In Short
- Suriya’s big-budget film, Kanguva, misses the mark by a mile
- Suriya’s earnest performance isn’t elevated because of weak writing
- The Tamil film is too loud and tests your patience at multiple stretches
Kanguva: Suriya’s Ambitious Dream Project Fails to Deliver Due to Weak Writing and Overwhelming Sound
In Tamil cinema’s latest offering Kanguva, starring Suriya – another attempt to deliver a pan-Indian film – the Moon is employed as a silent witness to the unfolding events. Set in the 1100s, the film follows Kanga or Kanguva, the prince of an island village called Perumaachi. He attempts to protect his clan and a child – whose father he had killed – from an imminent threat posed by a foreign invader who manipulates a rival clan led by Udhiran (Bobby Deol). Fast forward to 2024, Suriya portrays a bounty hunter, Francis, trailed by a child who bears an uncanny resemblance to the one from the past. This child has been captured by the Russians for a brain-mapping experiment. Throughout the film, there are recurring shots of the Moon, subtly suggesting that it has remained a constant presence in both timelines.
If only you watched the film from as far as the Moon itself, you might have been able to escape the headache that comes with the deafening decibel levels throughout the film’s two-hour, 34-minute runtime. I wonder how many strips of Strepsils Suriya and Bobby Deol consumed after their dubbing sessions!
Apart from the exceptional cinematography by Vetri Palanisamy and the impressive set designs, everything else misses the mark. Suriya’s commitment to what is clearly one of his dream projects shines through, but the weak writing does little to elevate the film.
A full-frame shot of Suriya’s six-pack should have been a moment of celebration for his fans, but it just passes by with hardly a reaction from the audience. It becomes just another rudimentary set-piece, and there are many in Kanguva.
UNBEARABLE INITIAL STRETCHES
At the outset, Kanguva reeks of mediocrity. The scenes establishing Francis’s life as a bounty hunter in the present feel lazy and disrespectful to the audience.
Veteran actor-director KS Ravikumar plays the commissioner of police who assigns bounty jobs to Francis, but his character is a caricature. Similarly, Disha Patani’s role as Angelina is as underwhelming as it is irrelevant, doing nothing to propel the story forward. In the final stretches of the film, the filmmakers seem to realise this and abruptly cut away from an action sequence where Yogi Babu, armed with machine guns, takes on Russian agents. Redin Kingsley, who plays Disha Patani’s sidekick, does little to move the plot along, instead slowing the film’s pace with cringe-worthy one-liners.
The film subjects the audience to several poorly executed stretches, seemingly designed to appeal to a generation enamoured with spectacle, rather than substance. Even some Gen Z reels evoke more emotions than those in the first 20 minutes of Kanguva.
Kanguva Struggles with Weak Writing and Missed Potential Despite Ambitious Vision
Veteran actors Kovai Sarala and Ravi Raghavendra (father of composer Anirudh Ravichander), who play Francis’s parents, get less screen time than the eagle that follows Suriya in both timelines.
Nothing, not even the central bond between Kanguva and the child he adopts, propels the film. The plot points are as generic as they come – there is betrayal, sacrifice, and valour – but none of these themes resonate due to weak writing and the film’s time constraints.
There’s no doubt that Siva has incorporated some fresh ideas, but they fail to come together to create the necessary impact to have the audience rooting and hooting for the lead character. In one such stretch, Kanguva takes down hundreds of Udhiran’s men using the elements of nature.
In an interview in October, Surya mentioned that he wanted to make a film in the vein of Braveheart or The Lord of the Rings. Producer KE Gnanavel Raja is apparently a huge fan of SS Rajamouli, the man who has inspired many modern-day filmmakers to dream big. However, Kanguva lacks the solid vision and compelling writing that made the films they aspired to create so impactful.
Let’s not forget music composer Devi Sri Prasad. In one of Siruthai Siva’s previous works, Veeram (starring Ajith Kumar), DSP’s music elevated well-written stretches. In Kanguva, however, his work is as loud and underwhelming as the screenplay it accompanies.
Tamil Cinema’s Struggle with Bold Storytelling and the Need for Creative Collaboration
Tamil cinema seems to be suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out). Filmmakers like Rajamouli (with Eega, Baahubali and RRR), Sukumar (Pushpa), and Prashanth Neel (KGF) dared to dream big, and their films succeeded. But Tamil filmmakers seem to be missing the point – they’re not bold enough, and the writing here reeks of laziness. Shankar’s Indian 2 is another example of how not to execute a big-budget film and position it for success.
It’s a long-standing problem in Tamil cinema that directors don’t collaborate enough with dedicated scriptwriters. How many filmmakers, aside from the likes of Mani Ratnam, Vetrimaaran, and Gautam Vasudev Menon, have genuinely tapped into literature?
Kanguva serves as a timely reminder that a pan-Indian film doesn’t need to be a Rs 300 crore spectacle with little substance. Tamil actors and directors have earned national and international recognition in the past for creating grounded, well-written work.
No, Tamil cinema producers and stars don’t have to shoulder the burden of saving the industry. They could learn a lot from the Malayalam film industry, which understands the importance of respecting its audience.
Plus, let’s be honest: star cameos in Tamil cinema are starting to feel more like glorified fillers than anything that adds to the high of the movie.
