Kabzaa (transl. Possession/Conquest) is a 2023 Indian Kannada-language period action film written and directed by R. Chandru. The film features an ensemble cast of Upendra, Shiva Rajkumar, Kiccha Sudeepa, Shriya Saran, Sudha, Murali Sharma, Nawab Sah, Suneel Puranik, John Kokken, Dev Gill, Kabir Duhan Singh, Danish Akhtar Saifi, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Lakki Lakshman and Posani Krishna Murali.^[3] In the film, Arkeshwara, an air force officer, enters the underworld due to unavoidable circumststances and revolves around his life between 1942 and 1986.

Kabzaa was released on 17 March 2023 in Kannada, along with the dubbed versions of Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam coinciding with the 48th birth anniversary of Puneeth Rajkumar.^[4] The film received negative reviews from critics and became a box-office bomb. Despite the box office failure, a sequel is announced to be in development.

During the British rule in 1945, Amareshwara, a North Indian Maharaja and a freedom fighter, gets brutally killed by the British, where his wife Tulasi Devi (Sudha) and sons Arkeshwara and Sankeshwara, relocate to Amarapura and work as flag sellers. In 1971, Arkeshwara (Upendra) becomes an air force pilot, while Sankeshwara (Suneel Puranik) sacrifices his aspirations of joining the Air Force for his brother. Arkeshwara returns to Amarapura for a short holiday, where he spends time with his mother and girlfriend Princess Madhumati (Shriya Saran), who is the daughter of the head and maharaja of Amarapura Veer Bahaddur (Murali Sharma).

Amarapura has always been involved in gang wars between three gangsters: Khaleed (M. Kamaraj), Bagheera (Nawab Shah) and Malik (John Kokken). When CM Ghanshyam Pandey (Lakki Lakshman) learns about Veer Bahaddur's plan to nominate himself as a candidate for the CM, to regain power over the people, he hires Khaleed to create chaos in Amarapura, along with his son Sartaaj (Taaha Shah). Sartaaj begins the chaos until Sankeshwara kills him for shooting an old woman. Enraged, Khaleed kills and beheads Sankeshwara, which disturbs Arkeshwara and Tulasi. An enraged Arkeshwara later kills a police officer for insulting his family, upon which he is sentenced to prison and expelled from the Air Force. Later, Khaleed hires a dreaded gangster Bali (Danish Akhtar Saifi) to kill Arkeshwara in prison, but Arkeshwara kills Bali.

Sensing an opportunity to get rid of Khaleed, Veer Bahaddur bails out Arkeshwara. Khaleed organises a hit against Arkeshwara, but Arkeshwara finishes Khaleed's men and kills Khaleed, thus seeking justice in Sankeshwara's death and marking his foray into becoming the next crime boss of the Bangalore crime syndicate. However, trouble ensues for Arkeshwara, as he has to deal with Malik and Bagheera. Veer Bahaddur wins the election and becomes the CM. Madhumati informs her decision to him on marrying Arkeshwara, but Veer Bahaddur disrespects her decision and Arkeshwara, leading her to elope with him. Arkeshwara kills Bagheera and Malik, and occupies their empire, where he becomes a dreaded gangster overnight.

In 1973, Arakeshwara leads a family life with Madhumati, their two children and Tulasi Devi, in a massive palace. On their wedding anniversary, Madhumati heads to Veer Bahaddur for reconciliation, but he holds her captive in a cell and tells her about how he used Arkeshwara as a weapon to destroy Bagheera, Khaleed and Malik. He also reveals to her that he tried to get DSP Vikram (Dev Gill) arrest Arkeshwara, but to no avail as he died at the hands of Arkeshwara. Veer Bahaddur then separates Madhumati from her sons and proceeds to burn them alive.

Meanwhile, Arkeshwara gets worried about Madhumati and their children. He calls up Veer Bahaddur to find about their whereabouts, but later gets surrounded by the ruthless cop Bhargava Bakshi (Kiccha Sudeepa), along with his battalion. Just as he is about to retaliate against them, a mysterious gangster named Siddhantha (Shiva Rajkumar) arrives with his gang and aims his weapons at both Bakshi and Arkeshwara, ordering them to be fired, thus hinting a sequel.

The film's shoot was stopped due to COVID-19 pandemic and it was resumed in March 2021.^[7] Meanwhile Asha Bhat was joined the cast in 2022.^[8][9] Meantime actor Nawab Shah joined the shoot in October 2021^[10] and later Sudeep joined the sets in December 2021.^[11] The film marks the debut of Murali Sharma in Kannada.^[12] The team later announced that Shiva Rajkumar has done a cameo appearance in the film.^[13] Casting part manage by Roshan Pathak.

The music of the film is composed by Ravi Basrur. The first single titled "Kabzaa Title Track" was released on 4 February 2023. The second single titled "Namaami Namaami" was released on 16 February 2023. The third single titled "Chum Chum Chali Chali" was released on 26 February 2023.

The motion poster of the film was released on the birthday of Upendra on 18 September 2021.^[14] The film's teaser was released in September 2022.^[15]