KGF: Chapter 1is a 2018 IndianKannada-languagePeriod Action Moviewritten and directed byPrashant Neel, and produced byVijayKiragandurunder the banner ofHombale Films. It is the first installment in theKGF Series, followed byKGF Chapter 02. The film features anensemble castincludingYash,SrinidhiShetty,Vasishta N. Simha,RamachandraRaju.. Filmed on a budget of80 crore(equivalent to₹107crore or US$12million in 2023), it was themost expensive Kannada Filmat the time of its release.In the film, Rocky, a high-ranking mercenary, working for a prominent gold mafia in Bombay, seeks power and wealth in order to fulfill his mother's promise. Due to his high fame, the leaders of the gold mafia where he works hire him to assassinate Garuda, the son of the founder ofKolar GoldFields
The film's development began in early 2015, after Neel finished writing the screenplay.Filming began two years later, in January 2017. Most of the film is set in thekolar gold fieldsand was filmed in locales such askolar,mysore, and parts ofnorth karnatka. The film's production was completed in August 2018.bhuvan gowdahandled the cinematography andsrikanthedited the film. Composerravi basrorscored the film.
Thekannadaversion ofKGF: Chapter 1was released on 20 December 2018 and the dubbed versions inTelugu,Tamil,MalaylamandHindireleased the next day.The film received positive reviews from critics and dialogues from the film became famous worldwide. Due to this, the film performed well commercially and collected₹250 crore(equivalent to₹334crore or US$39million in 2023) in its entire theatrical run, becoming thehighest grosing kannada filmuntil it was surpassed by itssequel. It turned out to be acult hit.At the66thnational film award, the film won two awards forstuntandbest special effects.At the66th filmfare award south, the film won two awards from five nominations, including the award for best filmand best actorfor Yash.
Plot
Journalist Anand Ingalagi's bookEL DORADO, which detailed the events at theKOLAR GOLD FIELDS(KGF) between 1951 and 2018, was banned by the Indian government, but a television news channel procures a copy and interviews him.
Government officials discovered goldore in southernMysorestatein 1951. On the same day, Raja "Rocky" Krishnappa Bairya was born to a poor underage Shanti. Suryavardhan, one of the powerful dons and politicians of that time, who accompanied them, killed the officials and leases the land for 99 years under the pretext of running Narachi, alimestonemine, but secretly established K.G.F. and his crime syndicate. For looking after his empire, Suryavardhan appointed five associates: Kamal, son of Suryavardhan's late associate Bhargav, who looks after gold refinery in Varca; Rajendra Desai, who oversees the transportation of refined gold bars coming from the refinery; Andrews, who oversees the gold smuggling in thewestren; Guru Pandian, president of the in-government DYSS party who gave political influence to Suryavardhan; and Adheera, Suryavardhan's younger brother, known for his ruthlessness who headed the security at KGF. Suryavardhan suffers astrokeand appoints his elder son Garuda as the future heir of K.G.F. Suryavardhan expected Adheera to serve as his son's aide, but Adheera unsuccessfully attempts to assassinate Garuda. In turn, Garuda bombs Adheera's car and he is presumed dead. Suryavardhan's associates eye the riches of KGF and plan to assassinate Garuda.
Rocky arrives inBombayas a ten-year-old on a quest for wealth and power as desired by his dying mother, and begins to work for Shetty, a gold smuggler and Andrews' underboss, who competes against aDUBAI-based underworld don Inayat Khalil. Years later, he rises in ranks and oversees the arrival of 'African' gold bars to the Bombay coast. Rocky's influence begins to rival Shetty's own. Andrews', who notices this, offers him Bombay in return for assassinating Garuda. Rocky accepts the offer and heads tobangaloro; he meets Desai's daughter Reena and falls in love with her. This irritates Reena's fiancé Kamal, who immediately dislikes Rocky. A statue inauguration is organised for luring Garuda out of K.G.F. With the help of Desai, Andrews, Kamal and Andrews' secretary Daya, Rocky enters the party office with a smuggledpistol. But the attempt is averted even before it began when they are spotted by Garuda's bodyguards. Rocky witnesses the authority and power that Garuda commands. Seeing no other option to murder Garuda, Rocky journeys to K.G.F, killing a unit of Garuda's henchmen to enter. The workers in K.G.F, who were forcibly kidnapped, are subjected to inhumane conditions and treated as slaves. Rocky becomes one of them and although apathetic at first, he is moved by the cold-blooded murder of a mother and son by a guard. Rocky stealthily accesses the map of the mine in the maintenance room during a roll call and narrowly escapes death after a fellow slave sacrifices himself to save the lives of his wife and unborn child. Andrews, Kamal and Desai are misinformed about the incident and assume Rocky is killed.
Rocky engages in a fight with an entire unit of twenty-three guards, killing each one of them to save a blind slave. With this act, Rocky emerges as a messiah in the slaves' eyes. He orders them to burn the guards' corpses to let Andrews' and his men know he is still alive via their informants, Kulkarni and Garuda's younger brother Virat. Garuda prepares to leave his residence to investigate the fire and missing guards. To avert this, Virat smothers Suryavardhan to death, in order to sidetrack Garuda, who rushes back home.
Shaken by the recent bad turn of events, Garuda ordersMAA KAALI's ritual to be rescheduled from the following week to the next day, planning to kill his father's allies as soon as the ritual is completed. The next day, Rocky heads unsuspected through a tunnel to the site where Garuda has decided to behead three slaves asofferingto the goddess, as Vanaram discovers that the third slave to be beheaded was found dead inside his prison cell. Upon Garuda's arrival and sacrifice of two slaves, a concealed Rocky, who had taken the third slave's place, emerges and beheads him. The ecstatic slaves accept Rocky as their leader.
Ingalagi concludes that Rocky intentionally chose KGF as the location to assassinate Garuda, thereby inspiring an army of slaves to help him seize control. The narrator (Anand) indicates, however, that this is just the beginning. The news of Garuda's murder reaches Ramika Sen, the to-beprime minister of india. Adheera, who was presumed dead, hears the news of Garuda's death and plans to resurface so does Inayat Khalil. All others at the K.G.F including Desai, Kamal, Andrews, Daya, Khalil and Shetty, were overjoyed by hearing the news. As Vanaram orders his men to attack Rocky and his army, a gunshot is heard.
