The Kannada-origin movie ‘KGF Chapter 2’ is the talk of the town since it scripted several new records in the Indian cine industry. The anticipation for KGF 2 rose following the massive success of KGF Chapter 1 in 2018. With the KGF franchise, Rocking Star Yash, Srinidhi and helmer Prashanth Neel went on to garner massive appreciation from all corners of the world.
Post the success of KGF 2, fans are eagerly waiting for KGF Chapter 3 and its related updates. Though fans are well aware of different stories related to the making of the KGF franchise, still there are certain things that were left unanswered.
During a recent interview with Galatta Plus, director Neel has answered several questions that were left unanswered. Neel also revealed several secrets behind making KGF and taking it to the pan-India audience.
Budget constraints and making KGF pan-India
Talking about the budget constraint and intention of making KGF a pan-India movie, Neel said, "When we started off KGF, we didn't have the intention of making it a pan-India movie. Baahubali was out then. When we started making the movie, the scale was right in the story and we had to put in a lot of efforts to make the world look real. And the agenda was very clear. We are still making a Kannada movie with a very very big star. Yash had so much more potential though he was one of the biggest stars. The only thing on our mind was, while Yash's stardom was there, we were still spending more than he had made with his biggest blockbuster."
"We had to achieve this particular world and it took a lot of efforts of my technicians. Our agenda was we are going to do this in a manner where the world is going to look big but we are not spending as much. How we achieved this was the nature itself, using a lot of dust, smoke and fire," Neel added.
Speaking about the thought of making KGF pan-India, Neel said, "Lot of people have told me, If you have Vijay Kirangandur, Hombale Films and if you have a big star like Yash, then it becomes easier to make a pan-India movie otherwise you can't dream of something like that."
Struggles and efforts in making KGF
Further, he went on to explain his struggles and efforts in making KGF. "People will accept a movie for its drama and the drama becomes the scale of the movie as well as the characters. I think, the question has been answered that you don't need to put in a lot of money. We just put in a hell of efforts," he said.
"We used to get up at 6am, and we used to get our shot going at 6:45 am. If we don't do that, we don't get enough shots in a day, and we are not going to be able to do it in that budget. We went over budget, but that is not a budget of a pan-India movie," Neel added.
"We had more influence from Hollywood. The more it looks like Hollywood, the more the scale goes up. And, I think we were able to achieve that kind of look and feel with a very limited budget because of the technical knowledge that my technicians had. I was very lucky to have my technical team," Neel said.
Piece of advice to enthusiastic aspirants of becoming a successful filmmaker
Briefing about his journey from Ugramm and to becoming a filmmaker, Neel also advised the enthusiastic aspirants, "I learnt everything from Ugramm. In cinema, this probably applies to other industries. I quickly learnt something from cinema that there are no teachers in cinema but there are always students in cinema. Which basically means, you can't teach cinema to someone, but you observe what others are doing and learn from it. You are always going to be a good student without a teacher, and you will be able to understand cinema very fast."
"It is not just about learning what lens you have to put or what kind of editing you have to do or what editing suit you use. You either learn it or don't. With Ugramm, it became very important for me to learn, what is my strength today, is editing. It took me 6-7 months and from it I learnt a lot of things about direction," he said.
KGF decided, Neel should make it...
"KGF was a very big idea in my head. But, there are very big thinkers that put a net out and I got caught in that net and because of them KGF happened. I don't think I decided to make KGF, KGF decided I should make it," said Neel.
Further, Neel said, "I wanted to make a proper family movie which can bring in families. My mother used to tell all the time, you are putting too much of violence, so nobody is going to watch your movies. After seeing KGF, she still says me to tone down my violence. However, the thinking changes as things work."
Speaking about mother sentiments in Ugramm as well as KGF, Neel said, "When it comes to the mother, I have a very strong emotion with mother sentiment. That has been my biggest influence. I bring it in because it is also necessary for the particular plot."