Newsletter | Kabzaa Aims For KGF's Guns & Glory Formula, But Misfires

This column was originally published as part of our newsletter The Daily Show on March 21, 2023. Subscribe here. (We're awesome about not spamming your inbox!)

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WHEN A CERTAIN KIND OF MOVIE becomes the talk of the town, everybody starts replicating it by adding — or removing — some parts. But what many filmmakers don’t get is that even with the same blueprint, the output may not look and feel the same. The period action thriller Kabzaa, advertised as the next big thing in Indian cinema, enters the ring occupied by the KGF universe — and walks away without putting up the slightest fight for Rocky’s throne.

This is not to say that Kabzaa is a terrible copy of KGF. Not at all. In fact, Sundeep Kishan’s Michael (2023), described by critics as a “wannabe KGF”, is far worse. However, Kabzaa is like a younger sibling who is perfectly content with hand-me-downs.

The protagonist of Kabzaa, Arkeshwara (Upendra) picks up a knife after his faith in the police department evaporates, whereas KGF’s Rocky (Yash) is solely motivated by the desire to rise to the top. Rocky and Arkeshwara, therefore, aren’t two peas in a pod, even though they are both unbeatable.

UPENDRA is a veteran of the gangster genre. He directed Om (1995), in which he centered the narrative on anti-social elements, and practically opened the doors of Kannada cinema to the rawness of blood and gore. A decade later, Prem’s Jogi pushed the boundaries of action movies by embedding its emotional core in the bond between a mother and her son. “Mother sentiment”, for lack of a better phrase, has come to define a whole gamut of tearjerkers and hollow dramas now and it’s beginning to lose its charm. But that’s a critique for another day. Kabzaa, thankfully, isn’t about a promise made by a child to his mother (Clearly, I’m still miffed about Michael).

Shiva Rajkumar, who makes a cameo appearance in the closing scene of Kabzaa, stars in Om and Jogi both as a dreaded gangster. In those blockbusters, his characters didn’t have much use for guns, roaming the streets with a machete instead. But the unparalleled success of the KGF movies has suddenly inspired writers and directors to choreograph shootouts. Of course, Arkeshwara doesn’t operate on the same scale as the rowdy from Om; the stakes are higher and the rewards too are better this time around.

However, it’s hard to buy the ubiquitous nature of machine guns. I enjoyed the freshness in Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Tamil thriller Kaithi (2019) and rooted for the victory of Dilli (Karthi) over his enemies. When Rocky pumped bullets into a police station, it indicated his eagerness to embrace notoriety. And when Kanagaraj handed another such weapon to Kamal Haasan in Vikram (2022), there was so much more to cheer for, as the entire climactic showdown was designed to position Haasan as a man who couldn’t be messed with. Moreover, the movie has an epilogue that sets up future conflicts between Agent Vikram (Haasan) and new baddie — the drug lord Rolex (Suriya).

Kabzaa also takes the same route. We’re going to see more of Rajkumar in Kabzaa 2, but his entry in the first film doesn’t evoke a similar sense of euphoria. The sequel might shed some light on the power struggles among the protagonists, but that won’t happen anytime soon. And since Kabzaa itself isn’t as great as it was supposed to be, it won’t be easy for the makers to draw viewers into the theatres next time.

Filmmakers should pursue good stories instead of mindlessly recreating reliable recipes. And they should also leave KGF alone for the sake of humanity.

Kabzaa is curently playing in theatres.