The problem with films that are preoccupied with their appearance is that they lose sight of the plot. KGF 2 jumps back and forth between the past and the present in a haphazard manner.
The setting of KGF part one (2018) was the most remarkable feature of the film. At every chance, the camera was pulled all the way back to give us a bird's eye perspective of the huge gold mines of Kolar, buried deep beneath the earth, and the millions of faceless men and women toiling away below. Slaves, actually, yoked to their back-breaking labour without pause, trampled by their cruel lords' iron feet.
Its scope was reminiscent of the old MGM biblical movies. In order to be seen and heard in KGF, humans have to holler and shout. As a result, the background music had you grabbing for your earplugs. As a result, we get a cast of larger-than-life characters, led by Rocky , who heralds his presence as both messiah and vengeance in one.
Part 2 of KGF is more of the same, but bigger. But, alas, not better, despite the film enlisting Bollywood stars such as Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon and branching out of the country to dip its shovel in the Middle East, with its lighter patina of brown and beige, the darker shades reserved for the Kolar gold fields, which serve as the burnt-earth backdrop for our hero Rocky and his loyal denizens.
Rocky's untamed mane is still there, but this time he's clothed in a series of stylish suits, making him stand out among the thousands of extras dressed in mud-brown rags. What's also familiar is his swagger and dialogue delivery, which he gets to strew across an array of characters – a bad guy named Adheera with tattoos and a complicated hairdo, an Indian prime minister who looks and sounds like Indira Gandhi , a slew of rivals scattered across India, a CBI officer hot on his tail, and hordes of cops who
The problem with films that are preoccupied with their appearance is that they lose sight of the plot. The picture jumps back and forth between the past, showing Rocky's love for his mother , and the present, when he alternates between being a saviour and the guy who cracks the whip and yells at the workers to never stop working. Is he a good guy forced to do horrible things by circumstance, or is he a bad guy with a golden heart? We're not going to get too hung up on that minor distinction because Rocky isn't a 'gangster' in KGF 2, but rather the ‘Master who enters and conquers.’
To that purpose, we get set-pieces after set-pieces in which Yash swings enormous hammers and pulverises hordes of thugs, some of whom appear to have strayed off the sets of 'Mad Max Fury,' and others who appear to have gone off the sets of classic Westerns. Srinidhi Shetty plays the heroine who is simply there to save the hero. Dutt, in his 'Agneepath' persona without the menace, should have made a formidable foe, but he is reduced to nothing more than opening his mouth and roaring.Raveena Tandon makes a little more of an impression in her exquisite saris and signature white streak in her hair: she is also accountable for an act that has insured the deletion of Rocky's wild and valorous actions from our history books.The ladies are beside the point, though: like the previous one, this one is all about men, machismo, and muscle, all oiled, shiny, and ripped; the audience dutifully chuckles when a misogynistic remark or two comes out of the hero's mouth, as he turns to the real business at hand– increasing the blood-soaked violence quotient at every turn.
'Don't dramatise it too much, after all, it's fiction, right?' says Prakash Raj's raconteur, smirking. With the exception of these moments and a few action sequences, KGF 2 is generally uninteresting. There's too much noise, too much rage, and not enough impact.
