Vancouver in “Kanneda”, as some Punjabis call Canada, is where Nimma and his family seek refuge from anti-Sikh riots back home. Nimma (Parmish Verma) is on the up in his adopted land, but racism and circumstance hold him back.
The promising rugby player and rapper becomes a drug runner for Sarabjit (Arunoday Singh), shimmying through the ranks fast enough to rattle his boss. Nimma’s fate intersects with an investigation into Sarabjit’s operations by Indian-origin Canadian officer Sanjay (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) as well as the ambitions of the businessman Ranjit (Ranvir Shorey), whose wife Gurinder (Supreet Bedi) is seeking a career in politics.
The JioHotstar series explores Nimma’s shifting relationship with Sarabjit, his eventual entanglement with Ranjit and his romance with Harleen (Jasmin Bajwa), the sister of his best friend Daljit (Aadar Malik). Kanneda is based on a story by Sudipto Sarkar and the late filmmaker Nishikant Kamat and is written by Sarkar, Chandan Arora, Sandeep Jain and Rajiv Walia.
Chandan Arora also directs the Hindi-Punjabi Kanneda, which plays out like an overseas Indian version of Brian De Palma’s classic Scarface via numerous shows and films about the highs and lows of the narcotics trade. The show attempts to differentiate itself from the cohort to which it belongs by laying down roots for Nimma’s experiences.
The Komagatu Maru incident from 1914, in which Indians were denied entry into Canada, is namechecked. Nimma’s frequent encounters with racism are contrasted with Ranjit’s faith in Canadian-style assimilation. These efforts to localise Nimma’s rise and fall give heft to what is otherwise a predictable thug life chronicle.
The eight-episode series is big on hectic action and overwrought emotion, most of it revolving around the consequences of Nimma’s rivalry with Sarabjit. Impossibly righteous and mostly glorified, Nimma is missing the layers that might have made him less heroic and more human.
He is slinging cocaine and swinging his fists, but he is also rapping about Canada’s treatment of its immigrants. Drug running is okay for Nimma, but he draws a line on human trafficking.
Parmish Verma, who has also composed the soundtrack, is fully committed to Nimma’s character arc. Verma is most convincing in the show’s early episodes, in which the attitude-oozing Nimma feels like a rounded character rather than the generic misguided young man who tries to outsmart more seasoned racketeers.
While Arunoday Singh matches Nimma’s increasingly hysterical pitch, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Ranvir Shorey are remarkably controlled. These dependable actors ably carry Kanneda through its disposable scenes as well as its compelling moments.
