South Indian films have been doing very well ever since Bahubali. Many south Indian movies have become a huge sensation, not only in the south but all over the country. Films like Bahubali, Pushpa, and the upcoming RRR film, are good examples of this phenomenon. One such Kannada period action film is KGF, which premiered on December 21st, 2018. The film follows Rocky, a high-ranking assassin in Mumbai, who was born in poverty. After being offered total control of Mumbai by his employer’s boss, he disguises himself as a slave laborer in the Narachi limestone mine, aiming to assassinate Garuda, the future heir of Kolar Gold Fields.
KGF stars Yash as Raja Krishnappa Bairya A.K.A. Rocky along with Ramachandra Raju, Srinidhi Shetty, Vasishta N. Simha, Achyuth Kumar, and Malavika Avinash. They play Garuda, Reena Desai, Kamal, Guru Pandian, and Deepa Hedge respectively. Anant Nag also narrates the film. This movie is the first installment of two cinematic series.
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Plot
KGF revolves around Raja Krishnappa Bairya A.K.A. Rocky. The film begins with journalist, Anand Ingalagi’s book, El Dorado, being banned by the Indian Government and all published copies being burned due to the book detailing the events at the Kolar Gold Field between 1951 and 2018. During an interview, Ingalagi narrates that government-commissioned officials discovered gold ore in the southern part of India’s Mysore State in 1951. Rocky was born the day of the discovery in the Mysore region to a poor underage widow Shantamma, coincidentally.
A powerful don, Suryavardhan, who accompanied the officials, orders his henchmen to execute all of them. He then deceitfully sets up a shell company, on that land, Narachi, which bought for a 99-year lease under the pretext of mining limestone, anticipating the increased demand for gold by the United States and the Soviet Union due to the Cold War.
Years later Rocky is tasked with assassinating Suryavardhan’s son Garuda. A lot happens throughout the film. Towards the end of the movie, Garuda orders a Maa Kali’s ritual to be rescheduled earlier, stating that he will kill his father’s allies as soon as the ritual is complete, realizing the recent bad turn of events. Rocky seizes the opportunity, conspires, and heads unsuspected through a tunnel to the site where Garuda has decided to behead three slaves as offerings to the Goddess, the next day at the mines.
Vanaram discovers that the third slave to be beheaded was strangulated to his death inside his prison cell, the realization dawns on him that an imposter, who plans to kill Garuda, has taken the slave’s place, simultaneously. Vanaram then rushes towards the site of the sacrifice, however, it is too late. A concealed Rocky emerges and beheads Garuda upon his arrival at the site and sacrifices of two slaves.
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KGF Filming Locations
The Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka, India are used for the dusty and gold mining sets. The ship harbors are filmed in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and the Minerva Mill is filmed in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Cyanide Hills, Kolar Gold Fields, and Karnataka is also used for filming along with Mumbai for the Bombay streets and Mysuru, Karnataka for the Bengaluru sequence. After completing the final stages of pre-production, the film’s shooting took place in January 2017.
The filmmakers erected huge sets at Badami, to replicate Kolar in the period of 1970-80, thereby filming extensively in the location, on January 25th, 2017. VFX was used as an extension for the film and the art director Shivakumar recreated the Kolar Gold Fields set of the 1980s. Producer Kirangadur secured an insurance cover for the crew members working on the film, aware that a freak accident happened on the sets of Masti Gudi, claiming the lives of two actors.
Following their destruction by heavy rains, production had started after sets were rebuilt and the project was 50 percent complete, as of June 25th, 2017. The filmmakers painted a portion of the Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion, which is located on the campus of the University of Mysore, as a part of the film’s shoot. Some sequences of the action movie were also shot at the centenary clock tower located next to the campus.
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