Abilash Joshiy’s King of Kotha (2023), starring Dulquer Salmaan, is the latest gangster film to hit the big screens. Interestingly, it went up against RDX (2023) for Onam, a film where three trained martial artists take on a local gangster group. A couple of weeks before these films came out, the big release in the south was Nelson Dilipkumar’s Jailer (2023), starring Rajinikanth as a former policeman who is at war with gangsters.
All these films have heroes with grey shades, and use violence as a form of entertainment. For instance, in Jailer, Rajinikanth’s Muthuvel Pandian beheads a gangster in a close-up shot. The scene is written to emphasise the superstar’s swag and is meant to be darkly funny. The gangster film is certainly not new, but post-pandemic, filmmakers are increasingly turning to the genre to bring audiences to theatres. The massive success of films like the KGF franchise (Kannada), Pushpa: The Rise (Telugu), Vikram (Tamil), Bheeshma Parvam (Malayalam), and so on, have added to the perception that it is only films that are heavy on action and violence that can guarantee box office results.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is liberal in handing out a U/A certificate for these films though they’re often excessively violent. Nani’s superhit Telugu film Dasara (2023) has a shot of a man being beheaded while riding his cycle, and Upendra’s Kannada film Kabzaa (2023) – clearly modelled on KGF – has multiple beheadings and shots of people being buried alive and then getting shot. In Vikram, the decapitated body of a woman is shown, and in Jailer, the villain’s preferred method of killing people is to lower them in vats of sulfuric acid. The climax of King of Kotha is a lengthy bloodbath where Dulquer Salmaan’s character kills multiple people, including slamming a knife through a man’s head and forcing it out of the back of his head. All these films are rated U/A. On the other hand, quite ironically, Akshay Kumar’s OMG 2, which is about the need to introduce sex education for young people in India, is rated A, simply because of the subject matter.
The current popularity of violent gangster films in the south also lies in the fact that they are more suited for the pan-Indian formula – something the south Indian industries are keen to exploit in the post-Baahubali era. This is because the narratives are not dialogue-centric, and the cinematic highs are provided by Tarantino-inspired action sequences. It’s also a genre where the audience doesn’t expect romance and this suits aging male stars who may find it difficult to look convincing when romancing women stars half their age. Their masculinity is amplified, with the violence increasing from one film to the next. The filmmakers invest a lot of effort into conceiving these action sequences without contextualising the violence or offering a perspective. It unfolds on screen, almost as if they’re meeting a self-accepted challenge – to beat the bloodbath that was shown in a previous release.
How do these new-age gangster films measure up to films of the genre from past decades? And what does the fascination with the genre mean for other kinds of cinema?
It is often said that Indian cinema can be defined as before and after Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan (1987). The Tamil film, loosely based on the life of Mumbai underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar, was heavily inspired by the American crime drama The Godfather (1972). Nayakan had a 214-day theatrical run in Tamil Nadu, and the accolades that the film won began a new chapter in Indian cinema. Though it did not secure a nomination at the Academy Awards, it was later included in the Time magazine list of the greatest movies ever made.
But the gangster film genre already existed in India before Nayakan. Chandra Barot’s Hindi film Don (1978), starring Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, and Pran, for instance, was remade in Tamil as Billa (1980) and was instrumental in establishing Rajinikanth as a major star. Nayakan’s phenomenal success popularised the genre further in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. Some of the most famous gangster films of this period include Siva (1989), Baashha (1995), and Satya (1998).
The trend continued into the 2000s though other genres like romance and comedy were popular too. If Selvaraghavan’s Pudhupettai (2006) was unapologetic and amoral in its depiction of violence, Subramaniapuram (2008) inspired filmmakers to reimagine the gangster film in newer settings. It moved from big cities to smaller places, and the “retro” effect created a sense of nostalgia, novelty, and excitement among the audience. Improvements in prosthetic makeup and other technology made the violence in these films look realistic, and the idea of the “gritty” film caught on. Bollywood director Anurag Kashyap, for instance, has said that his acclaimed film Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) was inspired by Subramaniapuram. Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Angamaly Diaries (2017) is also in a similar vein.
But what sets these films apart from the majority of gangster films being made now is the writing and intention behind the storytelling. An Ormax media report estimated that of the theatre-going crowd in India, 61% is male – 56% in urban areas and 67% in rural areas. The median age of theatre-goers is 27.5 years. This means that a typical theatre audience has a majority of young men, and films that appeal to them have a greater chance of making money than not. With audiences becoming choosy about which films they’ll watch in theatres thanks to OTT platforms, it makes business sense for filmmakers to go with genres that are likely to appeal to a wide section of viewers. So, even if a romcom like Thiruchitramablam (2022) – which has only one fight scene and that too, with a reluctant hero – makes Rs 100 crore, it is still considered to be an outlier in the industry. The aspirational model presented to the audience is still that of a hypermasculine man whose violence is meant to be consumed and enjoyed.
In the ‘70s, the Angry Young Man emerged on screen as a response to socio-political turmoil in the backdrop of the Emergency. But the Angry Young Man we see today is seldom fighting a lofty battle for justice or righteousness. In Pushpa and KGF, for instance, the hero’s descent into crime is very much for personal greed and ambition. These films are set in the past but with the acceptable amorality of our times. They hark back to a certain brand of on-screen rage and marry it with sophisticated filmmaking techniques, celebrating male violence with pumping background scores, sharp editing, and slick cinematography.
The better films of this genre at least attempt to establish the characters and their backstories, but even so, it is the action set pieces that take centre stage and form the core of the film. The hero stylishly pumping infinite bullets into his enemies or slashing and stabbing them is all part of “mass” entertainment. These obviously Hollywood-inspired sequences neither reflect the reality of crime in the cultures where they’re located nor make an attempt to understand it. The motives of the characters and the consequences of their actions are underwritten and not considered important.
Contrast this with the pivotal action scene in Nayakan that marks Velu’s (Kamal Haasan) rise in the world of crime – he beats up and murders a policeman in public view. Though the hero “wins” the scene, the mood is ominous, not celebratory. There is blood and gore, but it’s there for a purpose beyond catering to the audience’s bloodlust. The scene hasn’t been stacked into the screenplay to generate euphoria, it adds value to the plot.
Most contemporary gangster films don’t offer any space for contemplation or breathing space for the characters to emerge as realistic people. They have wafer-thin, generic plots that run on mass moments and star power rather than a fleshed-out script. Take, for instance, Ajith’s Thunivu (2023) which is about a gangster who plans a bank heist for a noble cause. The flashback portion of the film that establishes his motive is so flimsy and badly written that it hardly convinces us to suspend disbelief. The stars remain as stars and don’t transform into the characters that they’re playing.
The gangster genre, which at one point used to produce such exciting and inventive films, has been reduced to a formula. Some of them are indeed entertaining to watch, especially when they offer interesting combinations like Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil, and Vijay Sethupathi in Vikram, but will these films stand the test of time?
With too many guns and not enough originality, the gangster genre today is in danger of shooting itself in the foot. Most of them are imaginative only when it comes to showing which body part can be efficiently removed with maximum blood spray. As of now, the audience is lapping it up, but if filmmakers don’t watch out, they may end up fatiguing viewers sooner than later.
Sowmya Rajendran writes on gender, culture, and cinema. She has written over 25 books, including a nonfiction book on gender for adolescents. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar for her novel Mayil Will Not Be Quiet in 2015. Views expressed are the author's own.