KGF is possibly Yash’s most ambitious project in his filmography. The film will release in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu. The plot has been written in such a way that its theme transcends the language barrier and can be placed anywhere, said director Prashanth Neel. Yash’s character in the film, Rocky, begins his journey in Mumbai and eventually lands in Kolar Gold Fields.
At a recent press interaction for the movie, director Prashanth Neel and actor Yash shared their experience of working on the film. “KGF is a very intrinsic part of Karnataka and yet films set in the area are quite rare. There’s a lot of potential for suspense and action in KGF but it remains largely untapped. We are not claiming to be the first to explore the area for a movie but we are taking the stories of the place and its people to a bigger audience. That is because we really believe in the story. Thankfully, so do our distributors.”
Every effort was taken to ensure that the movie stayed true to the place it is set in, said Yash. “Much of the story is about gold mining so we did a lot of research. We actually constructed extensive sets in Kolar Gold Fields to make the film as authentic as possible. Mining operations were shut down here years ago. But our movie is set in the seventies. We had to effectively resume mining there ourselves or make it look like that at least. There was a health hazard that we were warned about that posed a big issue. The soil is quite toxic in Kolar. We took every measure to protect our cast and crew. And even they cooperated because that is the extent of their belief in our movie.”
The film has been made in two parts. KGF: Chapter 1 is releasing on December 21. A date is yet to be set for the second half.
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Srinidhi Shetty, who is one of the leads in this film, said that KGF is very ambitious and grand both in terms of finance as well as the story it wants to tell. “Essentially, it is the story of an underdog. Neel has done a great job etching out characters; they will never fade from the mind of the audience.”
Vishal Krishna has bagged the Tamil distribution rights of the movie. KGF’s release date effectively puts it in direct competition with Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero. But director Prashanth Neel is not too worried. “There is a space for every film and KGF is sure to find it,” he said.