Before we get down to discussing KGF: Chapter 2 — which is, to be honest, kind of review-proof, given the mass hysteria surrounding the franchise — the question to be asked is: is big-budget Bollywood dying, or at least, slowly becoming redundant? Well, given the fact that south Indian blockbusters have not only given a much-needed adrenaline shot to what was a pandemic-induced dead box office, but have also taken over Indian audiences across the globe, answers that question automatically. Look at Pushpa. Look at RRR. And now, look at the sequel to KGF. And we are not even six months into 2022.
When it released four years ago, KGF, short for Kolar Gold Fields, became a runaway hit, combining mega spectacle with a story that touched upon the growth of capitalism, the rise of the underworld and the triumph of the underdog and meshed it with the myth of El Dorado, and set in the decades following the 1950s. Standing tall in the middle of it all and powering the film minute by minute and moment on moment was Yash, Kannada’s ‘Rocking Star’, who became an overnight national sensation as Rocky Bhai, the man representing the Everyman dream of rising from rags to riches and eventually taking over the world. Since then, every announcement, every poster release, every teaser of Part Two has only fanned the hysteria around KGF.
KGF: Chapter 2 takes all that we saw in the first film — action and attitude, style and swag — and dials it up several notches. The omnipresent background score (by Ravi Basrur) reverberates through the audi, matched only by the constant roars of the housefull audience I was sitting with. Every time Rocky strides on to the screen in slo-mo — from that entry scene of him walking out of a helicopter to the pre-interval ‘Kalashnikov’ (or rather, “Khalaasnikhov”) moment — director Prashanth Neel sticks to the promise he made in the first film: of delivering a follow up where the story may not always make sense, but one which comes with never a dull moment.
Chapter 2 goes through the familiar beats of KGF, with punches and punchlines powering it. “I don’t like violence, but violence likes me,” smirks Rocky — nattily dressed in bell bottom trousers and floral shirts, and the crowd erupts, as it does after a throwaway line on nepotism or when the protagonist — channeling his inner Gordon Gekko believes that “greed is good”. This is a classic underdog story and you root for the man even when he is described as “the biggest criminal in India”. Rocky’s meteoric rise from a shoe polish boy to a dreaded criminal is a succinct nod to Amitabh Bachchan’s Deewaar, set during the same socio-political period in Indian history as KGF.
Given the huge expectations, the stakes are higher in Chapter 2. Sanjay Dutt parachutes in as a Viking-inspired antagonist and steals the spotlight in many a scene. Raveena Tandon enters only after interval and chips in with a solid act. But this is primarily a film driven by men, with the women — Srinidhi Shetty as Rocky’s love interest particularly lacks agency — being relegated to the background.
The testosterone fest that is KGF: Chapter 2 is most compellingly felt in its action set pieces (the one in which Rocky lights a cigarette off the barrel of his gun after razing a cop station to pulp is alone worth the hype), each of which is spectacularly mounted and executed, with Bhuvan Gowda’s sweeping cinematography giving the film a distinct larger-than-life feel in every frame. The roars never stop in KGF: Chapter 2, rising to a crescendo with a peek into yet another instalment of Rocky’s journey. Chapter 3 it is, and we are more than ready! Salaam, Rocky Bhai!
KGF: CHAPTER 2 (U/A)
Director: Prashanth Neel
Cast: Yash, Sanjay Dutt, Srinidhi Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Prakash Raj
Running time: 168 minutes
