Kanchana 2 – Laughter saves the day

Bharath Vijayakumar

You pretty much have your expectations set when you enter the third edition of what you can very well call a successful commercial franchise. Muni set the ball rolling as a horror comedy that reasonably fulfilled the expectations of both the genres. Kanchana picked up big time from this and was a paisa vasool entertainer.  Comedy was the USP of both the films. The horror/revenge portions of both the films were definitely loud and brash. But they were within the threshold of tolerable limits. So while the target audience went back fully satisfied, those who love subtlety in their cinema were not put off completely.

The entire first half of Kanchana 2 has the crowd at their vociferous best. The plot does toe a similar template to the earlier two films but the laughs are consistent. Yes the comedy is loud as well as crude at times. But it works and that is what matters in a film like this. It is the second half with the flashback and revenge sequences with their unabashed loudness that make you squirm. The climax portions with the VFX and jarring BGM are really sore.

Cast:

Not everyone can carry films like these on their shoulders.  Raghava Lawrence definitely has certain flair and it comes to the fore again in Kanchana 2. Just wish he could restrain himself from going overboard at times. Tapsee does a neat job. Kovai Sarala is once again the scene stealer and despite being monotonous has you in splits. Nithya Menon is supposed to do what Rajkiran and Sarathkumar did in the earlier installments. She does her part but the role itself is ambiguous and has very little scope to either jolt you or earn your sympathy.

Insensitivity:

The spirit of a supposedly average looking middle aged woman laments that she had been raped and killed. The hero in disbelief mocks at her in an inquisitive manner.  This scene is played for laughs and barely lasts a few seconds and you might not even notice it. But what irks you is the insensitiveness. There are two separate issues here. First rape being a subject of joke and second the apparent need for women to be beautiful. Sometimes you feel these few seconds far outweigh the cruelty the villains of these films vent out. To top it all, a mentally unstable person is shown as a sexual predator.

Bottomline:

Comedy reigns supreme and the first half is a riot. The long drawn out second half with a poorly conceived revenge saga is a dampener.

Rating: 2.5/5

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