Since his start in the Telugu film industry and Tamil debut with 2011’s ‘Siruthai’ starring Karthi, Siva has unabashedly aimed to provide nothing but mindless entertainment for his audience. If you are looking for leave-your-brain-at-home, escapist cinema, Siva will provide by the bucket.
Nuance is a word missing from director Siva’s cinematic vocabulary. Since his start in the Telugu film industry and Tamil debut with 2011’s ‘Siruthai’ starring Karthi, Siva has unabashedly aimed to provide nothing but mindless entertainment for his audience. If you are looking for leave-your-brain-at-home, escapist cinema, Siva will provide by the bucket. Following a string of collaborations with Ajith Kumar and a unanimously panned feature with Rajinikanth, Siva’s latest film is with Suriya, with action fantasy ‘Kanguva.’
The film follows bounty hunter Theodore Francis (Suriya), who works with his partner Colt (Yogi Babu) against rival bounty hunters Angela (Disha Patani) and Accelerator (Redin Kingsley). The arrival of a young boy complicates these characters' lives, connecting Theodore to a story of war from almost a milennia ago. The film, in both content and style, brings to mind many films. 'Assassins Creed,' '7aam Arivu,' the 'Mad Max' series, the films of SS Rajamouli, the films of Zack Snyder are a few of the many whose traces can be found in ‘Kanguva.’ What Siva fails to do is cohere these samples into an engaging screenplay, instead focussing on which spectacle to wow the audience with next.
Siva certainly has an eye for visuals and a unique cinematic flair. His maximalist aesthetic may be due to his earlier work as a cinematographer. However, he has repeatedly struggled with writing well thought out, logical stories and a clean narrative throughline. Siva’s films also rarely stray from the basest thoughts and emotions, revelling in its own immature concepts. Siva’s signature unfunny sense of humour can be found throughout the film too, filled with references which are sure to be outdated in a few years.
The cast of the film have almost nothing to work with. Most of the time, they are expected to portray single-shade emotions, dialled up to maximum. Suriya spends a lot of the film screaming to the skies, Disha Patani barely has any screen time outside of a ‘glamorous’ song sequence, and Bobby Deol’s inclusion seems to be another blatant attempt at capturing the ‘pan-Indian’ market, the new bane of the Tamil film industry.
The film is edited at breakneck speed, keeping in mind those who require constant stimulus to keep them engaged. This considerate intention unfortunately loses its initial charm quickly, and soon becomes nauseating. The camera is used like a child with a new toy, with zooms, pans, tracks aplenty with no rhyme or reason. The production designers, costume, makeup, art departments and location scouts deserve praise for their work, especially in the portions set in 1070 AD.
Film composer Devi Sri Prasad is a great match for ‘Kanguva.’ Not only is Suriya constantly screaming onscreen, Siva screaming through his directorial voice, but DSP joins in with the discordant chorus with the loudest score in recent memory. The constantly blaring music ensures not a single thought enters your mind as you watch the film. The soundtrack is not memorable at all, with the tracks ‘Fire Song,’ ‘YOLO,’ and ‘Mannipu’ providing no respite from the rest of the film.
Overall, ‘Kanguva’ is a painful experience. There is the promise of a sequel at the end of the film to tie up its numerous loose ends. Although Siva should be praised for his efforts to thoroughly entertain the audience, I do not wish to sit through another instalment of testosterone-fuelled, chest-bashing, incoherent cinema. You may enjoy ‘Kanguva’ if you enjoyed Siva’s other films ‘Veeram,’ ‘Vedalam’ or ‘Viswasam,’ but I would recommend taking some earplugs to the cinema.
Krishna's rating: 1.5 stars
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Official trailer for film below.
