For a very long time, I questioned how cool it will be if all of us spoke in poetry as a substitute of prose — utilizing allegories, rhythmic phrases, and possibly even sticking to a metre. However director Siva and actor Suriya have proven me that my thought is so silly that nobody ought to try it; proving that some fantasies are higher left unexplored as properly. That mentioned, Kanguva additionally made me realise I may need been far too harsh on Venkat Prabhu and “Thalapathy” Vijay for The Biggest of All Time (GOAT), and Koratala Siva and Jr NTR for Devara: Half 1, considering that they had been the sloppiest big-budget “pan-Indian” movies of latest instances. I didn’t cease to contemplate that one thing worse may be on the horizon; and but, right here we’re. Additionally, good grief, neither did I anticipate S Shankar and Kamal Haasan’s Indian 2 would discover a match when it comes to awfulness this 12 months itself; that’s some achievement!
Torn between two eras — 1070 and 2024 AD — and united by future and a promise that binds two individuals throughout centuries and lifetimes, Kanguva’s fundamental plot, although tried and examined, is first rate and will have made up for a superb film if dealt with properly. From Madhumati, Useless Once more, The Fountain, Om Shanti Om and Cloud Atlas to Arundhati, Magadheera and the Baahubali movies, quite a few movies have explored this crux in several manners — some succeeding, others falling quick. Nonetheless, the premise is intriguing, with loads of room to discover intertwined destinies by way of dramatic storytelling. Nevertheless, it’s as if the makers of Kanguva used up all their brains crafting the visuals for the 1070s parts that they merely didn’t have any left to develop the present period and ended up making a mockery of themselves right here.
After a quick intro set in 1070, we’re instantly taken to 2024 the place a boy named Zeta escapes from a Russian biomedical facility close to the Indian border. Zeta is without doubt one of the many kids detained on the centre and subjected to experiments geared toward reprogramming them to develop superhuman skills and amongst his powers is telekinesis, which he predominantly channels by way of his arms, as proven in direction of the tip of the film. If Zeta reminds you of Eleven aka Jane Hopper (Millie Bobby Brown) from Netflix’s Stranger Issues, you ain’t alone my good friend. However critically, who would shamelessly carry a personality from one of many world’s hottest exhibits and throw it into a movie with zero effort to disguise it?
Although Kanguva isn’t as dangerous as Indian 2 total, the primary act — revolving round bounty hunter Francis Theodore (Suriya in his second position) — confirmed alarming potential to be simply as dreadful. The truth is, sure parts are so poorly executed that they rival the atrocious anti-gravity and pativrata varmam scenes within the Kamal Haasan-starrer. Laden with caricaturish moments and “jokes” that fail to amuse even with relentless tickling, the script by Adi Narayana and Siva is so egregiously poor in these elements that it’s laborious to assume a workforce of seasoned movie personnel accepted this mess.
Watch Kanguva trailer right here:
If Vijay’s introduction in GOAT — disguised as a younger “Captain” Vijayakanth — was a letdown, Suriya’s introduction right here is outright infuriating. With a working commentary by his sidekick Colt 95 (Yogi Babu), Francis’ physique is revealed piece by piece throughout a combat, culminating in a full look that leaves the viewers bewildered, asking, “However why?!” Shortly after, we meet Francis’ ex-girlfriend Angelina (Disha Patani) and her bestie Accelerator (Redin Kingsley), who’re rival bounty hunters. In an obvious try to masks the narrative vacancy, Siva crams the frames with extreme pc graphics, which might solely be dubbed as an try to justify the astronomical finances spent on VFX.
In Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Vikram, the climactic motion sequence makes use of textual content overlays to disclose the identities of the black ops squad’s pilot batch, a selection that aligns seamlessly with the movie’s rhythm and tone. In Kanguva, an identical approach is used within the first act to introduce most of the forged members, with on-screen textual content bearing their particulars. Nevertheless, the execution is so amateurish that it resembles a PowerPoint catastrophe, proving that even good inventive concepts shouldn’t be shoehorned into a movie in the event that they don’t align with its total aesthetics. Regardless of the majority of Kanguva being a critical action-adventure, the primary act looks like a parody or botched psychedelic experiment, drenched in fluorescent hues; and even when this mixture of tones was intentional, the execution is so disjointed and unnatural that it feels fully pressured.
Whereas Suriya and Disha’s chemistry stands at zero all through, the weak writing, compounded by the whole lack of effort in creating Francis and Angelina as characters, solely worsens the state of affairs and the try to channel a Mr & Mrs Smith (2005) dynamic between them backfires, because the script fails to offer something remotely partaking. Additionally, the typecasting of Kingsley as probably the most irritating presence on display screen continues in Kanguva as properly, with the Angelina-Accelerator observe being downright dreadful.
Though the tune “YOLO” — which too seems within the first act and the visuals make it appear like a big-budget poorly-made advert movie — ought to have labored in such a approach that whereas establishing Francis as a carefree individual it additionally helps in making his eventual transformation and his resolve to honour a promise from a previous life extra impactful, the poor execution undermines this arc, making it laborious to consider a “YOLO” man would pursue a random baby primarily based purely on ‘bizarre feeling’. Had Siva dialled down the psychedelic and pseudo-trippy components, given much less prominence to the varied bikini units designed for Disha to put on in “YOLO”, and centered extra on the narrative nuances, Kanguva may need been extra compelling.
By the point the movie immerses us absolutely into the world of Kanguva, constructed impressively by manufacturing designer Milan, and the island of Perumaachi in 1070, the injury has already been accomplished. And even when one tries to offer the film one other likelihood, Adi Narayana and Siva’s script fails to supply something past a collection of clichéd “been there, seen that” moments. Whereas many have already mentioned the film’s sound design and lacklustre music quite a bit, my solely doubt is whether or not I’m the one one who felt an eerie resemblance between the Kanguva Glimpse BGM and the theme tune from Uttama Villain.
