Kavan movie review: Vijay Sethupathi's film rips mainstream media apart

KV Anand's Kavan tries to showcase the darker side of the media and the tactics it employs to boost revenues. The movie exposes the corrupt practices of some TV channels, which go to any extent for TRPs. The director has spiced up the story by incorporating situations of the recent past in Tamil Nadu, although the scenes are exaggerated in some instances. 

Cast and Crew 

Vijay Sethupathi had a dream run in 2016, with five out of his six movies turning out to be hits. Although his previous release Rekka did not meet his usual standards, the negative response did not have much of an impact on his career, and his latest film Kavan continues to create hype.

Kavan marks the first union of Vijay Sethupathi with KV Anand. This is a sumptuous combination, considering the fact that the director is known for good story-telling. It has Mollywood import Madonna Sebastian of Premam fame as the female lead. Simbu's father T Rajender is seen in an important role in the film, which also stars Vikranth, Chandini Tamilarasan, Pandiarajan, Jagan, Srinivasan and others.

Hiphop Tamizha is the music director, Abinandhan Ramanujam is the cinematographer and Anthony is the editor of the movie.

Story Synopsis

Kavan is a social thriller in which Vijay Sethupathi plays a reporter (Thilak) in a TV channel (named Zen One TV) owned by Kalyan (Akashdeep Saigal). The hero believes in a code of ethics, while his boss is money-minded.

Politician Dheeran Maniarasu (Bose Venkat) gets into a deal with Kalyan when his image takes a toll following protests against his proposed chemical plant. The story takes a serious turn when the politician's aide molests Kalpana (Darshana Rajendran), who was leading the protests. The hero now sets himself to expose the misdeed by Maniarasu, but to his shock his boss gives a different picture to the story, forcing him to walk out of the channel along with a few others, including his girlfriend Malar (Madonna Sebastian). They now join a new channel owned by Mayilvaganan (T Rajender). What follows next should be enjoyed on-screen.

Review:

Kavan is an enjoyable outing for most part of the movie. At every given opportunity, the film takes potshots at the TRP-driven TV channels and at popular anchors like Arnab Goswami. At some stage, it becomes a battle between n independent journalism and corporate journalism. Coming to the characterisation, Vijay Sethupathi does a neat job, but the film is not centered around him. Many other actors play significant roles in the narrative. Among the few drawbacks is that the pace of the story takes a toll in the second half and repetitive scenes do not help the proceedings. Overall, the film turns out to be an above average entertainer. 

Average Ratings Given by Audience: 3

Here are the viewers' comments about the film:

Mithunrain‏: #kavan sama maass film from kvanand sir. clearly makes us understand how media manipulates us. terrific screenplay. love u sir
#kavan vjs has aced in his act super maass stylish hero making us enjoy and also think ... nice comedy touches. #power scene is super power
#kavan effortlessly moves between love n masss scenes and also how our prsent corrupted society .it iis terrific maass masala
#kavan was a slap on arnabgoswamy on how to manipulate his slot as an anchor n create frenzy. vjs was the mature act in journalism n a gem
#kavan is the solution to our media n the act by vjs is the best icing in a long time. best enjoyment in a while n showed the craftmanship

Christopher Kanagaraj‏: #Kavan - Decent political Thriller. Gud 1st hlf & avg lengthy 2nd hlf with predictable & repetitive scenes. Gud plot with clumsy narration.
#Kavan | Good 1st half. Film showcases the dark side of media. VS shines. TR has no scope. Worst songs. K V Anands typical style screenplay.
#Kavan - Decent political Thriller. Gud 1st hlf & avg lengthy 2nd hlf with predictable & repetitive scenes. Gud plot with clumsy narration.

Hisham‏: #Kavan 1st half. Exposing the media well. Racy and thrilling. VJS , at his best. So far , so good.
#Kavan - The good and bad of media. Racy thriller has its moments. Quality stuff , i liked it. VJS , good as always. BGM , thrills. 3.5/5
#Kavan 1st half. Exposing the media well. Racy and thrilling. VJS , at his best. So far , so good.

Suganth‏: An entertaining rant against corporatisation of media that isn't realistic, but keeps us engaged with its crowd-pleasing quality #Kavan

Kiran‏: #Kavan - 1st half highly +ve report Entertaining so far.Scenes on trolling the media shows are really good. As usual #VijaySethupathi rocks.

Jyothsna B Shankar‏: #Kavan wellmade, bold n an engaging take on the boon n bane of media. Don't miss @anavenkat #VijaySethupathi @madonna_s @archanakalpathi

Muhammed Arif‏: #Kavan.. first 60 minutes gone... Vijay sethupathy rocks again!!! Blockbuster on the way...superb screen play..
#Kavan watched!!! Neat entertainer!! As usual vjsethupathy rocks!! T.R rocks in the climax portion. Overall another hit for vj sethupathy..
#kavan awesome first half and average second half makes over all worth watchable. Bit disappointed about T.R role. Another hit for K.v.
#kavan biggest plus Vj sethupathy's causal acting , first half, cinematography. Negative is predictable story line. Second half drags bit.
#kavan kudos last but not least the power star characterisation big surprise. Kudos to the director.

Manoj Kumar‏: #Kavan first part very engaging based on the practices of ad-driven media. Full #Entertainment. #TR show in 2nd half.

Prashanth Rangaswamy‏: #Kavan - Just wondering about who will purchase the satellite rights of this movie ! All televisions total damage !

Abishek S: After watching #Kavan you will let go #Rekka forever! @anavenkat caters to the smarties around! Neththi adi. Must watch

Ramesh Bala: #Kavan 1st Half: Excellent so far.. Exposes the corrupt practices of some TV channels who do anything for TRP.. Humour and Hard look..

Kaushik LM: Don't miss the 'tee shirt' scene when @anavenkat name is displayed in the title credits #Kavan #MadonnaSebastian

Balaji Duraisamy: #Kavan - Good movie on the dark side of the media & their hunger for the TRP. A quality entertainer with no dull moment. Winner !!
#Kavan - 1st half !! Entertaining so far. Scenes on trolling the media shows are really good. As usual #VijaySethupathi rocks!!!

Sidhu‏: Character wise no weight. Summa vandhutu pora madhri iruku.
Decent until the end. In the climax it peaked.
#Kavan: It may lack the fire and excitement of a Ko or an Ayan, but it surely has a load of memorable moments. Quality stuff.
#Kavan: KVA makes great use of his cast, without giving lead importance to a single character. Except Madonna, every character shines.
#Kavan: Worthy. In-depth film which comfortably exposes the media games. Entertaining watch, despite a few lags.
#Kavan Interval: Solid. Neatly scripted film so far set within the media circle. VJS in good nakkalmaxx touch, terrific interval sequence.

Sitrarasu Ravi‏: It's a social anger of the moral fibre of the indian middle class society @anavenkat @SudharsanKss #Mass dialogue #VijaySethupathi #kavan

SEYED MASOOD‏: Just now finished with #kavan excellent and a must watch. Thank you #KVAnand for this movie..

Durai Karthikeyan‏: #Kavan @kvanand @vijaysethupathi @hiphoptamizha @madonasebastian good background scores good screenplay good dialogues. Wonderfull movie