Kanguva Review: Suriya-Siva Grandeur Would Have Been Different, If…
Kanguva, directed by Siva and led by Suriya, would have been one of the major Southern projects if the director and the writers had less fascination for video-game-like visual effects and digital imagery. Set in two time frames, Kanguva is not less than a superhero movie with excessive use of technology and minimal application of story. Whether the hype surrounding the movie is a massive design worth a watch or not is solely dependent upon the fans’ interest, as the thread occupies various elements of interest that overlap the exposition.
It’s a complete Suriya show from beginning to end. The actor, who is known for taking risks with serious and challenging roles, has anchored a long and powerful character that is lost in the execution.
The story, if it had been woven with more details and attributes, would have been much more effective in keeping the viewer glued to the movie, which has everything except the ingredient of engrossment.
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A major part of the movie is about what happened in the past, almost 1000 years ago, somewhere in India. It starts with Romans arriving in that part of the world that looks like a mountain region near the sea, an area inhabited by tribal clans. There starts the banality of the plot, where the audience is taken for a ride for nothing.
Kanguva falls into the trap of period films involving tribal or pagan societies worldwide often being presented in a way that reinforces stereotypes, distorts histories, and marginalises the very cultures they attempt to portray. Though the story never allocates a specific historical moment or event, a critical examination of the representation reveals that the portrayals of various clans depict them as “primitive” or “exotic,” a concept heavily criticised by scholars like Jack G. Shaheen, who argued that these tropes reinforce colonialist attitudes and misconstrue historical truths. This trope strengthens the perception that tribal societies lack sophistication.
As it was highlighted in the past, Kanguva also treads the same way how earlier films often distorted rituals, beliefs, and practices, creating amalgams that suit a research-less gaze rather than accurately representing diverse cultural identities. In the process, with extreme violent ideas, cliched costumes, formulaic visuals, and tribal customs are frequently homogenised, presenting a single “tribal” identity that ignores cultural diversity and the agency of these communities. From the first visuals of the backstory that happens in the last centuries of the medieval era, Kanguva establishes these ‘flawed normalities.’.
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For the purpose of entertainment, writers or the director of Kanguva fail to shift the narrative agency and ignore the cultural authenticity that would have otherwise helped to incorporate indigenous voices to veritably portray the perceived communities and their lived experiences.
Kanguva, when it comes to the current-day plot, which happens in Goa where Suriya’s character is a bounty hunter, is more flamboyant and classy, but, again, progresses through inadequacies. In the supporting cast, Disha Patani and Bobby Deol are there for customary heroine and villain who have nothing else to do but to either dance to the tunes of the hero or the predictable fall of the bad.
Siva, who has a good track record in the Tamil film industry with his past hits, makes a daring effort to come up with something different and he is only halfway through in carrying out the plan he had in mind. He aimed for Bahubali and KGF, but falls short of making an impact.
Timeline verdict: With many flaws in making, Kanguva looks like a celebrated video game in which the hero survives and all others fall. Kanguva is visually experimental but conceptually incomplete.
