Language: Kannada
On December 21, 2018, a Friday, I watched Prashanth Neel’s Yash-starrer KGF in a Mangaluru theatre, and remember not being very charmed by the dialogues. Which means, I HEARD them. I can’t say the same about KGF2 nearly four years later — I hardly heard a single dialogue amid the hooting audience and relied on the subtitles. That’s how much KGF has grown as a franchise. And, my eardrums are still buzzing after the last scene — the one that promises, yes, yes Chapter 3.
One can’t really write a review of Hombale Films’ KGF2 without factoring in this kind of home-grown organic popularity. It dulls any sharp edges and makes you understand why the film has charmed the way it has, and why Kannada films will always be known as the era before and after KGF. For, Prashanth does not create an ideal world, but stays very true to the imperfect world he has come up with.
In KGF2, Prashanth takes off from where he left the last time — Garuda has been vanquished in Narachi and Raja Krishnappa Bairya aka Rocky (Yash) has taken over the gold mines. He’s your benevolent dictator, who removes people from the shackles of bonded labour and keeps work going in the gold mines. And then, Adheera (Sanjay Dutt), an old foe, returns. The rest of the film is a series of set pieces where Rocky keeps tackling foes, including the country’s prime minister Ramika Sen (Raveena Tandon looking majestic and stern all the time). Rocky is still guided by his mother Shantamma’s (Archana Jois) words. This time, he also receives copious blessings from the other women, including a pious Muslim mother played by Eswari Rao. He crosses paths with a CBI official played by Rao Ramesh, and eventually, things come to a head. You think it’s all over, but then Prashanth being Prashanth, he leaves you guessing.
The star of the film continues to be the monotone-filled violent world of Narachi, and its happenings. Ultimately, everything begins and ends there. Art director Shivakumar J achieves something wonderful with the film — he suspends it in a semi-mythical zone, yet leaves it rooted too. Composer Ravi Basrur leaves a mark with his rousing score.
This film is again all testosterone, and women continue to have just cameo roles. I’d have been happier had they done away with the women altogether, barring the mother, because they only serve the purpose of either egging Rocky on, or telling him how great he is. Even with Ramika, you don’t really know what drives her — love for the country or the power high of being a dictator?
Time has passed, but Rocky still does not understand consent. Reena Desai (Srinidhi Shetty does not really have much to do, and ultimately serves as collateral damage) is dragged in, kicking and screaming, to his den, because hey, the don wants “entertainment”. She congratulates him at one stage, because she loves him, and pretty soon realises that a hug from her calms him down. A scheming, thinking don needs calming down, sure.
But, the strange thing is, while all of this would have stuck out like a sore thumb in any other film, in the KGF universe, these exaggerated emotions and the rain of bullets and the Kalashnikovs and the big cars and the mansions and the black dust of the mines — fit it perfectly.
Prashanth seems to have perfected the art of keeping something coming at you constantly, and making a film work beautifully on the big screen. There’s a scene featuring drying papads that landed so well. I felt like eating popcorn in a theatre for the first time, post-pandemic. This is that kind of film — that reminds you why you want the big screen, reminds you why popcorn is the perfect accompaniment for a good commercial flick. This is one director we all need to watch out for — he’s just on his third film and already has some signature motifs.
It helps that Bhuvan Gowda’s camera work manages to give you the sense of awe that Prashanth wants you to experience when you see Narachi and KGF and the power brokers who are at work here.
Yash is all swag and sophistication, look-wise, and the desi English quirk stays with him in this film too. Is that why Rocky appeals to the regular viewer? Possibly, because he is one of them.
Yes, Rocky and his mannerisms and the swish of his hair will become meme magic. He also gets to speak a lot more in this film. But, ultimately, you do wonder — what is Rocky’s role in the scheme of the universe?
What really drives him? Money? Love? People’s emancipation? Or just power?
This time around, the narrator of the film is not journalist Anand (we see bits of his backstory too), but his son (a superb Prakash Raj doing things he effortlessly does). The film, as always, straddles the grey zone — because ultimately, the film is centered around someone who openly calls himself a criminal, and whom others call a monster.
What I liked most about KGF2 is that there is no happily ever after, both in the personal and professional space. Rocky owes his people something and he does things for them too, but there’s something else that drives him, other than his mother’s desire to see him do well. At heart, he remains a loner, and is a one-man lean, mean fighting machine.
One character puts it best — “He’s doing all this because someone told him to. Who will now tell him to stop?”
The film is set in Karnataka from the 50s to the 80s, a time when it was a more tolerant place, and where inter-religious conversations were easier. A hat tip to Prashanth for not shying away from showcasing love and affection between people. But then you also wonder why there was a line about democracy not working and it being pointless.
Writing wise, KGF2 is far better than KGF1, and the ideation is way better too. Now, one can only wait for Chapter 3 to find out what happened in the inky blue depth of the Indian Ocean speckled with gold bars.
Rating: 4/5
Subha J Rao is a consultant writer and editor based out of Mangaluru, Karnataka. There, she keeps alive her love for cinema across languages. You can find her on Twitter @subhajrao.
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