Kanguva Review: Suriya, the lone warrior in this passable watch

Cast: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley, Karunas, Natty Natraj, Vatsan Chakravarthy Bose Venkat and Kovai Sarala

Director: Siva

Music director: Devi Sri Prasad

Rating: 2.5/5

Touted to be a pan-Indian flick, Kanguva released a few hours ago amid lots of hype. This Siva directorial is Suriya’s first theatrical release in three years, after Etharkkum Thuninthavan.

The story of Kanguva travels from an ancient Indian forest to the present-day Goa in, where Francis (Suriya), bounty hunter kills a man, who is wanted by the local police commissioner (KS Ravikumar). The witness to his killing is a boy, who escaped from a biotechnology lab that does brain mapping. He knows something about Francis's previous life and their connection. Along with Suriya, are his accomplices, Colt (Yogi Babu) and Angelina (Disha Patani).

The story travels back to 1070 AD, where Francis is a warrior Prince named Kanguva of the Perumachi tribe. He fights to safeguard his tribe from rival clans and foreign conquerors. This is what the first half of Kanguva is all about. The dialogues are unclear and the CG in Tamil films continue to be what they were over the years. However, we are sort of convinced that the plot is heading towards somewhere and the story will unfold.

The story keeps travelling back and forth, and by then, we are almost into the interval, where the premise still struggles to be concrete.

All hell then breaks loose in the second half of Kanguva. The noise is constant and the story still keeps wandering around. The dialogues are unrelatable and the film heads towards a predictable climax. In a story that is pretty much like an old wine in a new bottle, this wouldn’t come across as a spoiler. Bobby Deol could have been used better in the movie, at least in the second half and by the time it all boils down to Suriya-Bobby’s face off, we are done with the film.

However, there are a few positives. Suriya has left no stone unturned in terms of performance. The film's making to an extent gets noticed but we cannot relate to it due to the weak screenplay. Cinematographer Vetri Palanisamy is another saving grace of the film that keeps falling flat.

Yogi Babu’s comedy as usual fails to evoke any laughter. Similar to previous Tamil films that had him playing the second fiddle, Kanguva too could have easily stayed the same without him and Redin Kingsley, even Disha Patani. That way the story could have been a little crispier and the runtime too would have shortened by 10 minutes.

Although billed as a pan-Indian flick, Kanguva gets tangled in being a Tamil film because of Suriya's presence, a Telugu film because of Devi Sri Prasad's music, and a Hindi film due to Bobby Deol's presence. Though the team's intentions are great, they do not succeed completely in their attempt, and Kanguva certainly falls short.

Watching it in 2D or 3D, will make no difference.