Gabbar Singh

Synopsis: Gabbar Singh (Pawan Kalyan) is the inspector of Kondaveedu who has emerged as a thorn in the flesh of the local goon Siddappa Naidu (Abhimanyu Singh). He has a back story, a tortured childhood with his father dying when he was young and his mother marrying Naidu. Gabbar Singh hates his step father but has to mend fences to fullfill a promise he made to his mother.

Movie Review: Gabbar Singh, the character, isn’t as whacky as Chulbul Pandey from Dabangg! He doesn’t strut around in a lungi, nor does he wear his sunglasses on the back of his collar. He sports a regular moustache and has no muscles whatsoever. However, the character still manages to have pretty much the same effect on the audience overall. “Nenu naku poti natho evaru poti ki raleru, raru,” goes a punch dialogue in the movie. It pretty much sums up the performance. It’s vintage Pawan Kalyan with all his trademark quirks and eccentricities. It’s a scream!

All Talk
As far as punch dialogues go, there are quite a few of them. “Naku koncham thikka undi, kani danikoka lekka undi,” tops the list. Followed by lines like, “Peru, gothram cheppadaaniki nenaimainaa gullo poojaarinaa” and “Charitra gurinchi chetta buttala gurinchi aalochinchanu”. There’s plenty for the fans to dig into. But what stands out is his dancing, it’s been a while since the Power Star has danced so much and his moves got the biggest whistles.

In one sequence Gabbar Singh (Pawan Kalyan) gets a gang of squatting goons to play antakshari among them in the police station. For the next five minutes what ensues can best be described as larky mayhem with each of them singing popular tragic songs one after another. The movie is loaded with that kind of humor.

Tailor-made

The filmmakers have tweaked the plot to suit the Tollywood audience's taste palate. Venkatarathnam Naidu (Pawan Kalyan) is the only son of the widowed Suhasini, who marries Naidu (Nagineedu). Venkat detests his stepfather and grows up to become a police officer. He calls himself Gabbar Singh, inspired by Amjad Khan’s character in "Sholay" and grows up to become a cop who is a law unto himself.

He gets posted to his hometown, Kodaveedu where he finds himself pitted against Siddappa Naidu (Abhimanyu Singh), the local goon with political aspirations. The demure Bhagya Lakshmi (Shruti Haasan) plays Pawan Kalyan’s love interest.

As far as performances go, Pawan Kalyan towers over everything else. It’s a tailor made role that carries the movie forward. His body language and dialogue delivery take the cake. Shruti Haasan has to be content playing second fiddle, of which she does a good job. Brahmanadam and Ali entertain with their comic acts.

The music score by Devi Sri Prasad stands out and enhances the whole experience. Malaika Arora’s item number Kevvu Keka is the stand out. The cinematography is sharp and so is the editing. The action sequences also have been well choreographed. The movie sets a new benchmark as far as “paisa vasool” goes.