Kanneda
Introduction
Kanneda, the stereotypical alternate Punjabi dialect that you will hear for the country of Canada, is a story in itself. Firstly, it tells you the preference of the members of the Punjabi community to migrate to Canada, an alternate and more accessible country rather than US. Secondly, it also tells us a story of the growing Punjabi population of Canada that has now made Punjabi as the second official language of the country. In that regards, the new Hindi show Kanneda has a searing story to tell about the issue of identity-crisis on a foreign land. Previously, I was witness to a terrific film Little Jaffna (2024) that dealt with a similar issue. So the basic foundation of storytelling was meant to revolve around the identity crisis of Nirmal aka Nimmo (Parmish Verma) in this quasi-biopic of the first generation of immigrants in the country. And so the writing ought to have ensured byproducts of pain and rage of having to leave the home country, and settle in a foreign land while also being subjected to racism. Unfortunately, the only byproduct (of emotions) that is evidently visible is that of rage, with the plot of a local cartel and drugs mafia taking center-stage, so much so that it doesn’t quite account for the politics of the land, and the simmering pain that erupts from an individual.
Story & Screenplay
Kanneda follows yet another trope of a cold open wherein you are introduced to the protagonist Nimmo and his friend Daljeet (Aadar Malik) taking a ride in the city. The tone remains loud and laced with bravardo up until a particular event that pauses the proceedings, only for the writing to switch timelines to the very beginning. The era remains the 90s wherein Nimmo is subjected to racism while the entire system is ployed to stem his growth as an individual. You are witness to the lack of opportunities, coupled with a pain from his past that defines the character of Nimmo. And here, I would have liked traces of pain forming a cohesive thread while being prevalent throughout the narrative, but the only emotion that we get is that of rage. The drama briefly dabbles with the idea of a underground Punjabi artist in the form of Nimmo while following the beats of Kneecap (2024), and making songs to literally create a revolution. But the detour of heading for the drug cartel proves to be mildly rewarding yet utterly frustrating as well.
The issue with the structure of the screenplay was more in the lines of treating Nimmo as an underdog. In many ways then, Kanneda transforms into an underdog story as opposed to being about an individual searching for his identity. And the moment this switch took place, the beats of the narrative became familiar while significantly deviating from the core. Some of the subplots remained loose too in terms of the characterization. The love story between Nimmo and Harleen (Jasmin Bajwa) was problematic to begin with, as opposed to being synonymous with the shared emotions pertaining to pain and angst between the two individuals. In a scene, you literally see Nimmo falling in love with Harleen as she changed her clothes, a plot-point that had no real bearing on the overall outcome or even mildly related to the underlying theme of the drama.
Even the characterization of some of the other characters remained woefully one-note – Ranjit (Ranvir Shorey) is a local politician who is shown to have humble beginnings but at no point is his story expanded into a territory as to how he landed up at a particular juncture in his life. Perhaps, it is assumed that his journey was similar to that of Nimmo but because it isn’t shown, the underlying emotions of his character are never explored. Likewise, Sanjay (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) who plays the local cop, is literally reduced to a voiceover suffering from a stalking syndrome, given how well he knows the origin story of Nimmo (the story is highlighted through his voiceover). There is no reasoning provided for his loyalty towards the authorities, even as you see him distanced from his family for the very same reason. The connecting thread of his character remains compromised while reducing him to a one-note character. Sarabjeet (Arunoday Singh) who plays the local mafia has a slightly better character sketch although suffering from a similar fate as Sanjay and Ranjit in terms of his back-story. The argument would be on why do you need a back-story when the focus is on Nimmo. The reason for it is simple – this remained a collective crisis of identity that did connect with individuals while impacting them differently. And that remained the missing connective tissue in the drama.
One of the subplots that actually worked for me was with respect to the different cartels (Chinese and Mexican to be premise), that were similarly tied up with a common thread of identity in a foreign land. And so, the game of one-upmanship also made a lot of sense even as the drama gets into a Narcos mode with Nimmo in the driver’s seat. From Nimmo’s perspective, the underdog story follows a standars trajectory – his introduction to the cartel, his rise to the top, his internal rivalry with his boss and his ultimate downfall. What the show needed was a regular bout of emotions to tie these various plot-points together. The surprising factor for me also remained on how the politics of the drama was severely underutilized to the point of it acting only on the surface. This extended even to key plot-points in the drama that never really raised the stakes while being mid with its impact through and through. The final act was rushed as well that didn’t quite end the drama on a high. Overall, the screenplay shines only in parts but is majorly underwhelming.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are tonally loud that sinks the underlying exploration of pain with respect to some of the characters on the show. The music is good but not as memorable or revolutionary to connect the dots in the screenplay. Instead, I did feel that the music was used as an after-thought to the point of using it as a filler more than anything else. The BGM tries hard but doesn’t elevate the drama after a point. The cinematography here resembled a B-grade Bollywood film that did not focus on the colour correction (even if I were to give leeway for the drama being set in the 90s). The VFX in a few frames were distracting while being successful in taking me away from the drama. The editing is good to the extent of keeping the length of the drama in check. But from a technical standpoint, it remains partially choppy while never being cohesive with the emotions. Director Chandan Arora does a middling job here while trying to tap into a relevant subject but never quite allowing the emotions to land. The one fundamental mistake with his approach lay in his tone, that always was on the higher side that eventually became overpowering. This did not allow the emotions buried beneath the surface to be accounted for. As a result, the impact of the drama remained middling and quite underwhelming wherein the direction doesn’t exactly shine.
Performances
The performances are quite middling too because most characters do not have an arc to play with. Himanshi Chaudhary as Pratima is good but never fully allowed to bloom because of an underwritten character. Jasmin Bajwa as Harleen looks very pretty and has a radiating presence onscreen. But from a performance standpoint, she remains just about decent while never tapping into the vulnerabilities of her onscreen partner Nimmo. Aadar Malik as Daljeet is sincere and earnest and delivers a good performance. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Sanjay literally sleep-walks through his character which is unusual for an actor of his stature. But can you actually blame him when the written material makes his character one-note? Ranvir Shorey as Ranjit is understated but never really explored beyond a point given how the politics in the drama would potentially stem from his character. Arunoday Singh as Sarabjit is brilliant and does a wonderful job despite having a limited reach with the written material. Parmish Verma as Nimmo doesn’t quite allow the emotions of his character to land as well barring a few scenes wherein he excels. The issue for me was probably the brief of his character having a high pitch that eventually silenced all other emotions along the way. The pain and angst of the character coupled with his vulnerability wasn’t explored efficiently, that made for a performance that was decent but nothing beyond that.
Conclusion
Kanneda is a middling drama on an identity-crisis packaged as Narcos : ‘Kanneda’ that makes for an underwhelming watch. Available on JioHotstar.
