Ustaad Bhagat Singh, produced by Mythri Movie Makers, was released in theatres today. In this section, we are going to review the latest BO release.
Plot:
Bhagat Singh (Pawan Kalyan) is a formidable high-profile cop with undying loyalty to the Chief Minister (KS Ravi Kumar). When the power-hungry Nalla Nagappa (R. Parthiban) launches a ruthless plot to seize the throne, Bhagat must dive into the line of fire to avert a political catastrophe. Amidst the chaos and flying bullets, a spirited RJ named Leela (Sreeleela) finds herself falling for the man behind the uniform. When the ultimate showdown arrives, Bhagat must unleash every weapon in his arsenal.
Performances:
Pawan Kalyan delivers calibrated impact. His acting is like a delivery system for spectacle and swagger. He takes charge of the film from the first scene and holds it tight all through - that is, whenever the script doesn't go full retard.
R Parthiban, the chief antagonist, is good. Rao Ramesh is effortless and thankfully not exaggerated. Raashii Khanna plays someone grappling with a recent heartbreak; her character is secondary, because no political stalwart or terrorist wants to kill her. Sreeleela serves up a glamorous performance as someone who doesn't need to have existential questions just days after being caught in the crossfire of an anti-terror operation.
Temper Vamsi plays a negative role in the second half. Srinath Maganti, Mahesh Achanta, Kamal Kamaraju, Gautami, Chammak Chandra, Prabhas Sreenu and others are seen in bit roles.
Technical Departments:
As someone who has handled some big-scale movies in Hindi, cinematographer Ayananka Bose makes sure that the mass moments matter. His camera angles do justice to the punchiness of several scenes. However, it is not inventive by any stretch. Devi Sri Prasad's songs (read Dekhlenge Saala and Collar Ey Etthara) are strategically placed; the problem is, nobody asked for that strategy. The fight choreography relies excessively on Pawan Kalyan's swagger. The punches are all about the hero's devil-may-care shoot-outs and nothing else.
Post-Mortem:
Harish Shankar's treatment intends to be an ode to the star in Pawan Kalyan, the entertainer rather than the actor. The screenplay (by Dasaradh and others) attempts to deliver full-on masala entertainment value. Logic, nuance, and consistency are irrelevant to the grammar of the film.
A weak villain is one of the most common criticisms of failed masala films. Because without a formidable foil, the hero’s heroism feels weightless. Ustaad Bhagat Singh terribly suffers from this deficiency.
Build-ups to the action blocks are non-specific and repetitive. And when the hero finally interacts with the scene's biggest baddie, the latter and his henchmen are hilariously clueless. In a high-stakes fight sequence set in the Old City (a studio set, actually), hundreds of supporters are around the villain, but none of them knows how to snatch the pistol from the hero's hand. This is not unpardonable writing; for even blockbusters have shown variations of this idea. The problem is that it all feels like an imitation rather than gritty.
The screenplay slowly devolves into a cop story where the villains' wrath is just a formality and the politician-mafia nexus is a footnote. The most substantial part of the plot - the terror angle - remains unexplored and is introduced too late.
Several lines lean heavily into the meta-narrative, with characters lamenting how long it's been since Bhagat’s Vishwa Roopam was last witnessed. These paeans are sandwiched between bland gunfights that clearly mimic the style of They Call Him OG, albeit without the gritty color palette. Pawan repeats his "groundwork/network" mantra three times, eventually declaring himself an "atom bomb" who doesn't need an appointment. This boast is particularly ironic given he has just walked directly into the home of a top-tier politician; one wonders if he managed to barge in simply by reeling off that same punchline to the security guards.
The screenplay leans on tired, manipulative tropes to manufacture stakes. A Ratha Yatra is predictably stalled by rowdies who go out of their way to assault the priests, followed by the brutal rape of a woman.
Closing Remarks:
Ustaad Bhagat Singh is a loud, unapologetic tribute to Pawan Kalyan’s screen presence that unfortunately forgets to bring a coherent script along for the ride.
