Kanaka

Kanaka is an auto driver and a big fan of Dr Rajkumar. He lives in the city away from his family in Bankapura, where he ran away from as a child. An incident in Bengaluru makes him go back to his hometown. Does he have a happy reunion?

Both R Chandru and Duniya Vijay enjoy their individual fanfare. While Chandru's films are high on emotion, Vijay's films are action dramas. This film tries to find a middle path that balances a story that appeals to both the fans. The result: too much action and too much melodrama.

The story holds a lot of moments that will appeal to fans. There is a lot of glorification of Kannada films. In fact, a scene shows a young Kanaka tearing posters of a Hindi film (Darr) to restore the Kannada pride and sticks together the Kannada posters that were taken down to make way for this. This sets the tone for the Kannada pride that the hero embodies throughout the film. He is a selfless Good Samaritan who can do no wrong. His journey to reunite with his father, who considers him bad luck, since he was born on an amavasya night, forms the heart of the film. Of course, two heroines, friends, a friendly caretaker and some baddies add to the story.

The film could have been a winner if it had stuck to being either an emotional drama or a high-octane action entertainer. The mixing of the two ends up making many scenes looked forced and rather unnecessary. Although, the film has ample action stunts to make the frontbenchers whistle and gain their money's worth. The songs, too, are appealing. The screenplay could have been tighter to leverage on the pluses.

The film is a treat for Vijay's fans, as he is there throughout the two-and-a-half hours long narrative. Manvitha Harish has the clichéd bubbly heroine role, while Hariprriya has a limited screen time. Watch the film if you like the typical commercial potboilers that are high on testosterone and machismo.