Kannappa Movie Review

Manchu Vishnu surprised everyone when he announced his most ambitious high-budget film, Kannappa a couple of years ago. He then shocked everyone by onboarding the actors like Prabhas, Mohan Lal & Akshay Kumar, to do cameo roles in the film. Mukesh Kumar Singh, who directed Mahabharat TV series, was roped in to direct the film. Mohan Babu as producer, spent a lot on the movie by hiring many notable actors to do crucial roles in the film and to shoot the film extensively in New Zealand. After being in the news for the last few weeks, the film was finally released in the theatres today. How did Manchu Vishnu perform in the role of Kannappa, a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva? Did Prabhas in a cameo role lift the film with his screen presence? How were the cameo roles of Mohan Lal and Akshay Kumar? Did the director, Mukesh Kumar Singh succeed in directing a historical drama yet again? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Thinna Aka Thinnadu (Manchu Vishnu), an atheist, is the son of the tribal group head, Nathanathudu (Sarathkumar). The king of Gandhara, Kalamukudu, announces a war to steal the Vayu Lingam from Mahadeva Shasthri (Mohan Babu), the head of a group living in the forest. How did the five tribal groups in the forest unite and fight against, Kalamukudu? How did Thinnadu, an atheist turn into a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva? How did Rudra(Prabhas) motivate Thinndu to transform into a devotee of Lord Shiva? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Manchu Vishnu as Thinna took some time to get into the skin of the character but performed well during the last hour of the film. His heart touching performance during climax of the film deserves a special mention. Mohan Babu’s screen presence and dialogue delivery is first rate as usually. He appears in only a few scenes but he made his presence felt very well.

Coming to the cameos, Prabhas as Rudra brought the film on track with his screen presence and heartfelt dialogues about Lord Shiva. The realisation sequence between Manchu Vishnu and Prabhas turned out to be one of the highlights of the film. Mohan Lal appeared only in a couple of sequences but he made both those sequences engaging with his performance. Akshay Kumar as Lord Shiva looked divine and performed well.

Preity Mukhundhan in the role of Nemali looked good and delivered a decent performance but the liberal doses of her skin show went overboard more often than not in the film. Kajal Aggarwal as Goddess Parvati Devi did an ok job. The film had a lot of notable actors in crucial roles. A few of them performed well and a few of them overreacted. Especially, Madhoo in the role of Pannaga went overboard with her expressions and performance.

Technicalities:

Stephen Devassy’s music is the major highlight of the film. The devotional songs and the background score deserve a special mention. He elevated quite a few ordinary sequences with his background score. Sheldon Chau’s cinematography is good. He captured the green locales well with his camera. Editing by Anthony should have been better. At least twenty to twenty-five minutes of the film should have been easily edited.

The director, Mukesh Kumar Singh, did a good job in the second half. His direction in the first half is a letdown though. He along with the screenplay writer should have taken better care in establishing the emotional connection in the first half. Production values by Mohan Babu and the team are adequate. The film was largely shot in a forest in New Zealand. Usually, we see a lot of sets and extensive artwork in the films that are made against the backdrop of a bygone era but in Kannappa there were hardly any sets to be seen.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Final Act
2.⁠ ⁠Prabhas, Mohan Lal & Akshay Kumar Cameos
3.⁠ ⁠Music
4.⁠ ⁠Manchu Vishnu’s Performance in Climax

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠First Half
2.⁠ ⁠Overtly Dragged Romantic Track
3.⁠ ⁠Lack of Emotional Connection
4.⁠ ⁠Unnecessary Action Sequences
5.⁠ ⁠Dubbing

Analysis:

The story of Kannappa is about an atheist who doesn’t believe in idol worship but eventually ends up becoming a devotee of Lord Shiva. Most of us must have heard or read about the story of Kannappa already. And, a few of us must have watched the 1976 film, Bhakta Kannappa, which was directed by the legendary, Bapu with Krishnam Raju in the lead role. Bhakta Kannappa stands out as one of the best devotional films ever made in the history of Telugu cinema. It may not be an easy task to outdo Bapu’s directorial film, Bhakta Kannappa, but Manchu Vishnu and team had a good chance to come up with a visually rich gripping devotional drama driven by emotional connection.

The effort to retell the story of Kannappa to this generation using the latest technology & huge star cast and to talk about the importance of Srikalahasthi through the film had to be appreciated for sure. But, honest intentions to tell a story need an equally honest and gripping execution. It is where Manchu Vishnu’s Kannappa screenplay lost track. The film starts on a good note with a song that explains SriKalahasti Mahatyam followed by a childhood episode of Thinna. But, what we get to see in the first half after the initial few minutes is a lengthy romantic track between Nemali(Preity Mukhundhan) & Thinna and unnecessary action sequences one after the other without establishing a proper emotional connection with the audience.

However, the film got back on track with the pre-interval and post-interval sequences between Thinna Aka Arjuna and Kirata(Mohan Lal). Both these sequences worked well but again, the film lost track up until the introduction sequence of Rudra. Right from the introduction of Rudra, the emotional drama starts to unfold well until the climax. Especially, the devotional drama in the last twenty minutes along with Manchu Vishnu’s performance and Stephen Devassy’s during the last twenty minutes worked out well. The confrontation sequence between Prabhas and Mohan Babu, and the confrontation sequences between Prabhas and Manchu Vishnu, worked well. The dialogues during the aforementioned portions are written well.

On the flipside, better care should have been taken in executing the romantic track. It is very lengthy and also has two extremely romantic songs with a liberal display of Preity Mukhundhan’s skin. ‘Is it necessary to objectify a woman’s body to such an extreme extent in a devotional film?’, is the question which may arise in the minds of people while watching the film. Avram Baktha Manchu performed decently during the childhood portions of Thinna but a bit more care should have been taken during dubbing. Also, the dubbing for most of the non-Telugu actors in the film should have been better. It looked odd to hear the awkwardly delivered dialogues by the crucial characters in the film.

Overall, the film’s emotionally charged final act, Prabhas, Mohan Lal and Akshay Kumar’s cameos, Mohan Babu’s screen presence, Manchu Vishnu’s performance during the climax, and good music worked in its favour. If you are fine to sit through a not-so-engaging first two acts, the final act of Kannappa will engage you reasonably well.

Bottomline: Kannappa- Devotee ‘Shines‘

Rating – 2.5/5