KGF — When cliches create magic
Lately I’ve started relying on the ratings on BookMyShow to decide which movie to watch next. I think their ratings are a healthy mix of critics’ ratings and users’ ratings, and set the right expectations. That is why I was shocked when I saw that a Kannada movie, even after its 2nd weekend, held a rating of 90%. To validate that BookMyShow hadn’t lost its genuineness, I checked rating of this movie on IMDB as well. And voila, its IMDB rating was 9.0. One week later, BookMyShow rating was 89% and IMDB rating was 8.9. It looked as if the two were mirroring each other.
The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. But KGF isn’t a pudding. Its grander than a 7 course sumptuous meal.
My critics and users have already praised the movie enough. Instead of talking again about the brilliance of its lead actor, Yash and the music, the visuals, the non-linear style of storytelling, the tense moments and the all-out full-on action sequences, I will speak of my experience.
First 10 minutes I wondered if the movie would really live up to its hype. I couldn’t help but compare it with the movie Baahubali and how in its first 10 minutes itself, one experiences one of the best moments in the movie. But KGF isn’t Baahubali, nor does it try to be. In fact, KGF is like wine that gets better as the time progresses while watching the movie. What a cliche!
Talking of cliches, KGF is full of them. It is so cliched that you may feel choked under a rubble of cliches. It has hero-worship, item song, senseless romance, over-the-top action sequences, and yet the movie feels like a new experience that I felt like relishing again and again.
The movie surely excels in every department, but it is the coming together of every aspect in creating this final product that can give you goosebumps and such overwhelming and intense excitement that you may even want to whistle and hoot but its just too much to take in.
My favorite part of cinematography the movie is that in first half (SPOILERS), they show the KGF in a blurry manner, until Rocky (the hero) reaches KGF. Similarly they show some characters in a blurry manner until their role becomes prominent. I’m sure there are many such hidden gems in cinematography and other departments, that makes this movie a cherished cinema going experience.
My favorite part of storytelling was Rocky’s backstory and the way his mother encourages him to become strong and powerful. That’s because in an ordinary masala movie, nobody believes that hero can be so strong, we just accept it as a fact but in this movie, through his backstory, we learn about Rocky’s tough childhood and his motivation to become powerful. We know the character and that is why we want him to win. And everytime he wins, the hall erupted with whistles, hooting and applause.
My favorite dialogue from the movie, said by Rocky’s mother to him: “Agar tum mein himmat hai kyunki hazaar log tumhaare peeche khade hai, toh tum ek jung jeet sakte ho. Lekin agar hazaar logo mein himmat hai kyunki tum unke aage khade ho toh tum duniya jeet sakte ho!” This dialogue was the highest point for me the movie. I still feel overwhelmed when I think about this statement. Brilliant, just brilliant! You’ll know if you’ve watched the movie. If you haven’t, please do in the big screens. Or Amazon Prime.
Among the movies I’ve watched in 2018, KGF definitely fits somewhere in top 5 in this list: https://medium.com/@abhisainani/my-top-10-favorite-films-of-2018-9cffc397a1f. But those are Bollywood movies, so KGF isn’t mentioned there.
This probably isn’t the best way to appreciate an excellent cinema watching experience of KGF, but then perhaps words are never enough to describe the way cliches can create magical moments!
