Like most of the high-budget Indian action spectacles these days, the first look of Kanguva, which was released a year ago, might have had expectant viewers fooled by making them believe that this Tamil period fantasy epic might offer something unique. With rich world building to take the burden of its monumental ambition, superstar Suriya as lead, and Bobby Deolーwho has made quite a strong comeback in recent years with menacing, rugged bad guy rolesーplaying the villain, things could have ended on a much better note for Kanguva compared to what it ended up being. For a movie that deals with two timelines a millennium apart, the movie feels totally disjointed by the way the past and present eras have been handled, and there is no coherence in the overall vision as the narrative tries to handle too many things without knowing what to do with them. Agreed, a sequel has already been teased where unresolved plot threads might play out better, but for that to happen, the first entry needs to serve well by connecting the narrative in a better way. Grand sets, the detailed and expansive buildup, Suriya’s performance, and the interesting premise—all the positive things I want to mention about Kanguva only get tarnished when the narrative treatment comes to mind—and it ends up leaving a bad taste.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did Francis Meet Zeta?
The movie opens in the present day and follows a kid, codenamed simply Zeta, born and raised in a Russian biomedical facility near the Indian border, who manages to escape the facility. Like Zeta, a number of children were being experimented upon in the facility, and their brain function was being enhanced with the intention of imbuing them with psychokinetic superpowers. After fleeing from his confinement, Zeta ended up in Goa and came across a local bounty hunter, Francis Theodore, and his accomplice, Colt.
Francis is a flamboyant, devil-may-care manhunter who helps local law enforcement to nab crooks using his wits and skills, and his rival/old flame, Angelina, proves to be a nuisance as the duo compete with each other while apprehending their common targets. Their latest target is a gangster named Jittu, whom Francis and Colt manage to locate on a cruise but accidentally end up killing. The incident is witnessed by Zeta, who was present at the cruise, and meeting his vacant gaze, Francis is hit with a sense of déjà vu. Anyway, the next day, Angelina tries to corner Francis by having Zeta, who turns out to be an amazing artist by the way, sketch the images of the culprits who killed Jittu, and in order to keep his involvement a secret, Francis takes the kid along with him. Zeta suffers from a seizure, and as Francis admits him to the hospital, he learns about the boy’s strange neural afflictions. Despite having the chance to move on, Francis feels a compulsion to stick with the kid—but the situation turns worse when Angelina decides to teach Francis a lesson and brings in Kambutta, Jittu’s kingpin brother, who tries to force Zeta to reveal details about his brother’s killer. However, by now, Russian mercenaries from the biomed facility have tracked down Zeta by following his neural signal, and after killing Kambutta and his men, they take their test subject captive. Francis is unable to stop them, but now his feelings of déjà vu have amplified to reveal memories of the past from a millennium ago—when Francis had a different identity altogether—and he recognizes the connection he shares with this kid whom he barely knows in a new light.
Foreign Invaders Create Civil War
The narrative shifts to 1070 AD, and an archipelago consisting of five islands located near the Indian subcontinent comes into focus, where Roman Emperor Aurelius Dorca II wants to form a training outpost for 25000 soldiers of his naval armada. The islanders share a common tongue, but each of the islands starkly differs from each other in way of expression, belief system, and culture, mainly due to geological differences. There’s Mandaiyaru island, where denizens are dependent on maritime trade for survival, and as a result, expert shipwrights belong from there; then there is Vengaadu, a mountainous permafrost island whose people are the best weaponsmiths and herbalists; Mukkadu is surrounded with dense vegetation and wilderness, and reasonably the natives of the island are hunter-gatherers; and Arathi is a barren, volcanic island filled with iron rich hills, where harsh conditions have made denizens more barbaric and savage than their neighbors. Archaic regressive beliefs, blood rituals, and human sacrifices are prevalent in Arathi, who share a longtime rivalry with the natives of Perumaachi, an island blessed with natural resources and a brave clan of warriors. In an islet known as the Rock of Justice, a council of the five islands resides who help the neighboring clans maintain peace and harmony.
Under Aurelius’ command, his general, Onnorato, begins preparations to take control of one of the islands, and to do so he employs the help of a shrewd local named Miyasan, who has thorough knowledge of the five islands. Greed makes people turn on their own blood, and Miyasan lures a Mandaiyaru native, Koduva, with the promise of gold coins, to assist him in his dastardly plan. Koduva uses his connection with Perumacchi islanders to weaken their defenses by systematically eliminating their warriors by taking them into seclusion of wilderness, where a troop of Mandaiyaru soldiers ambushes and eliminates them. However, Koduva is later exposed by one of the survivors, and Kanguva, the mightiest, bravest, noble warrior of the Perumaachi clan, son of tribe chief Senthi, brings him to justice. Betrayal is the worst sin in the land, and Koduva pays the price as he is publicly executed by being burned to death. However, the islanders become really eager to kill Koduva’s wife, Yakshi, and their son, Poruva, to pay for Koduva’s betrayal, something Kanguva strongly opposes as he doesn’t subscribe to such beliefs. However, Yakshi sacrifices her life by joining her husband in the burning pyre and entrusts Poruva’s guardianship to Kanguva, who ends up making the disgruntled kid his adopted son. Kanguva defends the kid from hostility, ensuring he gets a decent upbringing, remaining oblivious to the fact that the agony and anger of losing his parents have turned Poruva vengeful.
