#Kanguva Review

#Kanguva

2024- Tamil 

Starring : Suriya, Bobby Deol , Disha Patani , Natraj , Yogi Babu and Redin Kingsley

Directed by Siva

Plot: Francis , A Bounty Hunter in Goa comes across a Kid named Zeta who has escaped from a lab and is pursued by an unknown organisation. While Francis bonds with that child , he realises that their fates are interlinked dating back 1000 years ago where Francis was Kanguva, A Nobel warrior who has taken up a promise to safeguard the kid. Who is Kanguva ? Why did he promise? Did he keep up the promise? And why are they hunting them in the present forms the rest of so called story.

Performance wise , Suriya as Kanguva has given his heart and soul for the character but which deserved a better film. Suriya as Francis doesn't have much to perform, while it was a textbook level character with minor scope. Disha just had 3 scenes in total where she just appears and speaks in British Accent Tamil for no apparent reason. Bobby Deol as Udhiran is introduced with a lot of intrigue but is later watered down as typical loud brual caricaturish villain. Natty in a small role looks good. Vasundhara Kashyap in a small role had great performance. Wish she gets more roles. That Child artist has done a fairly good job. Some parts his performance is good, some feels like he's gone overboard. Karunas in a small role wasted. Avinash as Kanguva's father small role but good impact. Yogi Babu & Redin Kingsley comedies are horrible.

Technically, the film promises a lot but fails to deliver. Music by DSP is so loud and crass and unenjoyable. While the BGMs are loud and ear bursting, Fire Song actually looked good in screen and gave the necessary impact. Vettri Cinematography especially in Forest Sequences are brilliant. Nishad Yusuf's Editing could've been much much better in terms of transitions. Special mention to late Mr Milan's impeccable artwork in the periodic portion . The 3D was actually pretty good at times , but felt was just kept as a gimmick to pull audience to the theatre.

The Film starts with present portions and takes time in introducing the present setup and the characters. The initial 30 mins are just plain horrible in all aspects , be it staging , making or even performance wise. Suriya as Francis tries to make it funny but unfortunately due underwhelming writing it goes all flat. Then when the period portions begin, the film slowly starts gaining momentum. With Kanguva intro we think the film might pick up pace, but yet again though the film had chance to make it into a high moment, it doesn't land. The First Half ends with a very predictable and cliched so called twist that doesn't work.

Then the second half begins and the film goes downhill completely . While Siva had the opportunity to do something unique with the core setup and world setup of the clans , he chose to stay very very close to a relationship drama. While it is definitely not a bad choice , the writing does not back it up here. The core bonding between Suriya and Kid does not register so hard for the Audience hence the disconnect. Also couple of scenes where we see Kanguva talking about Importance of Children being young at heart, women being indipendent or etc feels so cliched and completely unnecessary to the core plot. By the time when the pre climax reveal is done , the audience are exhausted and the cameo doesn't create the necessary hype to the horrible makeup and look.

Talking about the negatives of the film, the core plot itself is so vague. There's no proper context of what is happening and why is it happening. Though there a lot of unanswered questions left for the Sequel, the film's lack of clarity makes the audience question. Also the characters shouting accompanied by DSP ear shattering bgm makes the audience tired. While some VFX are pretty decent, some are really horrible especially in the climax flight sequence looks so amateurish especially in 3D. The cliched and cringe inducing rhyming dialogues such as "Neenga edukardhu Shower Bath, Francis edukardhu Power Bath" or like "Idhu Sattapaarai alla, Yudhapaarai" , it just keeps getting worse. Also the slang, some tribes speak one dialect of Tamil and others speak something else randomly okay atleast you can leave that, but inbetween itself they change slangs which looks so awkward.

Director Siva , who always choses to stick with regular commercial zone has tried to break out and try something new. Brownie Points for the efforts, but wish he had invested some time in writing a good script with such a interesting setup and characters. Instead, he chose to play safe and that again doesn't work on the intended way. The film starts off in such a way that it has potential to become another big thing in Kollywood, but ends up as another overhyped trash that chose style over substance.

On the Whole, Kanguva by Siva is visually stunning and has a wonderful performance by Suriya but that doesn't alone push this cart forward. The Climax cameo and lead felt very forced , and as they've kept everything for part 2, then what is the need for this part? Watch Kanguva on 3D on big screen if you want some decent 3D effects sequence other than that a 2.5 hrs shouting compilation by various characters.

Highlights :

1)Kanguva intro Sequence Fight

2)Fire Song

3)Pre Climax Forest Fight

4)Some really well choreographed and edited 3D Shots

Overall: Kanguva is a below average fantasy drama that aims high but achieves very less. Watch for Suriya's Hard-work and some really good 3D effects otherwise skip this 2.5 Shouting and Loud Music compilation.

Rating :2/5

Television Rights: Sun Network 

Digital Rights: Amazon Prime