generic interval block, whereas the actual interval needed to be more specific and intimate, just like the scene immediately after the halfway mark. These are basic errors in a screenplay that is so enamoured by its scale that there is no attention to any detailing whatsoever.
One rare glimpse of hope is seen in the writing featuring a fight that transpires between Udhiran’s third son and a bunch of female warriors, a sequence that was well staged and shot with respect to its setting. But I needed emotional depth with the character of Kangaa that came across as a cardboard rip-off, as a result of which even the modern day conflict was massively affected. The screenplay seemed like montage fragments which no coherent link from one scene to another, something that made the drama soulless. As a result, the interjected fight sequence between the past and the present seemed frugal and staged, wherein an emotional manipulated link just didn’t land at all. It failed to establish the superhero qualities of the protagonist in the current timeline too while inexplicably setting up a subplot for a sequel featuring a prince. Why would I care for the prince when I didn’t give a flying f**k to the king who was dethroned? There are a lot of points to ponder on for the makers while being reflective of this atrocious screenplay that just doesn’t land!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
I could barely gauge the dialogues because most characters were loud and literally screaming at the top of their voices in the film. The music is severely off-tune with not a single track that stayed with me after the film. The blaring BGM too contributed to the loudness in the drama as opposed to systematically enhancing the impact of the scene. The sound design department needs to be held up for this massive mess! The cinematography might give you an impression that the scale and ambition of the film is sky high but in reality – and hear me out – the frames capturing the images seem so stereotypical and generic that it has almost become a template of sorts while being synonymous to the ‘scale’ of the film. There is a reason why SS Rajamouli stands out – it is because he focuses on the detailing of the frames as opposed to just playing with the lighting and making it appear as a film with a massive scale. The frames may be good in their own right but they lack the detailing and the novelty. The same is the issue with the editing too – it is a collection of montages and sequences as opposed to a cohesive unit with the emotions flowing from one scene to another. Director Siva is no Rajamouli – one glance at his filmography will tell you a totally different story. The generic template is a part of his filmmaking DNA, so it was futile to expect a larger than life drama from him, and of this massive scale. And in that regard, he did what was expected from him – a convenient mess up of things in the screenplay that itself was too generic. He payed no attention to the emotional core of the film, and that was one reason that I was disconnected for the entirety of the film.
Performances
The performances are plain bad in the film. The boy who plays Suriya’s adopted son in the film (can’t find his name on the net) lacks any sort of emotional depth whatsoever, as a result of which his performance was extremely poor. Ypgi Babu as Colt is largely unfunny. Disha Patani as Angelina once again had nothing else to do apart from looking pretty! Bobby Deol as Uthiran had the looks of a solid antagonist but his character had barely anything to do. As a result, his performance was stereotypical and far too generic. Suriya as Kangaa and Francis has got to be the loudest he has ever performed in his career. He is a phenomenal actor but here, the screaming takes over to the point that his performance never hits the sweet spot. All other characters are poorly sketched and mediocre with their performances.
Conclusion
Kanguva is a soulless drama packaged in a screaming anti-spectacle with ridiculously bad performances that literally made my ears bleed with the screaming. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year for me, in a drama that is woefully bad with its writing and heavily inclined towards its ‘Rajamouli’ scale! Available in a theatre near you.
