e spot black t-shirts with ‘Pawanism’ and red towels that double up as bandanas and gamchas all over the cinema hall.
For legions of Pawan Kalyan fans, the arrival of his film is a festival in itself.
So more than two years after Attarintiki Daredi , when he returns with his characteristic swag and nonchalant attitude that made Gabbar Singh a blockbuster, they hope it will be a treat.
Sardaar Gabbar Singh is set in a dust-laden fictional town Rattanpur, somewhere in the border of Orissa, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh, giving the makers the creative freedom to use a mix of dialects, architecture and textiles.
The gun-totting, unpredictable cop Sardaar Gabbar Singh is posted to this lawless town where the police station is a joke. In the initial portions, the film acknowledges that unforgettable villain character made immortal by Amjad Khan in Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay .
A young boy is asleep with a poster of Sholay covering him. He is unafraid and has a devil-may-care attitude to boot.
The setting of Rattanpur is a nod to the Western genre, with the cowboy hats, guns and horses adding to the fun. A lot happens in slow motion, complemented by Devi Sri Prasad’s background score that’s in sync with the genre. Scratch beneath this milieu and you get an unimaginative story.
An oppressive land grabber Bhairav Singh (Sharad Kelkar) rules with an iron hand and usurps agricultural land for mining. The havoc that his men wreck in the small town is legendary.
Remember the recent Kick 2 and other earlier films in this format?
The fictional town has an old, fading royal family that’s struggling in debt and princess Arshi (Kajal Aggarwal) is its only heir. Kajal Aggarwal looks beautiful and is styled gracefully. Though a tad reminiscent of Magadheera , she does a fine act as the princess in distress.
The rise of Sardaar in this lawless town and how he wins hearts and locks horns with enemies is narrated with a lot of style. He can be deceptively amusing, even silly, before pulling off a surprise. The salon is his adda and a few underdogs in the town, his faithful allies. Some of the action sequences are good and Pawan Kalyan’s trademark histrionics comes to the fore.
Even as you watch him shake a leg or get even with the thugs, there’s a feeling that something is amiss. Pawan Kalyan announces his name with bullet marks patterned as Gabbar Singh; he wears two belts in some scenes and makes the hall erupt when he says ‘Peru gurthundigaa… Gabbar Singh, Sardaar Gabbar Singh’.
Towards the fag end, he even reprises Chiranjeevi’s famous veena step from Indra in a musical face off with a rival gang.
There’s only so much attention these crowd-pleasing moments can hold in the absence of a taut screenplay (also by Pawan Kalyan). The film’s length, 160 minutes, is a deterrent. By the time Bhairav Singh and Sardaar engage in the final battle, one has sat through a number of songs, gags and redundant power games.
Urvashi is impressive in a small role. Ali as the trusted sidekick Samba, Brahmanandam, Mukesh Rishi lend support.
Tisca Chopra, Kabir Duhan Singh and Rao Ramesh are wasted.
Sardaar Gabbar Singh
Cast: Pawan Kalyan, Kajal Aggarwal
Director: K.S. Ravindra (Bobby)
In comparison, Gabbar Singh (2012) seems far more entertaining.
