Kabzaa

Kabzaa (2023) : Movie Review -

R. Chandru's ambitious action drama, Kabzaa, brings three superstars together: Upendra, Kichcha Sudeep, and Shiva Rajkumar. The biggest is, of course, Upendra Sir, who has defined Kannada cinema with some of his pathbreaking works way before anyone would have imagined it. I am a fan of that Upendra sir, not this. R. Chandru's Magnus opus has no head and no tail. Action, loud BGM, and grandeur-that's all there is to it, and it's totally intolerable. What an absolute waste of time, money, and talent. Just because KGF did wonders at the Indian box office doesn't mean that Sandalwood should have tried to make another one of it and forgotten about itself. KGF is not even in top 10 best films in the last 5-6 years from Kannada cinema, forget in the decade or all-time. Then who had this silly notion that one could try to replicate it with different superstars and directors? Kabzaa is not KGF, but it is a wannabe KGF. While doing so, it did not become either one.

Kabzaa Part 1 kicks off in the pre-independence era with the child of a freedom fighter, Arkeshwara, living with his mother and brother. Soon India gets independence, and the next thing you know, you are in the 1970s with the adult version of Arkeshwara, played by Upendra. He is an Air Force soldier now, but he is forced to join the dark world of the Underworld as his brother is killed by a powerful gangster. To take revenge for his brother's death, Arkeshwara kills the local gangster and becomes a sort of protector, a big-time gangster in Amarapur. Madhumati (Shriya Saran) marries Arkeshwara against her father's wishes, who is a political giant. Arkeshwara's fear spread way up North, and the biggest of gangsters are now after him, alongside a strong cop, Bhargava Bakshi (Kichcha Sundeep). There is a surprise element in the climax, but you'll have to wait for part two for that (including Bhargava's full-fledged role).

Written by R. Chandru alone, Kabzaa is a terrible script for today's era. The conflicts are so old that even your grandpa will call them outdated for his era. And don't ask about logic, because there isn't any. From where it begins to where it ends, there is no connect to it. Kabzaa proves how scattered a screenplay can be. With those overdramatic pauses, irritating blackouts, constant knockout moments, and what not, Kabzaa tests your patience every minute for two long hours. Who'd expect a romance during this black massacre? But Kabzaa has it. Who'd expect twists from the 1950s? Kabzaa got them. An over-elevated action becomes boring in the first quarter only, but then you have to endure it for the next three quarters. Poor you, you just need a mobile and good internet to have some distraction as a moment of relief.

I am still confused about whether or not we should talk about performances, as this is not a performance-driven film at all. You'll see a lot of acting in "UI" from Upendra, but Kabzaa is not the same tonic. He gets into the mass action zone, and a very hardcore one; if that pleases you, then you are lucky. But don't expect anything else. Kichcha has a small role, and he's mostly a narrator, so let's wait for his performance in the second part. Shriya Saran looks gorgeous in her traditional avatar and dances well on one song, and that's the best you get to see. Those pauses for dated dialogue could have killed me without any weapon. Murali Sharma, Nawab Khan, John Kokken, Tahaa Shah, Pramod Shetty, and others are there only to deliver the dialogue in a typical accent and show machoism.

Coming back to loud background music, I guess the Kannada audience has some good ears for them. I remember visiting an ear specialist right after KGF 2 FDFS, and Kabzaa almost had me in the same zone. I still don't know what "loud BGM" means. Does it indicate aggression, expression, or anything else? The cinematography captures good frames of big-screen grandeur, which is indeed big for Sandalwood. As mentioned above, dialogues are too cheesy to digest in 2023. R. Chandru's direction is extremely hardcore and is only and only focused on larger-than-life commercial filmmaking, and that's far from logical and intelligent cinema. Kabzaa makes you uncomfortable and leaves you restless to leave the auditorium, unless you enjoy such mindless masala flicks. Even commercial cinema is changing nowadays, so you better be aware of what's good and what's crap. Kabzaa isn't the former, for sure.

RATING - 3/10*

This has been one of the most painful experiences I've had watching a kannada movie. Nothing works right from the dialogues to conversations between the lead pair, non lipsyncing character artists, loudest music which makes you want to rip your ears out, nonsensical story with no logic or motive, nothing hits the right spot.

The lead character Arka has a motive only until a certain point, but he goes on a killing spree taking down everyone and capturing everything without any logic, there's no motive behind anything he does.

Shivanna's entry is so bizarre that he is completely wasted. That scene(Actually entire movie) gives a new meaning to "Kuch bhi"

Such movies spoil the image created by KGF and Kantara which try and improve kannada cinema industry standards. Such movies are an insult to their efforts.

I don't know what's wrong with KFI... All actors are mad behind Pan India release. Invest crores and give a KGF feel cinematography add Ravi Basrur BGM overhype the villains add mother sentiment and movie is ready. Story, screenplay, VFX does it synchronise to what you are showing doesn't matter just attract the audience with a high budget & so called Pan India movie will be ready. I really didn't had any expectations on R. Chandru coz we know how good is he in making movies... His past movies are classic examples of dabba direction. But what's wrong with Upendra?? Like Yash, Sudeep, Darshan he also want a multilanguage Pan India movie on his name? Ravi Basrur has exhausted with his music, he just repeats the same KGF style bgm in every movie it actually irritates. Editing and VFX are very poor it looks so fake in few scenes. At every scene a villain enters before getting a screen space he gets killed by hero. Let me be frank R. Chandru wanted to create a hype and want recognition like Prashant Neel but fact is he utterly failed and became a laughingstock. Atleast he should have done some homework, depth in story writing & screenplay. Upendra is a talented person but in these overhyped director story he has lost that authenticity. Sudeep & Shivanna doesn't have minimal screen presence... May be in part 2 they have much to do. In the end a humble request to KFI stop this Pan India stupidity just to fulfill your ego don't spoil the film industry. Let's stick to our language and if it's good everyone will watch now OTT flatforms has removed that language barrier.

Note : I'm not critics or movie reviewer just telling my opinion because I'm so dissapointed.

Just ruinnig the vibes of kgf. Everything in this movie is look alikes Kgf movie even the main character looks, dressup and attitude. But too much low on content . Story is too poor. I am just tired of watching same kind of movie AGAIN AND AGAIN AGAIN AND AGAIN AGAIN AND AGAIN . Movie acchi ho sakta tha if they shouldn't try to copy the kgf movie. I didn't like the movie because they ruin the vibe of rocky bhai and the whole kgf movie with poor content. I will give 4 star out of 10 . Big big dissapoint.

Only bgm in the movie. No story nothing 😒. Director told that he is inspired by kgf movie . But the whole movie is like mini kgf with bad VFX. No mass dialogues in the movie. Only fighting . Very disappointed about movie. My request for director R Chandru is please don't do part 2. U will b loss. Second thing is hero. Upendra is not suitable for that mass part. And no emotion nothing. Only shooting blood etc. And final climax is also Rolex copy. Movie is a creative thing. Director should think creatively not copying from others. He should learn this. Don't go for this movie. U will get headache. This is my first review. Very disappointed 😞