‘Kanguva’ movie review: A fiery Suriya headlines Siva’s damp squib of a film

A Roman general, in a bid to expand his base, ventures out into the open sea with his army. Before you think you have inadvertently clicked the link to the review of Gladiator 2fret not; this is how A while begins. The fascinating story of director Siva’s A while stretches from a legendary island’s hills to the sandy shores of Goa; it even transcends time as its proceedings occur in two different timelines. But whether they amalgamate to make for an intriguing watch is a different question altogether.

In A whileSuriya plays Francis, a bounty hunter who comes in contact with a lost kid, with whom he seems to share a connection from their past lives. We then see how around 1000 years ago, in a five-island landmass — each with its own set of chiefdoms, customs and professions (straight from the pages of Raya and the Last Dragon) — Suriya, also playing the titular role, as the son of Perumaachi’s chieftain, makes a promise to the same kid. As history repeats itself, our protagonist has to save this child to know how they are connected.

A still from ‘Kanguva’ 
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

On paper, A while has everything going for it; there’s the grandeur on a scale unseen in both Suriya and Siva’s filmography; established Bollywood stars in their Tamil debut (because what else screams ‘pan-India’ than actors from other industries); and an emotional core, an aspect we have come to associate with Siva’s films. But A while becomes a textbook example of how a riveting tale can get lost in translation due to shoddy making.

The cracks become apparent right from the get-go when we are introduced to Francis and his ex-girlfriend, a fellow bounty hunter named Angelina (Disha Patani), and their respective partners-in-crime, played by Yogi Babu and Redin Kingsley. From a writing perspective, considering most of the film is set in a distant past, it might have made sense to make the present look as colourful and futuristic as possible. But what we are subjected to are sequences featuring Francis’ family speaking Tamil with an English accent, while he’s playing VR games, and using Siri to calculate probabilities of meeting someone he bumped into. On the other hand, the kid, whose character is a blatant rip-off of Eleven from Stranger Thingsis subjected to… strange things within a Russian facility, from where he escapes easily and ends up with Francis.

Past the shockingly underwhelming present-day scenes, and countless shots of the moon and computer-generated eagles, we finally step into the relatively better period portions. The world, its people, and their lives form the USP of A while, and art director, the late Milan, and cinematographer Vetri do a phenomenal job of putting us right in the middle of the action with their impeccable technical prowess. The talented crew make sure the look and feel that the scope of the film aspires for is met, and it is in the benefit of the film that it shows where its massive budget was spent.

But once the initial awe of this spellbinding world settles, the many chinks in its armour become more evident. At its core, A while is an emotional story of a man and his relationship with a kid — a stranger who becomes his kin. It’s about the calamity that introduces them to each other, the betrayal that gets them closer, and the promise that makes them a family; they should have rightfully made for some of the best stretches of A while. The portions featuring the duo transversing forests and surviving the odds reminded me of the insanely interesting dynamics between Kratos and his son Atreus from the 2018 video game ‘God of War.’

A still from ‘Kanguva’ 
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Despite centring on this plot, the film, to add more action and drama, introduces Udhiran (the criminally underutilised Bobby Deol) and his Araththi tribe that’s cut from the same cloth as Kalakeyas from the Baahubali franchise. If the red filter, blood-splashing kills, and the carcasses of murdered men and animals do not drive home the point, they are the baddies, and their encounters with the Perumaachi folks result in a bloodbath for them and an assault on our senses.

While the over-the-top nature of these primitive folks can be discounted, what comes as a major snag is how loud the film gets. Remember the photos of Apple watches displaying the high-decibel noise the grounds encountered when Dhoni came in to bat during the IPL? A whilefor reasons unknown, takes it up as a challenge to put those memes to shame. Apart from testing our ear drums’ strength, they also make it difficult to follow the dialogues and take a toll on the immersiveness that’s paramount for a film like A while. If that’s not enough, Devi Sri Prasad’s songs and score offer little to no solace.

The sequences are also clumsily put together; there’s an interesting scene featuring a group of Perumaachi women stuck in enemy territory and another one where Kanguva battles a crocodile. Such standalone sequences would have worked well had they seamlessly fitted into the narrative, but here, they feel forcefully infused. For a film banking heavily on its action sequences, it’s safe to say that A while breaks no barriers on that front. The film does have some scenes with great potential — like when Kanguva detects his enemies with a hand from his trusty, winged pet. There are even some slivers of thoughtful writing and picturisation — when a character holds gold coins in front of his eyes, the shot denotes how the bribe is blinding him; another shot of red wine spilling over a map prophesies the carnage in those regions. But none work thanks to their disconnect with the core.

Despite a slew of talents, it is Suriya who stands tall with his dominating screen presence. While playing Francis seems like a cakewalk for him, the multitude of emotions his character Kanguva undergoes gives immense space for the actor to showcase his acting prowess.

In the end, while we question the A while equivalent of ‘Why Kattappa killed Baahubali?’ — with the pop-culture aficionado in me hoping for an ‘Assassin’s Creed’-y climax — we get an ending that proves how sequel-baiting has become a panic-inducing trend. With a story that banks too much on its period portions, and assures a far more promising storyline in future titles, A while offers very little to enjoy at the present.

Kanguva is currently running in theatres