The trailer of the film, unveiled in August, contains the tagline “Awaken your tribal instincts,” and this warrants a crucial dialogue. For many years, elite storytellers have used the identities and lives of tribals in two predominant methods: both by ridiculing indigenous folks and their life as “primitive and uncivilised,” usually turning them into objects of mockery — Malayalam movie Bamboo Boys being a very egregious instance — or by dehumanising tribals as merely violent, animalistic beings pushed by savage instincts. This second trope is obvious in movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Apocalypto and Baahubali: The Starting. Such makers ignore the cultural and social ethos of tribal communities, failing to recognise them as human beings with distinct life and traditions — simply as folks from two nations on totally different continents may observe vastly other ways of life.
On the identical time, tribal characters, past the central few could also be, will not be even given identities in mainstream films more often than not and are sometimes decreased to anonymous figures; and Kanguva too is affected by all these problematic practices. Whereas Perumaachi is depicted as a noble land, the one character with any individuality is Kanguva aka Kanga, the son of chieftain Senthee (BS Avinash). Nevertheless, even he suffers from poor characterisation; however that’s owing to subpar writing and never an entire disregard for tribals. Characters like Senthee and a fellow Perumaachian Selumaara (Karunas), regardless of frequent appearances, stay underdeveloped and by no means rise above extra than simply names. In the meantime, within the neighbouring island of Araththi, house to “infamous” folks, chief Udhiran (Bobby Deol) has a reputation and three “authentic” sons, however none of them have souls (be it good or dangerous) of any kind and are one-dimensional figures whose sole function is to commit heinous acts. Although Kanga is offered as an emblem of compassion and righteousness, moreover loyalty to his land and folks, the opposite Perumaachians are denied the primary two traits and decreased to a faceless collective, additional dehumanised and handled as a herd.
As Koduvan (Natarajan Subramaniam), a person from one other tribe, betrays the Perumaachians by aiding the Romans of their conquest of the island, the natives punish him by burning him alive in entrance of his spouse and baby, Poruva — whose reincarnation, in some kind, is Zeta. After Koduvan’s spouse additionally leaps into the hearth, entrusting Kanga with the duty of elevating Poruva, he takes the boy below his care, treating him like a son. Nevertheless, Poruva, consumed by anger over the injustices the Perumaachians inflicted on his dad and mom, betrays Kanga throughout a battle by stabbing him within the chest to precise his revenge earlier than fleeing the land. Regardless of the near-fatal wound, Kanga survives and pursues Poruva, decided to fulfil his promise to the boy’s mom to guard him. In trade for permitting Kanga to remain by his facet, Poruva is assured that Kanga will willingly meet his finish at Poruva’s arms after finishing his mission to safeguard Perumaachi from the Romans and Udhiran. Nevertheless, the way in which this subplot unfolds is so foolish, and as soon as seen, it’s laborious to disregard how intently it mirrors the appa-ponnu paasam in Siva’s Viswasam — the one twist being its setting in an historical forest. Pair these scenes with Viswasam’s “Kannaana Kanney” observe and the resemblance turns into not possible to shake off.
Whereas the motion sequences, choreographed by Supreme Sundar, are undeniably grand — with highlights being the combat utilizing elephant tusks and the scene the place girls, impressed by Kanga’s martial arts teachings, fiercely battle their rivals — these moments too fail to redeem the movie. The Kanga vs crocodile combat, then again, looks like a transparent “each masterpiece has its low-cost copy” occasion, because it’s clearly supposed to duplicate the adrenaline-pumping Bheem (Jr NTR) vs tiger sequence from RRR. Sadly, the Kanguva scene comes off as a drawn-out and purposeless affair.
Even the climactic motion sequence, which had vital potential, is finally undermined by Siva and editor Nishadh Yusuf’s failure to execute the cross-cutting between the 1070s and 2024 timelines seamlessly. The parallel struggles of Kanga and Francis to save lots of Poruva and Zeta, respectively, are muddled by clunky making and the overwhelming cacophony of each Kanga’s and Poruva’s determined cries for assist. Whereas Suriya’s display screen presence and dedication have given Kanguva a definite picture, his efficiency doesn’t even make it to his prime 10.
The Rs 350-crore film additionally highlights the troubling state of mainstream Indian filmmaking, the place most creators are unable or don’t know learn how to craft a strong, tight script. As a substitute, they depend on stringing collectively a sequence of occasions and trying to make multi-part movies with enormous budgets, claiming they’re formidable “pan-India” tasks. It’s shocking that the makers have already introduced a sequel to Kanguva, regardless of the movie being so missing in substance. What’s much more troubling is that, despite consecutive failures of such tasks, makers stay unwilling to replicate on why their movies fell quick and are extra concerned about suppressing public opinion and critiques, considering this could make all their films profitable irrespective of how dangerous they’re.
Had Siva adhered to the 1070 timeline and centered on delivering at the very least a fairly first rate film, somewhat than overstretching the narrative by paralleling it with a up to date storyline and tacking on a sequel tease that includes one other large star — Suriya’s brother Karthi — promising one of the vital anticipated on-screen collaborations between the siblings, Kanguva may need been salvageable. Then once more, who’s to say Siva wouldn’t have discovered one more solution to spectacularly destroy his personal venture?
Cinema can not exist in a vacuum; it’s all in regards to the discussions that observe. Within the Cinema Anatomy column, we delve into the various layers and dimensions of movies, aiming to uncover deeper meanings and foster steady discourses.
