Film Review: Yellow Gangs (2022) by Ravindra Parameshwarappa

There has been an upward curve in the popularity of drug thrillers in India. Iconic and popular works like Shah Rukh Khan's “Don” films have touched a nerve at the box office and set a trend for many others to follow; the danger and intrigue of the living fast, dying young subculture being ripe for entertainment. More recently, Ajay Devgn's “Bholaa” hastily remade Lokesh Kanagaraj's “Kaithi”, and the two form a high-octane diptych of one man's vengeance against a vicious industry of corruption and murder. Enter “Yellow Gangs”, Ravindra Parameshwarappa's Kannada-language epic crime thriller that sees a wide-ranging cast of lowlives, thieves and killers wrapped up in a chaotic whirlpool of their own making. 

“Yellow Gangs” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

We're introduced to the dilapidated world of “Yellow Gangs” in a credits sequence that explodes with the pulpy texture of a graphic novel and the furious fluid energy of a video game. The grit and rust of its opening places this firmly on street level; even the most influential bad guys in this story have to do some dirty work. One such villain is Ushna (Arun Kumar), a drug kingpin whose product ends up in the possession of the police after a very low speed car crash. Backs to the wall and hands on their pistols, his gang stash their ill-gotten gains in the home of a corrupt accountant (Sriharsha H S), who steadily becomes the centre of the drama as a growing interest from rival gangs led by Tentnaga (Sathya B G) and Krishnappa (Bala Rajwadi) shines a spotlight on his home, his mysterious new car and his numerous connections to nefarious types on both sides of the law.

That is a very quick summary of the expansive structure of “Yellow Gangs”. At 133 minutes, it bites off a tremendous amount of story (maybe more than it can chew), navigating between the interior life of corrupt police officer Vikram (Dev Devaiah) and his more-than-meets-the-eye girlfriend Priya (Archana Kottige), the escapades of two bumbling henchmen (Natya Ranga and Vittal Rangayana), and a shady car salesman (Sathya Ummathal) and his beef with people not respecting parking laws. Each of these threads pull the plot in different directions, sometimes counterintuitively and against the better interests of the overall picture. The storyline involving Tentnaga's gang initially seems to set up a risky jewellery store heist that involves infiltration, undercover investigation and other nifty tactics to net a big score. This is dropped in favour of linking up with the unreasonably extended grand theft auto plotline that ultimately reaches the most obvious, deflating conclusion possible for this type of crime movie. 

That being said, there are still some entertaining touches to Parameshwarappa's film. A ludicrous third act shootout (full of slow-motion, shocked facial expressions and blood squibs) looks like it was a hell of a lot of fun to shoot, and there are a few instances of high-tech silliness (like digital combination locks on duffel bags full of cash) that add some eccentricity to an otherwise gritty story. However, these are fleeting moments in a mostly murky plot, filled with stock character types that are given the air of complexity, but lack the humanity to really make this multi-story car yarn land as anything other than a dull genre pastiche.

The large cast are committed to the material, giving equal parts swagger and broodiness to some ripe dialogue. The standout is Dev Devaiah as the dirty cop in over his head, whose constant schemes played and debts owed are written on his anxiety-ridden face. In some quieter moments, he has some fine love-hate chemistry with Archana Kottige, who turns an initially thankless role into one of the most memorable characters in the entire venture. As for the hardened bad guys, it's Bala Rajwadi's pious gangster Krishnappa that makes the biggest impression, ash smeared on his forehead as he's literally driven on a fateful mission to get the car of his dreams. He's an unpredictable presence, hiding behind the veneer of religion as a way of satisfying his psychotic tendencies and thus becoming the best of a rogue's gallery of antagonists.

The cast are allowed to move with attitude to a grungy score by Rohit Sower, and Sugnaan's hard-edged cinematography throws in a few dynamic features to keep things interesting. Ultimately however, “Yellow Gangs” is a lot of promise and very little delivery, taking detours and diversions away from its set-ups when it needs to commit to them. Although not without some intriguing features, Parameshwarappa's massive melange of modern crime movie moments is just that, and not a lot more.