KGF: Chapter 2

The second installment in a three-part series, it serves as a sequel to the 2018 film KGF: Chapter 1. The film stars an ensemble cast of Yash, Sanjay Dutt, Raveena Tandon, Srinidhi Shetty, Prakash Raj, Achyuth Kumar, Rao Ramesh, Vasishta N. Simha, Ayyappa P. Sharma, Archana Jois, Saran Shakti, Easwari Rao, John Kokken, T.S Nagabharana and Malavika Avinash.

Produced on a budget of ₹100 crore, K.G.F: Chapter 2 is the most expensive Kannada film ever made. Neel retained the technicians from its predecessor with Bhuvan Gowda handling the cinematography and Ravi Basrur composed the film score and songs. Dutt and Tandon joined the cast in early 2019, marking the former’s Kannada film debut. Portions of the film were shot back-to-back with Chapter 1. Principal photography for the rest of the sequences commenced in March 2019, but was halted in February 2020 owing to the COVID-19 lockdown in India. Filming resumed five months later and was completed in December 2020. Locations included Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mysore and Kolar.

KGF: Chapter 2 was theatrically released in India on 14 April 2022 in Kannada, along with dubbed versions in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi languages. It is also the first Kannada film to release in IMAX.The film received positive reviews from critics and audience alike. It recorded the fourth highest-opening day in India, set domestic opening day records in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam, and surpassed the lifetime gross of its predecessor in two days to become the highest-grossing Kannada film. With earnings of ₹1,200−1,250 crore globally, K.G.F: Chapter 2 is the fourth highest-grossing Indian film worldwide, and the second highest-grossing film in India.

Rocky kills heir apparent Virat and takes over the Kolar Gold Fields, keeping Reena hostage to ensure the cooperation of Guru Pandian, Andrews, Kamal and Rajendra Desai. But when Rocky shows his arrogance and teases Reena, Kamal gets enraged and threatens to kill Rocky, which angeres Rocky and he shoots Kamal on the spot. After this, Rocky issues orders to start work in eight hidden mines, while Vanaram, who was captured by Rocky, decides to help him.

Meanwhile, Adheera resurfaces and kills all guards at an outpost. In a ruse to bring Rocky to Adheera, Andrews kills Desai to lure Reena outside K.G.F, and John abducts Reena as per Adheera’s order. While trying to save Reena, Adheera shoots Rocky but spares his life, while his men roadblock all gold exports from K.G.F. Later, Shetty ties up with other subordinates of Andrews across India’s western coast and exterminates Rocky’s allies with Inayat Khalil’s newfound support, but Rocky’s aides kill Shetty’s associates and recapture the coast.

A recuperated Rocky, along with Reena, visits Dubai to deal in gold with Khalil, and also buys Kalashnikovs from him. Rocky and his gang gravely wound Adheera and kill his henchmen with their newly acquired weapons. Exasperated with K.G.F, some central ministers had planned a no-confidence motion against the DYSS-supported government to bring Ramika Sen in power, but Rocky’s henchmen threaten other ministers against the vote and the motion fails. Rocky also kills Shetty, gaining control over Bombay. Pandian warns Rocky of Sen’s rising stature, but he disregards him.

In 1981, Ramika Sen wins the Indian general elections and becomes the Prime Minister. After CBI officer Kanneganti Raghavan briefs her about the situation in K.G.F, Sen authorises Raghavan to raid Rocky’s warehouses. A young Ingalagi is caught spying by Rocky’s henchmen, but Rocky gets impressed by his integrity. The CBI finds nothing in their raids except for a 400 gram-gold bar. Rocky retrieves it from a police station and singlehandedly destroys the police station using an M2 Browning machine gun.

Rocky halts all exports from K.G.F, which strains relations with Khalil, but continues the mining. His aides trace his biological father, a drunkard who abandoned his family, and pays the unaware man to take care of Shanti’s newly shifted grave. Reena confesses her feelings to Rocky and they get married. Rocky meets with Sen and hands her a file exposing his involvement in money laundering, but she cannot consider it as almost all her party members are complicit in the corruption. Still furious after his defeat, Adheera makes his way to K.G.F through a secret passage with Andrews, Daya and John, supported by Khalil’s armada. Just as Reena reveals her pregnancy to Rocky, Adheera fatally shoots her.

In the ensuing clash, Rocky’s army kill Andrews and Daya, while Rocky kills John and chokes Adheera to death. Rocky and his henchmen disrupt Sen’s speech at the Parliament and kill Pandian (who had staged the attack on Garuda for which Adheera was framed, and informed Adheera of Garuda’s attack priorly. He was also the one who showed Adheera the secret passage, goaded Andrews into hiring Rocky, staged the no-confidence motion in Delhi, and persuaded Shetty to join forces with Khalil just to gain Rocky’s trust).

Sen issues a death warrant against Rocky and enforces the Indian Army. Rocky evacuates K.G.F and leaves on a ship with his cache of gold. Before leaving, Rocky forms a new colony for all K.G.F workers. He signals his whereabouts to the Navy, but refuses to surrender. Sen issues orders to bomb K.G.F and Rocky’s ship, and he drowns in the ocean along with the gold, which stays lost till date. Enthusiased with Rocky’s life, a young Ingalagi decides to write a book on Rocky.

In the post-credits scene three months before Rocky’s death, John Booker, a CIA agent, hands over a file consisting of Rocky’s crimes in the USA and 16 other countries between 1978 and 1981, to Ramika Sen. In the present, the peon of 24/News channel finds a final draft of K.G.F: Chapter 3, implying that the story is not over yet.