KGF Chapter 2: Cinépolis IMAX, Seawoods, Navi Mumbai to be launched with Yash-starrer

One ‘crazy’ fan, a man apparently in his late twenties, stood outside the Seawoods Grand Central in Navi (New) Mumbai, belting out dialogue from KGF 1 and expressing his absolute devotion to the lead actor, Yash. He said he had travelled all the way from Varanasi, a distance of 1,500 kms, to meet the superstar, and would not go away until he got a chance to meet Yash. This was happening on Wednesday, late afternoon, even as a minibus was departing, with some 15 journalists and a Public Relations executive on board, after attending a Press meet in one of the 11 auditoriums located in the mall, which has been built above a train station and is said to have an area of 1 million square feet. Some people felt that fan should have been given a chance to fulfil his dream, while others said that he just another was crazed fan, and should be left alone. We, who had attended the press meet with Yash and Co., would never know the truth behind the scene, for soon afterwards, the bus left for Andheri, a Mumbai suburb, from where it had picked us up in the morning.

KGF Chapter 2 is a sequel to the Kannada blockbuster KGF (Kolar Gold Fields) Chapter1, which took everyone by surprise. It was made in the Kannada language, spoken in the southern Indian state of Karnataka) with a budget of 80 crores, unheard of for films in that language. At the behest of lead actor Yash, the film was dubbed in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. All the versions were released in late 2018. Though critics gave the film mixed reviews, the film collected ₹250 crore in its entire theatrical run, breaking the record for the highest grossing Kannada film of all time, and turned out to be a cult hit. A sequel was always on the cards, and it was ready for release on 23 October 2020. However, the Covid situation in the country necessitated a postponement, and it will hit cinema halls nationwide on 14 April, in all four languages.

KGF: Chapter 2, like Chapter 1, is written and directed by Prashanth Neel, and produced by Vijay Kiragandur, under the banner Hombale Films. The film stars Yash (born Naveen Kumar Gowda, on 8 January 1986), Sanjay Dutt in his South Indian debut), Srinidhi Shetty (both reprising their roles), Raveena Tandon (added in Chapter 2, playing the Prime Minister of India), Archana Jois and Prakash Raj. Neel has retained the technicians from the first outing, with Bhuvan Gowda handling the cinematography, and Ravi Basrur scoring the music for the soundtrack as well as the film's background. This time round, the budget is estimated at Rs. 100 crore and the length is said to be 168 minutes. The film has drawn tremendous enthusiasm and is anxiously awaited, largely due to the success of KGF Chapter 1, and the cult following of Yash, who is being branded as the Rocking Star. A crowd of hundreds, gathered in the mall, bore testimony to that fact.

Cinépolis, the Mexican parent, currently operates 95 cinemas, having 407 screens, across 22 states in 61 Indian cities, through its Indian subsidiary, also called Cinépolis. These cinemas are classified as Cinépolis, Cinépolis VIP and Fun Cinemas. India’s biggest megaplex, with 15 screens, located in Pune, is also a Cinépolis venture. The Seawoods property is the fourth Cinépolis IMAX screen in India. IMAX® is a worldwide enterprise, with main offices in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles, and operates thousands of cinemas across the globe. IMAX, IMAX 3D, IMAX DMR, Experience it in IMAX, An IMAX 3D Experience, The IMAX Experience, IMAX is Believing, IMAX nXos are all IMAX trademarks. It was at such a cinema that we were invited, to meet Yash, Sanjay Dutt, Srinidhi Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Prasanth Neel, Anil Thadani (distributor, of aa Films), Devang Sampat (CEO, Cinépolis India) Rahil Ajjani (Centre Director, Seawoods Grand Central, Nexus Malls), and Preetham Daniel (Vice-President, Theatre Sales, India-SE Asia-Australia-New Zealand).

Quotes from the meet: “We have worked in extreme conditions. The situations we were shooting in, …they were not normal. People think the shoot must have been easy, fun, but it was so demanding.”—Yash. Also, Yash delighted his fans by mouthing the dialogue which is seen and heard in the trailer, about how he does not like violence, but violence likes him.

“When Prashant and Yash had come to me with the film, I had told them then that it is going to be a ‘toofaan’ (storm), and it will break all records. So, my expectations from the film are very high.”—Sanjay Dutt. (In reply to a question, he, however avoided naming any box office figure that KGF Chapter 2 might attain. Sanjay also parried a couple of other questions, by saying that he was a man of few words).

“What do you want from the romance of Yash and me? Whatever you want, you will find in the film,”—Srinidhi Shetty, who won a few hearts by speaking partly in Hindi. On the other hand, a couple of journalists who spoke Kannada struck a chord by putting their questions to the team in that language.

“When we started writing the script, we had written down Sanjay Sir’s name (for the role of Adheera). When we were penning Chapter 2, we wanted somebody who has a powerful image for the role of the prime minister. I wanted somebody who speaks proper Hindi and has mass appeal. We found that actor in Raveena Tandon.”—Prasanth Neel

“Yes, I wanted to be a police officer, as I told you years ago. Now that I am a film actor and have played everybody from a Police Inspector to a Prime Minister, the desire to knock some sense into a couple of criminals, in real-life, still remains unfulfilled.” –Raveena Tandon, in reply to a question from this writer.

Incidentally, Sanjay Dutt is 62 going on 63, while I shall remain discreet about Raveena’s age. She carries herself very well and does not look her age. When I first interviewed her, it was for an article on the Most Beautiful Young Women of India, and she was a mere model then. During the interview, I had told her she would become a top heroine very soon, and she had laughed, “Heroine? No chance. I would be rather become a police officer.” The rest is history.

Though a lot of praise was showered on the dubbing (and captions) of the film, the Hindi dialogue and the song captions in Roman, shown in a karaoke-like transcription, left a lot to be desired, both in terms of spelling and pronunciation.

An element of suspense was added to the event, with a sign unveiled to announce that the advance booking for the film would start from ‘tomorrow’ (the 7^th of April). The audience, however, was put to a patience and endurance test, since loud commercials about IMAX and the food menu at the megaplex were run in a loop for about 75 minutes, non-stop, before the VIPs made their much-awaited entries, and the compere took control of the microphone. He was good overall, but went a bit over the top in his enthusiasm to please the dignitaries, and maybe his bosses, egging everybody to clap at every drop of a hat. Perhaps he did not realise that half the audience comprised journalists, who are not given to applauding every two minutes. Sadly, he did not identify himself.

In a week from now, if all goes well, you shall read the review of KGF Chapter 2. In the meanwhile, here is a confession in advance: I have not seen KGF Chapter1! And how could I forget? Yash’s name in the franchise is Rocky. Co-incidentally, Sanjay Dutt’s name in his debut, eponymous film was Rocky, which was released before Yash was born. But Yash, at half his age, is the Rocking Star of the present eon.