'They Call Him OG' movie review: Pawan Kalyan and Emraan Hashmi's action-drama has swag, style, and sameness

Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Emraan Hashmi, Priyanka Arul Mohan, Arjun Das, Sriya Reddy, Prakash Raj

Director: Sujeeth

Language: Telugu

Even a superstar like Pawan Kalyan has erred at times. The year was 2016. The nation was still in awe of the meteor called Baahubali. The pan-India phenomenon had just struck the nation. And then this superstar came with his film Sardar Gabbar Singh, which didn’t really set the cash registers ringing. But no star can stay down for long. They belong right up there, in the skies. We are now in 2025. And sky seems to be the limit for this star as his new film They Call Him OG seems to be wrecking havoc. Critical analysis be dammed. The unexplainable exhilaration is a pulsating emotion best felt than curated in banal words. The captain of this ship is Sujeeth. The film also stars Emraan Hashmi. He’s fresh off the comical virality of The Ba***ds Of Bollywood. Not just Kalyan, even this Hindi movie phenomenon seems to be back in his OG avatar.

Coming back to the captain of the ship. This is the director who has made one of the most expensive films of Indian cinema- Saaho. This was Prabhas’s first outing after the monstrous SS Rajamouli opus. The expectations were expectedly gargantuan. But unlike that indulgent misfire, They Call Him OG has swag and style. It’s also far more coherent and charismatic in its telling. A scene where the Demi-god leading man goes bonkers amid the bloodshed and endless gunshots seems to be heavily influenced by Scarface. But mercifully, he doesn’t ask us to say hello to his little friend. The plot is dilapidated. It’s about a man called Ojas Gambheera (OG) who returns to Mumbai after a decade seeking vengeance against rival crime lords.

The filmmaker who reinvented the genre of crime was the once infallible Ram Gopal Varma . This man is also an OG in more ways than one. With Satya and Company, he not only told the stories of guns and gangsters but also the gorgeous and gruesome city of Mumbai. And how the city of dreams (and nightmare) can be both brutal and beautiful. This was the hub of criminals and the underworld back in the 90s and Bollywood often faced the brunt of it. When the dons began to be wiped out, the stories vanished too. We then relied on retro stories. With They Call Him OG, Sujeeth endeavors to bring back those very stories set in Mumbai.

The evil side of the coin is Emraan Hashmi . This actor who completely changed his trajectory after restless erotic scenes and raunchy rendezvous seems to be going back to the kind of telling that made him what he’s today. The slow motion walks, the swag, the devilish demeanour that he flaunts like a second skin. Unfortunately, there are no aching or sweeping ballads for the man. Awarapan 2 still fells a mile away. The action soon morphs into bone-crushing and high-decibel violence and one could blame the curse of Animal for it. Put your money where your mouth is. But it’s also understandable. Makers want their actors to push themselves and test their skills to seduce the masses.

Who would have thought an actor like Ranbir Kapoor (the OG man-child of Hindi cinema who refuses to grow up and who always has to come of age) would step into a world mostly reserved for the action virtuoso? So if RK can do it, why not PK? And the veteran gives the role his all. And Hallelujah! He doesn’t get another Saaho. But he doesn’t get anything unique either. The narrative is as old as hills. It’s what you call old wine in a new bottle. But fans will still savor the deliciousness of the old wine. Bottle be dammed! And just like how they call Amitabh Bachchan Shahenshah, Shah Rukh Khan the Baadshah. It seems Kalyan will soon be cleped OG.

Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)

They Call Him OG is now playing in cinemas