कब्जा

present to us such a compelling story and big screen experience like KGF Chapter 1. Not only did the movie cause waves in its home state but became quite the phenomenon on the national scale. One became curious why excel entertainment wanted to present the product in hindi and the rest is history in the mammoth success the franchise ultimately became. What happens however when one movie of a particular genre does garner a lot of success and love, one starts to believe that the template of the same film is the reason for it clicking with so many people, not realising that its not the beats of the film that resonated the most but the conviction of a creator like Prashant Neel. Mimicking art might be flattery but when one does it only to reap the benefits of what presumably works, it comes across as a poor imitation rather than an homage. This is what I feared the most as I saw the teaser of Kabzaa, where it did not only present similar aesthetics to the KGF franchise but it seemed to present similar themes with its characters and their motivations. Kabzaa focusses on a time period between 1942 to 1986, focussing on a freedom fighter whom loses his life fighting for his country, leaving behind his wife and two children whom have to fend for themselves thereafter. The journey of why Arkeshwara played by Upendra, the younger of the two brothers goes from becoming an Air Force officer to the most dreaded gangster known in India forms the basic premise of Kabzaa. The hurdles he faces on this journey, the reason why he feels compelled to embark on this journey of bloodshed and his ultimate influence are the basic beats of this film. Here’s me telling you the good and bad aspects of the film so that you guys can ultimately decide whether to watch Kabzaa in theatres or not! The Good Upendra & His Turncoat: This is a man who is a legend regarding Kannada Cinema. A man who has dedicated his life to cinema since the mid 90s so there is genuine love for the man irrespective of storylines along the journey being a hit and a miss. My favourite moment from Kabzaa and the reason why I mention it is because it is so few and far between is the turncoat of Arkeshwara whom goes from a naive law abiding citizen to a man consumed by vengeance, absolutely distraught that the system he had faith in could not care less about him. The moment he is confronted with this predicament, you can see the shift in demeanour in Upendra’s performance and this is by far the only memorable moment of the movie. A moment that genuinely engages you and partially emotionally connects you with the protagonist. I wish I could say the same for the entire film, that I kept on rooting for the man or whether I felt this deep connection with his roots and what compelled him to become a dreaded gangster but those would be absolute lies and me being in denial because it is only a brief moment in the otherwise exhausting narrative that was genuinely crafted well. A Curiosity Of What’s To Come: Everybody knew that Kichcha Sudeep is present in this storyline only for a brief period of time, an extended cameo of sorts and the only thing that does peak my interest is if the creators will be interested in exploring the dynamic between the cop and the most wanted man if a future instalment is to appear. Just like the KGF Chapter 1 template and I will expand upon this a little further in the end, the movie presents an array of character that you couldn’t care less about so the case of a worthy antagonist for Upendra’s journey does not even exist for you to be on the edge of your seat. A probable case of a battle of wits or sheer strength is absolutely absent and I feel could only be explored if the creators have in mind to have an Upendra Kichcha Sudeep face off because we got crumbs in this venture and it wasn’t even worth picking them up with the 5 second rule! The Underwhelming Aspects Repetitive & Patchy Editing Style & Poor CGI: I was fearing looking at the teaser of the film that the movie is going to embark upon such an assault to the senses in terms of editing, presuming that it thinks it looks cool but my god does the editing of this film take the shape of making the movie experience exhausting. You remember watching KGF Chapter 2 and talking about how we were split about the car chase sequence and how it incessantly transitioned to a black screen every 2 seconds, now imagine that sequence and its editing pattern and sprinkle it everywhere in the movie and that is Kabzaa. The number of action set pieces and even regular scenes where simply dialogues are being delivered, one is subjected to this fast paced and abrupt jump cuts to black screens that one looses their bearings of what is exactly happening in scenes. The action set pieces are poorly choreographed and are masked with the same editing where there is no cause and effect in the moments of combat but only goons flying and bursting into furniture next to them. Nothing beats a Trojan horse set piece with all the checking and the hero with his pals goes undetected on bikes that will really scratch your head in disbelief. The patchy editing is not only restricted to this fast paced blackout but even exist after mass dialogues like If you want to kill me I will end the game that transitions to a pelvic thrusting item song out of nowhere. It really is a task to keep up with all that’s happening in the film and its only indicative of not really having a plan of action on how to tell this story. For a pan indian film that is projected on such a scale, one expects opulent sets and exceptional frames but every time there is anything palatial showcased on the big screen, it is poorly rendered animated frames that definitely doesn’t transport you to where the story is set. Curious Case Of Ravi Basrur: I have immense respect for the products that Ravi Basrur has churned out in recent years and if one equated an exhilarating background score to the commercial mass template, one thought of only Ravi’s name but the product in Kazbaa bordered on being just loud than engaging. There is not a single dialogue that is not assisted with the ear shattering background score and it is not nearly as inventive as his previous work. What’s even scarier is that a lot of the sounds are similar to his previous work, the Kabzaa title track has the same sound and treatment like SALAAM ROCKY BHAI, the item song is forgettable at best and the introduction song of Madhumati is only memorable due to Shriya Saran’s grace in the video. This is probably Ravi Basrur’s most forgettable work that I have seen. The rousing background score for each punch line now is taking the shape of muffling dialogues, to the point where one wonders, are the creators even interested in us comprehending the story or they just want to bombard us with as much stimulus so that we dont even pay attention to the screenplay, I guess we will never know. Cringe Dialogues & Lack Of Emotional Engagement: Just like is the case with many of these mass commercial films that will come out, the dialogues in the movie are meant to be zingers but barely pack the punch in Kabzaa to rouse any form of hooting and cheering. KICCHA SUDEEP is introduced with the dialogue EK BAAR USNE ENTRY KIYA TOH ENTER THE DRAGON DEKHA KE RAKHEGA. He collects rowdy’s of the town and each one introduces themselves like a KANTI SHAH character, there is an angry villain in this universe who is basically an executioner and he takes the shape of a frothing animal who hams his way through most of the film just making grunting noises while attempting to be demonic. The worst of the lot being Upendra saying, he is allergic to loud sounds, MUJHE SILENCE ZYADA SUIT KARTA HAI, AHR MUJHE ISKE LIYE VIOLENT HONA OADEGA SO GOODBYE! And you should concede right now only if you think the film did not attempt a KGF template with this film. Animal analogies of SHER WHALE AUR KUTTA are rampant throughout the film and one wondered how they were approved in the first place. I wished at least the romantic relationship will emotionally engage me in the film but the lead pair barely share any chemistry with one another. Shriya’s longing for Arkeshwara is barely felt and the case of star crossed lovers and the wife wanting him to leave the world of crime barely ever makes the stakes higher. The moment which one should emotionally connect with is a moment everyone can see from a mile away. Murali Sharma as the conservative patriarch hamming his way through also does not hep the case. It would be crazy not to admit that Kabzaa thought that if it follows the beats of what presumably works for a pan indian films, it will be a success. The array of villains, the cinematography and prevalence of greys and black, the rapid editing and rousing background score are all indicative of thinking that this is KGF amplified times ten, in hindsight its nothing short of simply being just a cheap version of the same!