Understanding Kanguva
Siva’s film Kanguva is a South Indian fantasy action drama starring Suriya, has been released. Wasting no time in making it, the deluge of information associated with this dramatic fantasy action movie pitched it as Kollywood’s response to the Baahubali range. With action- packed scenes and the Suriya’s dual role as well as mix of fantasy, adventure and drama, Kanguva is expected to be nothing short of amazing. But does it? Well, time to interrogate.
Pan Overview: Kanguva’s Setting and Characters
According to Kanguva’s synopsis, the film spun around modern day’s bounty hunter Francis (Suriya) in Goa, where delinquent bounty hunters work for money getting justice done. Where Francis gets hired when he works for reward instead of the law. What’s more interesting is that Francis has an ex-girlfriend, Angela (Disha Patani) who also works in the same field making it likely for them to meet in cross paths during bounty hunting.
This time he meets Jeeta, a boy who makes Francis recall his youth when he used to play with his friends and would be quite happy. The relations he shared with people around him, and even had a glimpse of a middle eastern adult life . He feels a strong bond with this boy sensing that they somehow belong to the same civilization with their past intertwined in some way. The tale portrays the fact that Jeeta is in extreme risk and this changes everything for Francis transforming the venture into a single action and life threatening quest. Earlier on in the plan, Francis discovers that Jeeta is phytogenetically related to his ancestors and to a prince Kanguva of the year 1070. The story then turns to how these characters’ destinies are connected and draws analogies between today and thousands of years ago.
An Epic Blended with History and the Modern World
Kanguva manages to Alabama cover the period of a thousand years and then make that relevant to the present day which is astonishing. By the watch of this particular film, the audience is expected to observe a world set in an ancient time that is visually appealing, beautifully adorned, and accompanied by large settings. The work of Director Siva in this movie features a bright and wonderful imaginary fantasy world that was purposely crafted to appeal to the audience and fill them with excitement as new and impressive story content and images are introduced into the film which makes this fantasy world worth watching.
The first 20 minutes or so is undoubtedly the most boring portion of the movie. So the audience becomes disengaged from the content, as they fail to provide an enthralling introduction to the movie. Everything starts working better after the introduction of the character Kanguva though there is still a loss of consistent flow in the narration. Kanguva or any of the characters introduced earlier fail to provide any binding cohesion as there are multiple clans and lineages, such as Pranava Kona, Kapala Kona, Sagara Kona, Aranya Kona and Hima Kona which could certainly be confusing for the viewers.
Turning the focus towards Kanguva it’s crystal clear that it is a complete copy of Baahubali, because it has the same elements of storytelling and fantastical characters, Kanguva simply lacks the depth that set Baahubali apart from any other movie in history, with only major elements like world building and character arcs tied to them. For example each character present in Baahubali felt real, and created a solid connection with the audience to the extent where they said, why not take the journey with them. As for Kanguva, the major drawback was the lack of connection with the characters and clans in the movie. The importance of the plot was given more towards the fantasy elements of the world rather than the personal touch of the character development which for some was deeply lacking and disappointing.
Strengths and Highlights of Kanguva
In spite of these weaknesses, Kanguva excels in a few aspects. The bond Kanguva shares with Pulava, also one of the key figures, adds a layer of sensitivity to the film and is also one of the highlights of the film. Their bond as depicted in the scenes, Kanguva’s efforts to protect Pulava’s family and his conflicts with the villain Rudhira, played by Bobby Deol, are beautifully choreographed and are quite captivating. The climax scenes increase excitement for the second half of the film when a cameo appearance by an A-list actor adds an interesting twist to the plot.
Performances and Technical Mastery
Suriya’s stock character Kanguva is what stands out the most in the film. Suriya as both Francis and Kanguva, portrays the characters in such a way that they are both strong yet do display signs of weakness adding weight to the character. Memorable performance of Kanguva’s action in almost all of the scenes made him the star of the film. Bobby Deol as Rudhira is quite interesting, but his character should have been better developed.
Disha Patani and Yogi Babu excel in their supporting roles, adding humor and diversity to the film’s temper. The film is flawless on the technical aspect as well, for it is established through Vetri Palaniswami’s cinematography which takes the audience back a millennium realistically and vividly. Prasad Devi’s music fits into the epic story of the film, even if it becomes excessive at times, enhancing the crucial episodes with catchy songs. In the film, director Siva’s drive and desire can be observed against the reasonably grand backdrop and impressive visuals, resulting in what seems a rather extravagant experience, but there are gaps in the story.
Advantages of Kanguva
Suriya’s out of the world performance in two roles portraying heightened emotions.
Enchanting beautiful world filled with scope possibilities and effects.
Convince the audience on the relations shared between Kanguva and Pulava.
Amazing creativity and overall branding.
Disadvantages of Kanguva
Long drawn out Beginning with script that was not fleshed out effectively
The plot is quite complicated with very few clans and an audience about 6 degrees of connections.
Story does move forward goal but with few character arcs, especially for those in the creaside roles.
Final Thoughts: One more testimony of Suriya’s acting skills
At the end of the day, Killers will always view this movie as a display of Suriya’s acting prowess. The film does have a few plots episodes that are very strong but lacks a bit cohesiveness and character nuances that would allow it reach close to its vision. It will be Kanguva’s clear description Kanguva aimed to expand into a rich beautiful mythical world in the fantasy SIENA, hugely immersive as Suriya fans would enjoy watching.
The Bottom line: Kanguva is and epic storytelling of a movie which has characters that can grasp attention of the audience and of course Suriya’s performance itself. Although it might not reach the heart bending views of its other stories, it is good enough for a violence fantasy flick.