Prashanth Neel has revealed that KGF Chapter 2 was initially intentioned as a single film in Kannada while also disclosing how Rocking Star Yash was instrumental in turning the movie into the box office phenomenon it has become
KGF 2 is doing the unthinkable at the box office both in the Hindi belt and the rest of India, too. After becoming the first film to hit a century daily since opening, KGF Chapter 2 again collected in excess of ₹100 crore gross on day 4 across the country, Sunday, 17th April, en route to also posting one of the highest opening weekend collections for any movie ever in India while also posting the highest opening weekend collection for any movie ever in the Hindi belt.
After the mammoth opening and successful blitzkrieg of KGF 2 at the box office, Yash’s popularity across the whole nation has increased manifold. While for everyone he is the face of the film, very few people know that it was his personal and deep rooted vision that got the franchise the fame it has attained today, and if it wasn’t for him the story would almost have never made it in such a big way to the big screen. Director Prashant Neel has now mentioned that KGF’s 8 year-long journey gave them the confidence, which helped them take the film to another level.
The filmmaker also said, “When we started we never thought that we would be where we are today.” Crediting Yash, Neel extended his gratitude and revealed, “The only person that had this vision was Yash. We started this as a small Kannada project and today the film is really big and the expectations are very high. Yash made a singular big Kannada origins movie into two parts and took it to the world. He also penned his own dialogues since he believed in Rocky and could see through him.”
Vishal Ramchandani, Business Head and Producer at Excel Entertainment, Mumbai, still remembers the time distributor Anil Thadani brought the makers of KGF Chapter 1, and Yash, to their office in 2018 with a 4-minute showreel of the film. “It was in Kannada, and though we did not know the language, it drew us in. Prashanth had created a fantastic world that blew us away. Later, Yash came down with a 4-hour cut of the film, and literally translated every line for us. That was the kind of passion they had and we knew we would love to be associated with such a film,” Vishal recalled.
K.G.F.: Chapter 2 is produced by Vijay Kiragandur, under the Hombale Films banner. Written and directed by Prashanth Neel, who’s also helming Salaar with Prabhas, KGF Chapter 2 stars Yash, Sanjay Dutt, Raveena Tandon and Srinidhi Shetty. Like KGF Chapter 1, the sequel is once again being presented in the North by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani‘s Excel Entertainment along with Anil Thadani’s AA Films.