An outcast tribe, a smuggling ring, undercover cops, and long-lost brothers, all these could be the recipe for a classic, yet somehow ‘Kingdom’ seems like a miss.
Starring Vijay Deverakonda as Suri, a cop with a disdain for wrong and on a mission to find his elder brother, ‘Kingdom’ starts off strong, setting high expectations. However, the story gets convoluted and misses a few beats, as Suri is recruited to infiltrate a smuggling ring headed by his brother Siva (Satyadev). Siva ran away after killing their father 18 years ago.
Promised a reunion with his brother, Suri finds himself winning over the local outcast tribe, who themselves have been waiting for their leader for over 70 years. The brotherly bond between Suri and Siva brings in the emotional flavour in a movie which blows hot and cold.
Suri finds himself in Sri Lanka as he aims to gather intel about arms smuggling, only to blow his cover to protect his brother. As he earns back the goodwill of the smugglers by stealing gold from the Navy, he steps on the ego of the megalomaniacal son of the smuggling head.
What follows is a battle of egos, where Siva protects his younger brother. Suri then avenges the treatment meted out to the outcast tribe. The climax could have been more interesting.
The makers have kept sufficient interest for a sequel, but hopefully they can make it taut and more logical to do justice to the story’s potential.