Saturday, December 22, 2018
KGF Movie Review
KGF is a Hyper-violent Fairy Tale!KGF Movie Review
KGF is an action crime drama directed by Prashanth Neel, starring "Rocking Star" Yash. Yash plays the lead role of 'Rocky' in this film. The trailer looked promising, but does the film live-up to the expectations? Let's find out.
The film starts with the verbal build-up of the lead character Rocky's hyper-violent ways. The film calls him the Indian history's worst criminal, and begins narrating the story of Rocky and KGF (Kolar Gold Fields).
KGF's first scene is set in 1981, and it has the Indian Prime Minister Ramika Sen, glorifying Rocky's character, and ordering that his existence be erased from the history. But then a renowned journalist (Anant Nag) writes a book on Rocky and KGF, prompting the Govt. to burn all his books! Scenes later, we have the veteran journo who wrote the book, narrating Rocky's story. Thus, beginning Rocky's saga. His story begins in Mysore, then moves to Bombay and Bangalore (first half), and then to the KGF (second half).
READ - Who is PM Ramika Sen?
The first thing you notice in the film is that it is grandly shot. The camera work is very good, and immensely lifts the movie, along with the background score. The costumes, sets, props are taken care of, to precisely depict the 1980s. KGF is a very beautiful film to look at, although violent, but it is beautifully violent. Kudos to the KGF team for getting it right.
But the same cannot be said about the storytelling. KGF falters when it comes to narration. The narration is zig-zag and back-and-forth, and jumbled. It fails to sustain any interest that it evokes, and lets the boredom seep in. The choppy screenplay and uneven pace adds more to the trouble, as the film doesn't flow forwards smoothly. The film moves fast when it had to reduce its pace and set a good foundation; and stagnates when it actually had to move fast with its story. KGF concentrates on the wrong aspects of the story, instead of sticking to the main plot. Many individual segments in the film are well done and nicely shot, but they don't blend well together as a film on the whole, and KGF is muddled as a result.
ALSO SEE - KGF ALL Critics Reviews & Ratings
Rocky is the central character of the movie, but the film doesn't give the character the depth it deserves. The film tells his Bombay part of the story very superficially, and as a reason his actions end up being quite unconvincing and don't have the intended impact. The love-romance angle shows Rocky's another side, but it doesn't contribute to the main plot, and feels like a forced inclusion, and wastes valuable time, specially when the film is trying to tell way too many things. Also, the dance number comes across as a road hump, and I used that time for loo break!
Honestly, the screen time the female lead's side-plot and the bar dance-number takes, could have been utilized in showing why Rocky is so feared by everyone, and should have elaborated Rocky's character more. Instead, the film just shows that he is feared, but doesn't show why he is feared! For this reason, the fear the other characters display in Rocky's presence feels unreasonable. And the female lead character (Srinidhi Shetty) has absolutely nothing to do in the film. The character feels simple-minded, and her dialogues fall flat, and sometimes evokes laughter in serious scenarios.
The first half is more uneven paced than the second half. Some of the scenes land out of nowhere, and are outright disconnected, makes you say 'What!'. Second half is in fact the better part of the film. The narration gets quite sorted out, and is not as disjointed as it is in the first half. Even though, the film throws a barrage of Rocky glorifying compilation scenes, without any storytelling. But the film ends on a high note, giving a nice well shot extremely violent climax. Yes, extremely violent, as people are decapitated by the scary hairy monster villain!
The action sequences are well done, and are effective. The action segment in the second half, where Rocky saves an old man, in an underground tunnel in the gold mines, is particularly well shot, and deserves applause. Lead actor Yash totally dominates the screen throughout the film, and is impressive in every frame.
If you have watched Prashanth Neel's previous film 'Ugramm', you will be reminded of it while watching KGF. The plot is fairly formulaic, and has its share of clichés. KGF's plot derives a quite a lot of elements from Ugramm's. For example - The lead character is bound by his word that he gave to his mother. Everything he does is because of his promise. And a place, which is full of bad elements, crime and oppressed people. The lead character is an extremely fearless one man army. A female lead who eventually falls in love with the main character.
The characters are also developed in the same manner, and they also look and behave in the same fashion. Example - Lead character's childhood story has a great influence on his views, actions and behavior in his adulthood. The villains are scary hairy savages. Characters display extreme fear.
The similarities don't end with the plot and characters, even some of the shots, camera angles and background music give out the Ugramm vibes. Music is given by Ravi Basrur, who also composed for Ugramm. But make no mistake, the film is not entirely similar. Despite the few similarities, director Prashanth Neel makes sure to infuse fresh elements into the film, to make the film interesting.
KGF is an aggressive film with respect to its approach, and that is reflected in the attitude of its main characters, the dialogues, and the over-the-top action scenes. The film has a high style quotient that is finely blended with its aggressive outlook. The film is shot well and looks good, but the screenplay and the narration could have been better.
Overall, KGF is a worthy attempt by Prashanth Neel and team, and you can definitely watch it once.
Rating - 3/5
- Review by Aditya.
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ALSO READ - KGF Movie Dialogues List
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