Prashanth Neel: 'KGF: Chapter 2' will be intense

Prashanth Neel recently said in a YouTube interview that he was tensed ahead of the release of his third-directorial ‘KGF: Chapter 2’. If not for his confession, his ever-composed face would have made us believe he is calm amidst the massive hype around the pan-Indian film, starring Yash, Sanjay Dutt, and Raveena Tandon. The five-language film releases worldwide on April 14.

That said, the filmmaker has great clarity of thought. Many artistes fail to articulate the ideas that go into their works. On Saturday, in interaction with select media houses of Bangalore, Neel answered questions from Deccan Herald on ‘KGF: Chapter 2’. Excerpts:

Though ‘KGF: Chapter 2’ isn’t a sequel, did you have to do any changes to the movie looking at the humungous response to ‘Chapter 1’?

We were very apprehensive about ‘Chapter 1’. We didn’t know if we had enough content for it. But once it was accepted well, planning ‘Chapter 2’ became very easy. We didn’t have to change anything. The only small modification was with Rao Ramesh’s character. He plays a CBI officer and we wanted to add a little more to his character.

What is the one big difference between the two films?

I think the conflicts are more and bigger in ‘Chapter 2’. In the first part, Rocky had one man to beat, and he was Garuda. Now, he has taken over the KGF. You are talking about one of the precious pieces of land on earth and you cannot hold on to something that is so prime and not pay for it. If there is nobody to fight for a place then it’s not worth it. Rocky has many conflicts to resolve. Politics has a big role to play in the story. You gain a lot of power due to illegal mining so there will be government interference. We have depicted that through a story lady, the prime minister of India played by Raveena Tandon. ‘Chapter 2’ will be more intense than the first part.

What explains your love for big-scale action dramas? Which films influenced your interest in the genre?

I think there was a vacuum in Kannada cinema and I filled it. The story of ‘KGF’ was ready before ‘Ugramm’. I didn’t know if people would love ‘Ugramm’. But they liked it and as long as they do, I will make such films. I don’t know if I will be branded as an action filmmaker. Recently you saw ‘Pushpa’ becoming a huge hit. So when that’s the trend, I would love to follow it. Talking about what influenced me, Hollywood was a huge part of Bangalore’s life in the late 80s and 90s. I watched classic Hollywood action thrillers in the Plazas, Rexs, and Lidos on MG Road. We watched a many Hollywood films on VHS tapes and discussed cinema with friends. That was the culture I grew up in.

This is a question about your writing. Why aren’t your heroes vulnerable? Apart from the emotional connection they have with their respective mothers in ‘Ugramm’ and ‘KGF’, they are almost undefeatable. They are larger than life sure but why don’t we see their human side?

With ‘KGF’, I haven’t completed the movie yet. I have only told half the story. I think everybody should have vulnerability. The reason why Spider-Man works better than Superman is because he is more vulnerable. You need to watch the film as I don’t want to give anything away. But the hero will use lot of intelligence to overcome his hurdles. He won’t win with just brute force.

Anant Nag’s splendid narration was the backbone of ‘Chapter 1’. There is a lot of curiosity about how he made way for Prakash Raj in the second part. What exactly happened?

It’s a very personal matter for Anant Nag and only he must tell you about it. I cannot comment on that. He chose not to be part of the project. He had his priority and I had to accept that. For us, our film was the priority so we moved on. But I can assure you that we have done justice to the role.

Yash is known to enhance every department with his inputs. Tell us about his involvement in ‘KGF: Chapter 2’.

Most of his dialogues in the film were written by him. They came out of his life experience. There are many similarities between Rocky and Yash. It’s not like he wrote these dialogues on the previous day. He used to come to the set, wear his costumes, get immersed in the character, and then add his thoughts to the writing. It’s not like he felt a compulsion to add punch dialogues in the script. The way he thought about the character was very unique. He had experienced so much of life, something I had not experienced. Most of Rocky’s hurdles or feelings were felt by Yash during his hardships. That went into the writing. He has lived with the character for eight years and given everything for it.