K.G.F: Chapter 2

Rocky has taken the gold mines and is now the sole owner of the region. But there are powers outside the mine: the government in Delhi, former partners, and a man called Adheera who is said to have been waiting for years. Rocky is dealing with three fronts at once, and holding what he has turns out to be harder than taking it. The subject is not mining but the winning side never being safe. The first film narrated the rise; this one narrates keeping hold, and the character grows more merciless. The narrative does not present that as a fall, which is its most contested aspect. The form is built entirely on excess. Slow motion, low angles, a dark palette and continuous scoring. The camera almost never shows Rocky at eye level; every frame is designed to enlarge him. It was shot in Kannada and released across India in several languages. It took enormous box office nationally and became one of the examples showing that regional cinema could work at national scale, opening the way for productions of similar size. Yash plays Rocky, Sanjay Dutt plays Adheera and Raveena Tandon the prime minister. Prashanth Neel directs. Who it is for: viewers who like large-scale Indian action and stylised violence. Who it is not for: anyone after character depth; the film is built entirely on image and scale.