Kanaa, starring Sathyaraj, Aishwarya Rajesh, Darshan in the lead roles is Sivakarthikeyan's first movie as a producer, who has also done an extended cameo role in the film. Lyricist/Singer Arunraja Kamaraj has donned the director's hat for the first time. The rechnical team comprises Dhibu Ninan Thomas (Music), Dinesh Krishnan (Cinematography), and Ruben (Editing) for this sports drama.

As the name suggests, Kanaa is all about dreams. Dreams of Kousalya (Aishwarya Rajesh), Murugesan (Sathyaraj), Nelson Dhilipkumar (Sivakarthikeyan) and others. How they achieve it is the crux of the story. Does the film achieve what it sets out to do? Read further to know.

Arunraja Kamaraj, the director has made an impressive debut with Kanaa. Right from the casting, he has made a mark. Aishwarya Rajesh as Kousalya is a masterstroke. She scores well in both the emotional scenes as well as the cricketing scenes. The effort put in by her to learn cricket and portray this role translates well on screen. There are minor imperfections for sure. But it is those imperfections that make her character look complete. This is another feather to her cap after a string of brilliant performances in recent times.

Sathyaraj, Darshan, Munishkanth and other supporting actors too impress with impactful performances. However, it is Sivakarthikeyan's magic that pulls the rug under our feet. The point of his entry provides the much-needed energy to the audience and the film never looks back thereon. The intensity goes up in every scene thereafter and it finishes on a high note.

Dhibu Ninan Thomas as the music director scores really well with the songs. A few portions in the film could have been left silently in order to create a bigger impact. However, we cannot complain about his work. Dinesh Krishnan's frames look exquisite and his usage of sunlight in the shots involving Sathyaraj is clever. His choice of colors adds warmth to the film.

Kanaa sees Aishwarya Rajesh portraying the role of a cricketer; Sathyaraj, a farmer; and Sivakarthikeyan, a cricket coach. The 3 characters have their own sub-plots and the way the director has drawn parallels to all the 3 stories is something to be applauded. His writing and the packaging of the story is fantastic. Depicting the real problems that a female sportsperson faces such as the ones related to the menstrual cycle and pressure from the society shows the maturity of the director.

The only drawback is the predictability of the story. For a very long time, every sports drama film we see fits into a template. Unfortunately, this one too looks similar, but there is a small twist in the climax and the film could have ended right before that to avoid some cliched thoughts as the film has already conveyed what it wanted to say.

Nevertheless, watch this to see the 'Kanaa' of so many people come to life. The movie has a lot of inspiring portions. The success of this film lies in the fact that it will make you think about your dream, and motivate you to work towards it.