A cop and bang show all the way

Gabbar Singh
Telugu (U/A)
Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Shruti Hassan, Tanikella Bharani, Abhimanyu Singh
Director: Harish Shankar

No, he’s not risen from his grave. Nor is he the Gabbar Singh of Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay. This Gabbar is Tollywood’s avatar of Bollywood’s Chulbul Pandey (Dabangg) who scorched the screens in the shape of Salman Khan.

However, Pawan Kalyan too is in no way inferior in infusing life into Gabbar aping his Hindi alter ego much to the delight of his frenzied fans.

Stylised to suit this part of the region, Harish Shankar ensures Gabbar Singh has enough meat, mirch and masala for Pawan’s loyals as their screen god goes about his business in regimental clockwork fashion.

Packed with action, peppered with humour and spiced with sufficient romance and a dash of dialogue baazi, Gabbar Singh is paisa-vasool for first day, first show fellows.

It is needless to narrate the doings of dashing cop Venkataratnam Naidu who believes he is Gabbar Singh, being devoutly fed on Sholay’s original.

In his hometown of Kondaveedu, our man in khaki — who styles himself, his station and his side-kick after Sholay — has to fend off irritants like Siddhappa Naidu, the ubiquitous goon-cum-political warlord.

In between, Venkataratnam flips for Bhagyalakshmi, and that too is not without the hiss, hate, kiss and make-up moments. Gabbar single-handedly strives to bring to book baddies with a steely hand, taking on the scumbugs by the dime and dozen.

Yes, it’s Pawan Kalyan all the way, who fights and mouths choicest dialogues.
Shruti Hassan looks gorgeous as the petite village belle. She proves her talent, despite being consigned to a secondary role.

Suffice to say Gabbar Singh is strictly for Pawan Kalyan’s loyals.