Four years after his initial outing, Prashanth Neel returns with KGF: Chapter 1 which raises the bar for the Kannada film industry. The much-hyped film has some brilliant technical nuances that give it a lot of visual appeal. At the same time, Prashanth also manages to blend in some good commercial elements. Sprinkled with convincingly strong dialogues in Hindi and Kannada, the film completely rests on the shoulders of Yash. And the actor manages to strike the perfect balance between class and mass. Ever since Baahubali: The Beginning rewrote box office records three years ago, every big ticket Indian film has tried to go a step ahead in every possible manner. But none of them could do it; again, only Baahubali: The Conclusion could take the nation by storm. The lofty ambitions of movies like Padmaavat and 2.0 were marred by their own setups and payoffs.
And, now, director Prashanth Neel, too, has showed interest in swimming in the same sea, for his two-part movie, KGF, has set its eyes on gold literally and figuratively. Neel’s hero names himself Rocky after realising the weight a powerful name can bring to the table. He’s hardly a teenager when he picks a fight with a police officer. When a don the person who helped him get released asks him what he wants, he says, “Duniya!” At this point, you already know that he’s going to enter the history books. What remains to be seen, however, is the side he chooses to battle for, in this crime drama that’s set in the 70s.
KGF is set between 1951 and 1981. The story is narrated by a journalist (Ananth Nag) during his TV interview to Deepa (Malavika Avinash) and revolves around Raja Krishnappa Bairya aka Raja aka Rocky’s (Yash) experiences in the world of gold and gangsters. The plot which starts in Mumbai travels to Bengaluru and reaches the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF). Anant Nag, who plays an author, measures his breaths and words calculatedly while narrating the background of the town by comparing it to El Dorado, the characters that we’ve to get familiar with, and the problems that his protagonist, Rocky, might encounter along the way. He is pouring his heart out to a journalist in an interview as he’s written a book about it. The interview scenes emerge as a narrative device the way the characters played by Samantha and Vijay Deverakonda were, in Mahanati. This particular device also reduces the pages of atrocities committed by numerous hefty characters to a couple of footnotes.
KGF: Chapter 1 opens with India’s woman prime minister signing an order to end the reign of the country’s most dreaded criminal. Of course, it’s Rocky (Yash). The lord of the criminal world had a very humble beginning. He was raised in Mysore by a single mother, who died due to poverty when he was still young. Before bidding adieu, she gives the protagonist a goal to chase, get rich by any means necessary. A madman on streets tells the impressionable boy the means to achieve his goal, become powerful. The boy takes the train to the city of dreams. He makes a living by polishing boots in 1960s Bombay. He soon makes a name for himself after he breaks two beer bottles on the bald head of a cop. The word about the new ambitious kid in town reaches all corners of the city. He names himself Rocky as it is short and easy to remember for others.
The thing about power is that you can’t have just enough of it. He knocks out all top gangsters and reaches so close to clinching Bombay underworld from its current ruler, who is also Rocky’s boss. The boss of the boss makes Rocky an offer he can’t refuse. “Kill the elephant I show you and you can keep Bombay.” Rocky jumps at the offer. He goes to Bangalore and stumbles on gold. Now, his thirst for power and wealth grows deeper and even volunteers to enter a hellhole to dethrone the satan himself.
When the story moves out of Bombay, the narration begins to lose steam. It is as if director Prashanth Neel, who is also the writer of the film, was saving the remaining best bits for the second part. After a point, he drives the film on an empty tank. We learn about Rocky’s battle exploits through the words of a veteran journalist, played by Anath Nag. And later Prashanth adds two more narrators within the narration of Anath Nag to build the legend of Rocky. The film works like folklore, which you tell mere mortals like the office assistant in the film, who gets engrossed in the story that he forgets about constant bullying he faces at the workplace.
It is this escapist entertainment, Prashanth has committed himself to achieve and he has delivered in that respect. He keeps churning out one cinematically memorable moment after another but without any emotional depth. He has even drawn inspiration from SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali films. Prashanth was so occupied with pandering to Yash’s stardom, that he has underwritten Srinidhi Shetty’s character. While usually, the female leads don’t get much to do in-hero driven films, at least they are given expensive songs to perform. But, Prashanth has denied even that to Srinidhi as he has concentrated all his might and resources to building the myth around Rocky.
A one-man show, KGF solely belongs to Yash. He gets into the skin of the character looks, style, expressions, dialogue delivery and even handling of weapon with much ease. Despite Yash stealing most of the show, other characters are given adequate space. Debutante Srinidhi Shetty begins her stint in the industry on a good note, and hopefully, there’ll be more to come from her in the second part. A host of other actors have prominent roles, including Archana Jois, who plays the young mother, and Anmol who plays young Yash. Vasishta Simha, Acyuth Kumar, Malavika Avinash, Mita Vasisht, Ayyappa P Sharma and Ramachandra Raju provide the right kind of support.
And the romance section that’s fitted into the testosterone-filled universe is achingly dull as Reena falls in love with Rocky after watching him pick up a bun from the street and give it to a young mother. This would have been okay if this was their first meeting, but this happens after she threatens to get him beaten up for troubling her several times. Is one incident enough to turn all that hatred into love? Srinidhi, with her vacant looks, tells us that she doesn’t belong amidst such men. Prashanth should have made a note of it. KGF isn’t a drab fare. Nonetheless, it falls short of becoming a great movie by a long mile. Overall, KGF is an excellent mass entertainer that leaves us in anticipation for Chapter II.
