Indian Cricket Team member Tilak Varma took to his Instagram Stories to share his views about Kingdom, starring Vijay Deverakonda. "Late to watch this amazing movie because of matches. Congratulations Vijay Deverakonda anna. Arjun Reddy is back," wrote Tilak, who represents the Indian Cricket Team in the T20I format and Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Vijay shared Tilak's message on his Instagram Stories, sending him a heart emoticon and writing, "Enjoy darling."
Many reviews on the internet are comparing Vijay’s performance in Kingdom with his iconic role in Arjun Reddy, with many calling it a more nuanced and restrained performance than the latter and the actor’s career-best performance. A Gowtam Tinnanuri directorial, Kingdom also stars Satyadev, Bhagyashri Borse, Venkitesh, and Manish Chaudhari. The film, which hit theatres last Friday, has grossed a little over 40 crore at the box office, according to Sacnilk.
Vijay Deverakonda and Tilak Varma had a playful interaction prior to the film's release. They faced off in a best of three pickleball match, which Vijay's team won. As a prize, Vijay requested Tilak and his teammate to create a dance reel to the song ‘Hridayam Lopala’ from Kingdom.
The plot of Kingdom centres on long-lost siblings Soori (Vijay) and Siva (Satyadev). After spending many years apart, Soori manages to get his brother's attention, although it results in him engaging with the latter in a lethal combat. Their reunion is emotionally complex and bittersweet. In CE’s review of the film, BH Harsh wrote, “Kingdom is an ambitious failure, somewhat admirable but largely underwhelming… It's not easy to sustain such a grip on a story’s emotional arc, while establishing a fictional universe with all its cogs intact and accessible. Director Gowtam Tinnanuri sadly succumbs to the pressure.”