Review of Gabbar is Back

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Cast: Akshay Kumar (Aditya aka Gabbar), Shruti Hassan (Shruti), Sunil Grover (Sadhuram), Suman Talwar (Digvijay Patil), Jaideep Ahlawat (Kuldeep Pahwa), Kareena Kapoor Khan (Cameo), Chitrangda Singh (Item song)

Direction: Krish

Produced by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures

Written by: Rajat Arora

Story: A Murugadoss

Music: Songs – Chiranta Bhatt, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Manj Music, Bacground Score – Sandeep Chowta

Cinematography: Nirav Shah

Edited by: Rajesh G Pandey

Production Company: Bhansali Productions

Distributed by: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures

Release Date: 1^st May, 2015

Duration: 130 minutes

Language: Hindi

Gabbar is Back, a film by Director Krish and remake of 2002’s A Murugadoss’ Tamil Film Ramanna. The iconic character and villain of Sholay - Gabbar’s name is being used for the protagonist of this movie. Gabbar is absolutely non-erasable from Indian Cinema. As such, there is no similarity between Amjad Khan’s Gabbar and Akshay Kumar’s Gabbar. The former one had ‘naam aur Kaam villain ka’ whereas the later one has ‘naam villain ka, kaam hero ka’. The theme of the movie is really relevant. It talks about the corrupt system existing everywhere in our country, be it government officials, builders, hospitals etc. We have seen this theme many times offlate.  There was tremendous scope for this movie to be a great one, but the screenplay falters. Lot of punch lines and dialogues are used which at times goes overboard. Also, the songs pop out, which do not add much to the screenplay. In fact, we have seen this Akshay Kumar also in the past who tries to fight the system. Still, one can watch the movie for its theme. None of us can deny that fact that the system needs cleaning from top to bottom and that is what is shown in the movie. All of us can relate to various scenes, corrupt medical system - where a hospital is exploiting the patient’s family, government officials demanding money to do every work, builders bribing the officials to get sanction for illegal constructions / or use poor raw materials for construction etc. I completely resonate with a dialogue of the movie: Himmat hai to power nahi, power hai to himmat nahi, and agar power aur himmat hai to corruption hai. So, to clean the system, lot of such Gabbar (s) are required. PWD (Power Wala Danda) is required.

Akshay plays the role of Aditya aka Gabbar, who is in a mission to flush out the corruption from the society and he literally eradicates corrupt officials from the society. Initial shots show him surfing and finalizing the list of corrupt Tahsildars and very soon police officials get the information of kidnapping of 10 Tahsildars in and around Mumbai. One of them (the most corrupt one) is hanged with files tied to his body and rest of the nine although return home, don’t speak out. Nobody knows the identity of Gabbar, nobody has seen Gabbar. So, Police officials and media keep discussing about how to catch Gabbar. Police officials, media, common people get a CD with Gabbar’s voice in it that his mission is to get the corruption out of the system. There is Sadhuram (Sunil Grover aka Gutthi of Kapil’s Comedy show fame), a junior personnel in the Police Department, who had the talent and aspiration to be an Inspector but could not get the much deserving post due to corrupt system. Sadhu keeps trying in spite of being discouraged / humiliated by his senior officials to search for Gabbar in his own manner and later, he indeed gets clues about Gabbar’s identity.

Later, the script reveals the story of Akshay of how and why he transformed from Aditya to Gabbar. Opposite him, there is Digvijay Patil (Suman Talwar), a real estate tycoon, who believes that he is a brand in himself. Patil blames Gabbar for the miseries caused to him. Then the fight starts between the two.

CBI official Kuldeep Pahwa (Jaideep Ahlawat) takes up the charge for catching Gabbar, but he also seems to be relying more on Sadhuram.

Shruti Hassan, plays Akshay’s friend (cum love interest), a lawyer by profession, who relies on google information. She is very average in this movie.

I wish that both Akshay and Shruti sported a better hairdo. Akshay’s beard is also not going with his looks.

Akshay is there in every frame of the movie. He and Sunil Grover carries most parts of  the movie on their shoulders. Kareena appears in a song sequence. Chitrangda in an item number – Oh, I felt sad for her, absolutely wasted in this item number.

What is the plan of action of Gabbar? What about Digvijay Patil and CBI officer’s plan? How Sadhu manages to get some clues? What made an ordinary person transform to Gabbar ? What was the old score between Digvijay Paatil and Gabbar, which had to be settled off? How does the climax shape up? Do you get to hear the unforgettable dialogue of Gabbar – Tera kya Hoga Kaaliya?

"Gabbar is Back" can be watched only because the message is loud, clear, and very relevant. Dedicated to Swachch Bharat. My rating of 3 goes because of the theme of the movie.

Rating: 3/5 (Good)