KANGUVA - MY 2 PAISA RANT

Close, but no cigar. There you have it. That’s my 2 paisa review for Kanguva. ‘But how close’ is a question that will probably keep lingering in my mind for ages, I believe. The Surya starred, Siva directed epic action drama movie that hit the screens this weekend has been nothing short of what one in Tamilnadu might call a Idiyaappa confusion. Not that the story was confusing, neither was the screenplay, nor the way the scenes and sequences were staged; not even the narration. The confusion lies in the fact that you as a viewer may (most probably will) find it very difficult to assess if you really liked the movie. Or if you did not (notice the confusion?).

Let me get a few things straight before we go any deeper into the article. This is not going to be a formal, structured review as it is with the other articles. In fact, it is not even going to be a review. This is going to be a raw, unfiltered episode of rant from somebody who went into the cinema hall with very little expectations, courtesy the ravingly negative reviews from all around. But you know me; I am not somebody who sits for a movie with the prejudices from third party reviews. I meticulously take care that the reviews I happen to read involuntarily and unfortunately have the least effect on me. But boy oh boy did I exit the cinema hall with a completely different perspective on the movie!

Kanguva takes place across two time periods, joined by a Magadheera-esque setup linking both the time periods. One, the present; and the other, about a thousand years back. First things first, dear Mr. Siva, do you have the slightest idea of how people are in real life? Have you ever seen people, have you ever tried to interact with one? I’d have to assume that you’d have, if so, why are your characters set in the ‘present’ give no similarity with the general populace in the way we dress, speak, move, groom or even exist? How can some creator be so deluded as you in replicating what you see infront of your eyes? Seriously, I would love some statistic on the percentage of people in real life that resemble your present day characters in any remote aspect. And, this is not the first time Siva has pulled something like this off. One of the major reasons for Vivegam to flop as much as it did was these inaccuracies in depicting present-day real life characters. Come on man, who syllabalizes like that? Who has ever?

Kanguva interestingly though, has a very curious premise; something that had scope to expand on and explore exponentially more than what had been done. A premise, a concept of this kind has not been conceived in Tamil cinema, dare I say, the whole Indian cinema itself. It had in every part, massive scopes for staging up grand, exquisite sequences, to give Surya his much needed theatrical victory after a decade. This idea, had it been executed well would have stood toe to toe with the Bahubali series, and I say this in the purview of technicalities. Now, before you pounce on me for the last statement, I have never been a huge fan of the Bahubali series for it had wafer thin writing, backed by visually grand and attractive, yet artificial-looking backgrounds. Kanguva failed to capitalize on any strength it supposedly had, and I severely doubt if Siva can ever pull anything of this scale. 

The background music has DSP written all over it. The signature simple melodies, with royal treatment in the orchestration had complemented the movie very well. The songs though, a huge letdown. You can be assured to hum no song from this movie when you get out. On a serious note, somebody has to teach our contemporary self proclaimed rockstars (you know who I am talking about) about the importance of silence in certain sequences. Background music need not be omni present. This has been an issue with the South Indian superstar music directors – Anirudh, DSP, Thaman and the list only keeps getting bigger. Silence was scarce in Kanguva. So much so that you are left to yearn for the intermission just so that your ears can take a breather. Combine the already loud background music with the louder than ever Surya, alongside dialogues(are they even?) that seem to have been written with the only objective of having a shout-fest inside the movie theater, and voila! You have the perfect formula for a headache, sore ears and most possibly a disturbed mental state. You just do not get whatever goes on in the movie with this loudness, believe me, I tried my best.

A majestic Surya wasted. Wonderful, triumphant background score wasted. The newest, most promising idea in Kollywood in recent times, wasted. Impressive, immersive, beautiful, natural photography work - you guessed it! Wasted. Kanguva is potential well wasted. Now it is upto you to walk into the cinema halls and decide how close Kanguva is to cigar. On a slightly related note, congrats to Indian 2 for defending the ‘Worst Tamil Movie of the Year’ title. You must keep this up for a long, long time.

Diamonds? 2/5

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