Fatherhood Parallel: Uthiran and Kanguva
Failing to use Mandaiyarus to do his dirty work, Miyasan takes Onnorato to Udhiran, the dreaded, murderous chief of Arathi—who is all too eager to help the Romans beat Perumaachi into submission, not because of the gold the foreign invaders promise in exchange—but for the deep-rooted enmity his tribe shares with Perumaachi. Udhiran sends his three sons, Arkaalan, Thuppan, and Angasan, three dreaded warlords, to weaken their rivals, while Miyasan fuels the flame of rivalry by provoking the residents of Perumaachi against Arathi by mentioning their alliance with the Romans. On one occasion, Kanguva and his comrades are ambushed by Arathi warriors, but Kanguva manages to defend his comrades and kill Arkaalan and Angasan. However, Poruva ends up betraying Kanguva and stabs him before fleeing inside the forest, as he considers him responsible for his parents’ demise. Kanguva tracks down the kid and, in a strange display of honor, promises to sacrifice his own life at Poruva’s hands after he fulfills his responsibility of defending his people.
Needless to say, after Poruva’s betrayal, the natives of Perumachi are too eager to burn the kid at stake, but Kanguva tries to handle the situation by going against the customs and beliefs of his people. Senthi agrees with the sentiment of his tribespeople and sends Prouva into exile in the dreadful dark forest, and Kanguva decides to accompany his adopted son to protect him from dangers. The Romans, led by Onnorato, decide to put pressure on Uthiran by reminding him of his failure, but the Arathi chief, still reeling from the grief of losing his two sons, turns against them and kills a handful of them. He merely needed an excuse to wage war against Perumaachi; greed didn’t drive him to act out that way.
Inside the dark forest, Kanguva protects and takes care of Poruva, treating him like his own son, and his affection and care finally win over the kid’s heart. However, in his absence, Perumaachi fears another attack from the Arathi front, which eventually comes to pass as Thuppan, the third son of Uthiran, ambushes a group of Perumaachi women inside the forest. The women send a signal to Kanguva to ask for his help, but instead of joining them, Kanguva reminds them of the way he had trained them in the art of combat and motivates them to take on their assaulters. The women of Perumaachi fight valiantly to eliminate the Arathi attackers and kill Thuppan as well. At the Rock of Justice, representatives of the five island tribes gather as Senthi, leading Perumaachi, exposes Uthiran’s treachery while bringing the body of Thuppan as proof of the ambush. However, Uthiran ends up attacking the representatives of Perumaachi. As he decides to call for an all-out war, the people of Mandaiyaru and Mukkadu swear their allegiance to him while Vengaadu takes a stand for Perumaachi. Uthiran ends up killing Senthi, but before breathing his last, Senthi manages to relay the message about recent developments to Kanguva, as his son is the only hope for the survival of their people.
Cycle of Reincarnation
As Uthiran leads his naval armada to launch an assault against Perumaachi, Kanguva manages to distract them by luring them towards a dark forest. Kanguva manages to take on hundreds of Uthiran’s men by using adept war tactics and sheer strength, and this time, Purova, who had a change of heart after his recent experiences, assists Kanguva in his fight as well. However, Uthiran’s men abduct Purova and bring him to Uthiran’s ship. Kanguva faces a tough time simultaneously protecting Purova and taking on hordes of Arathi warriors, realizing which, Purova decides to sacrifice himself for the greater good. He had found a paternal figure in Kanguva after all, and moments before sacrificing himself, he doesn’t hesitate to call Kanguva his father. Purova allows himself to fall into the shark-infested ocean, where he meets a brutal end—and Kanguva manages to kill Uthiran and the remaining Arathi soldiers, thereby defending his people in the process. However, Purova’s sacrifice moves Kanguva, and he pledges to take the role of a protective father figure to the kid in every future reincarnation.
Who is Rathaangasan?
At present, Francis realizes that he is a reincarnation of Kanguva, while Zeta is none other than Purova himself. Instilled with a new vigor, Francis manages to track down the kid, and as Colt and Angelina help him to distract the Russian mercs, he manages to get into the plane that was taking Zeta back to the facility by riding a bike into it—mimicking the mission “Stowaway” from GTA: San Andreas. Francis faces initial difficulties, but Zeta unleashes his telekinetic powers, which soon turns the situation to Francis’ favor, who manages to beat the Russian mercs and rescue Zeta in the process. An emotional reunion follows between the two as they recognize each other at long last, and Francis takes Zeta to safety, where the kid continues displaying strong telekinetic powers.
The chief of the Russian project was a certain Commander Ryan, who intently watches the live feed as the events unfold and recognizes Francis as Kanguva. The commander is revealed to be the reincarnation of Rathaangasan, Uthiran’s illegitimate son, who was denied a place in the Arathi tribe and had never received due recognition from his father. With the demise of Uthiran and his three sons, the dreaded Rathaangasan, who seems to be an even more troubling presence than his father, is the one who carried the family lineage, and during Uthiran’s funeral, he had returned to assume control of his tribe. Rathaangasan brutally killed an elder who dared to raise concerns about his claim to the Arathi throne and pledged to take revenge on Kanguva by rallying people of Arathi in his support. Actor Karthi portrays Commander Ryan/Rathaangasan and will play the role of prime antagonist in Kanguva 2, which will revolve around the blood feud between Kanguva and Rathaangasan. Additionally, Commander Ryan’s reason for experimenting with the brain function of abducted kids will be revealed in the sequel entry as well.
