In making Ganga, so-called as Kanchana-2/Muni-3, Raghava Lawrence lets loose his imagination. It is crazy directorial vision that he had profusely betrayed in Kanchana, that makes this film come with doses of mass entertainment. It is a horror comedy where the “comedy mummy” doesn’t let her quirks take backseat even when the weirdly coward son makes an entry in various avatars when he is under the spell of one or two passionate spirits. One time, Kovai Sarala (yes, it’s she again, for who could have done justice to the legacy of the comic mom of the first part better than she herself?) calls his possessed son Silk Smitha. As if this is not enough, she calls him (or should we say ‘her’?) ‘taru dabba’! That is Lawrence’s creativity for you, a mad one and thus something enjoyable and entertaining.
Lawrence works as a cinematographer with a TV channel. Tapsee Pannu is a programme director in the same organization. Suhasini, the channel’s boss, drafts Tapsee to make a programme on spirits. Since Lawrence loves Tapsee and wants to cozy up to her, he accepts the offer to be the project’s camera director even though the mere mention of devil scares the daylights out of him. At the isolated bungalow by the side of a beach, Tapsee inadvertently plucks a ‘mangalsutra’ buried into the beach sand. Eerie happenings scare one crew member after another. It is when Tapsee takes it upon herself to unravel the mystery. However, the powerful spirit is not the one to easily eat the dust.
The director intersperses the narration with comedy and special effects. The quirks of the mother-son duo are intact! If Kovai Sarala entertains with her “kuppi gantulu”, Lawrence recreates the old chemistry with the veteran actress. Almost all the scenes involving them work well, although the template is a repetition of the first part.
The comedy scenes involving the crew members are OK. Complete with gay humour and nimble special effects, the scenes in the bungalow make the first half.
Quirks are a leitmotif of the film, more than the mangalsutra. Just the hero’s introduction as a kid in a diaper after the mom speaks about his pathological paranoia for spirits sets the tone in style. The film’s high moments range from Lawrence’s girl child dance (excellent CG is the episode’s hallmark) and Nithya Menon’s outpacing of everyone else. Nithya plays Ganga and giving away anything about her character might water down the audience’s enthusiasm. Suffice it to say that Nithya proves to be a best choice, like Kovai Sarala. She plays the deglam role with aplomb and shows spark.
The film doesn’t get intense till before 40 minutes of the ending and when it gets intense, violence is not far behind. One feels the comedy outlives its purpose too late in the film. Tapsee proves to be not a great choice. She needed to make an impact as much as Nithya did, but in that she comes a cropper. Special effects overwhelm even as the audience awaits the suspense to be unraveled. The good part is that the film sustains interest even after the suspense is over. The fight to finish is a CG-enabled warfare.
Lawrence surely did his homework well and it shows. The songs are neatly interwoven into the narrative. Rajavel's camera, in combination with music (with credits to Leon James, Sathya, Thaman and Ashwamithra) enhances the overall movie experience.
Performances are fine, with Nithya's on the top of all.
Verdict: A technically fine output, Kanchana-2 otherwise tickles your funny bone and scares, too.
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