Kanneda review: Parmish Verma leads this obvious ‘desi gangsta’ webseries with some charm and a lot of discomfort

Kanneda
Cast: Parmish Verma, Arunoday Singh, Ranvir Shorey, Zeeshan Ayyub
Series director: Chandan Arora
Platform: JioHotstar
Rating: 2/5

Every now and then, we keep hearing Indian-origin gangsters shooting down each other on the Canadian soil. Sometimes it hits headlines and create panic and some awareness, and at other times it gives misguided dreams a channel and choice to pick up weapons. Kanneda, a colloquial term among ‘desis’ for Canada, the dream land for a prosperous life for a section, is quite obvious in its approach. It glorifies a life of guns and gore in the garb of being a voice against racial discrimination. In short, it wants to be the ‘desi gangsta’ series, on the lines of what we have been watching in Hollywood. Something like how 2Pac, The Notorious BIG, Snoop Dogg etc have been presented in various films and shows. 

Nirmal Chahal (Parmish Verma) has a troubled past and a talent for rapping in the early ‘90s. He wants to make a career in music but crosses paths with Canadian drug-dealer Sarabjit Singh Randhawa (Arunoday Singh) and politician Bajwa (Ranvir Shorey). As expected, he forgets the dreams he was supposed to go after and becomes a victim of his situations. Here onwards, it’s Vaastav reloaded sans depth and detailed characterisation. At the end of eight episodes of nearly 35-minutes each, you’re left wanting for something substantial. 

Chandan Arora, who has been the editor for RGV’s Company and director of Main Meri Patni Aur Who and Striker, has a style and he plays with shaky camera angles and tense close ups. He also tries to establish a good tempo in the first two episodes, but the lack of substance never lets him take off or make the style effortlessly visible. Very soon, Kanneda turns into a show without any purpose or vantage point. 

Capable actors such as Shorey and Ayyub also give up after a while, and long silences and pauses become jarring. It’s one of those shows which you would finish or binge-watch only if you don’t have options.

Kanneda is lopsided in its views and is not going to serve at the philosophical level either. Quite a tedious watch. 

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