Jyotika On Film Criticism! (Photo Credit – Instagram)
Advertisement
Tamil star Suriya has been going through a rough patch lately. In recent years, he hasn’t delivered a theatrical blockbuster, though some of his direct-to-OTT releases have earned critical acclaim. Kanguva was expected to turn things around, generating massive pre-release buzz with its storyline spanning two time periods.
Background for the Uninitiated
Directed by Siva, Kanguva ultimately failed to captivate both audiences and critics. The lead actor, director, and producer had overhyped the film, which only worsened its reception when negative reviews started rolling in. In response, Suriya’s wife and actress Jyotika stepped in with a social media post defending the film.
Back then, she shared her perspective, expressing surprise at the reviews from the media and certain industry circles. According to her, Kanguva had strong positive aspects, such as its fight sequences featuring women and the young boy’s character arc. She also criticized reviewers for promoting films with outdated themes that glorify misogyny, lack intellectual depth, and feature over-the-top action sequences. However, she did not acknowledge that Kanguva itself also contained exaggerated fight scenes.
Jyotika further stated that critics had overlooked the film’s good aspects. She then questioned whether the general public should trust these reviews.
Jyotika’s Clarification
Currently, she is promoting her Netflix series and recently gave an interview to the YouTube channel The Puja Talwar Show, where she once again addressed the Kanguva reviews and clarified her stance.
Her response came after the host questioned her take on cancel culture and the sentiment that the career of this star is over.
The interviewer also brought up the reviews of Kanguva and how she had defended Suriya. Jyotika expressed that she has an issue with bad films in general. She mentioned that many subpar commercial films in the South perform well both theatrically and critically. However, when it came to her husband’s (Suriya) film, she felt it was unfairly and overly criticized by reviewers.
She acknowledged that there might have been aspects of Kanguva that didn’t work, but she still maintained that a lot of effort had gone into the film. “It was one of a kind. But when I saw harsher reviews for this film than for some truly pathetic ones, that got to me. I was more upset with the media for not being aware,” she said.
