When films are made on a humongous budget and pan Indian scale, it comes with a lot of expectations from the audience. Delivering to the expectations becomes a daunting task. And ‘KGF Chapter 2’ delivers to all the expectations. KGF Chapter 2 is a muscular, stylish, testosterone filled sequel. Everything is grander and louder from the last film.
KGF Chapter 2 lifts off right from where it was left the last time. Rocky has killed Garuda the rightful heir of the Narachi estate and taken over the control of the gold mines. Everything in this movie has been dialed up to 11. Number of action setpieces, number of guns, number of enemies. Adheera played by Sanjay Dutt, Ramika Sen the prime minister played by Raveena Tandon adds the sense of dread which was missing in the first film. Rocking star Yash with his hyper masculine presence works as the perfect lead that the movie could have asked for. He is basically in every frame of the movie but it never seemed like any of his moves were blant.
One of the biggest criticisms of the film has to be the Romantic angle. Reena the love interest was brought in (basically kidnapped) because the boss Rocky wants entertainment in his life. She hates him for his guts but somehow they fall in love. This is one of the biggest problems of the south Indian films and their portrayal of romantic relationships. Same Stockholm syndrome bullcrap.
Writer director Prasanth Neil leaves no space for silence or subtlety. The film seduces you with its clap traps but submisses you with its frantic editing and blaring background music. Juggling all of these elements could have been a disaster but Prasanth made it seem like moving a hot knife through butter. The star of the film has to be the violence filled dystopian world of Narachi. Art director Shivakumar J creates a world that is realistic yet has some mythical qualities about it. Composer Ravi Basroor and 19 year old editor Ujjwal Kulkarni also help in making the movie a success.
KGF perfectly caters to the demographic of its target audience. It was impossible to hear a single dialogue amidst the cheering and hooting in the packed theatre. It made me happy to see tickets getting blacked for a south Indian movie at a theatre in Kolkata on a Thursday afternoon. KGF 2 is a far superior product than its predecessor. Now one can only wait to see what happens in the third installment.