Kanguva review: Suriya and Bobby Deol shine in fascinating and frustrating world-building experiment

The performances of its lead stars fails to light up this big-budget offering that's more of a lost opportunity

suriya in a scene from the 2024 Tamil film Kanguva. Photo: Studio Green

Kanguva is a fascinating movie to watch, although not entirely in the ways its director and co-writer Siva would have intended. On one hand, it’s a lavishly mounted film, and uses every cent of its 3 billion rupees ($35.5 million) budget in building an enviable production design. Backed by Siva’s visual storytelling ability, the phenomenal cinematography of Vetri Palanisamy and the acting prowess of its lead stars Suriya and Bobby Deol, the movie has almost every ingredient to be a fulfilling movie-going experience.

But on the other hand, the story feels incredibly loud and unbearably inconsistent – and its not just because of its grating sound mix. While its premise, a clash between two warring factions in the pre-historic era, often holds attention, a present-day timeline – a stand-off between two competing bounty hunters and a shadow Russian bio-hacking organisation – which covers almost half the film, brings its rhythm to a screeching halt.

The whole movie feels unapologetically bombastic, which works when the narrative goes back in time about 1,000 years – the exaggerated emotional reactions of its characters feels in line with the world Siva and co-writer Adhi Narayana have crafted.

However, it doesn’t work when we’re back in the present, which can only be described as a mix of a 12 year-old’s idea of sci-fi and a boomer’s idea of what’s “hip” and “cool". There’s an entire track called Yolo, composed by Devi Sri Prasad, which, for all of its jaw-dropping cinematography and Michael Bay-esque teal-and-orange colour composition, begs for its viewers acceptance.

Suriya, for his part, is fantastic in both timelines. His star power often almost breaks past the cringeworthy comedy and awkward chemistry with Disha Patani, who’s usually a pleasant presence in movies she stars in – just not in this one. Deol’s turn as the animalistic antagonist from an enemy faction is probably the movie’s biggest win, and feels just as imposing and terrifying as a character as volatile as his should. Every twitch, snarl and tilt of his head amounts to the kind of body language that makes him a memorable character, despite the script not making a smooth landing.

While there’s a lot to say about how inconsistent the movie feels from a storytelling perspective, it’s how much Kanguva falters visually in its present-day segments that feels the most surprising. From immersion breaking visual effects to the use of generative AI images for its stock images right in its opening scene, so much of this movie screams unfulfilled potential, and for the 10th most expensive Indian movie, there’s very little leeway for errors like this.

Sure, it’s not entirely unwatchable; the intensity of Suriya’s performances in his dual role and Deol’s terrifying presence as the villain will take its viewers to the end of the line, but there’s not much otherwise to hold onto as you leave the cinemas.