Movie Review

Rating :

Verdict : Gabbar is Back is entertaining but also over-the-top and preachy.

Gabbar is Back is a remake of Ramanaa, a Tamil film directed by A. R. Murgadoss. To justify that, the producers have signed a South Indian film director Krish and a massy actor Akshay Kumar. Clichéd subjects like revenge, corruption and agitation incorporated, will all of this work for this extreme masala film?
 
Story:

Professor Aditya (Akshay Kumar) teaches the importance of cracking down on corruption to his students at National College. These vigilantes set out on a mission to weed out corruption from the state with Aditya adopting the pseudonym Gabbar. They compile lists of the most corrupt in different departments like government officials, tehsildars, cops and subsequently kill them by publicly hanging them. All these actions lead to fear among the corrupt people to ask or give bribes and their mission gets connected with the youth of the country.
 
The police department eagerly wants to know who this Gabbar is but fail to figure out his identity. Constable Sadhu (Sunil Grover) tries to find the clues to Gabbar but his attempts are suppressed by seniors until CBI officer Kuldeep Pahwa ( Jaideep Ahlawat) lends him a ear. He also roams around with Google-obsessed Devaki (Shruti Haasan) who is also unaware about his vigilante status.
 
Digvijay Patil (Suman Talwar) is a super-corrupt businessman who kills bribe-evading officials and was responsible for killing Aditya’s wife (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and unborn child. He also attempts to kill Aditya but he somehow survives and that sparks the seed in him to eliminate corruption and Digvijay. Does Aditya manage to kill Digvijay and what happens to Aditya in the climax?, forms the basic premise of the story.
 
Positive points:

Akshay Kumar’s performance is one of the highlights of the film. He is brilliant while mouthing heavy-duty dialogues or when he feels despair or when he laughs in the climax. Some of the group’s plans like the one to bring Digvijay back from Dubai through the plot of graft in the hospital were good. The action scenes are also well-shot and well-acted.

The montage featured in the song Teri Meri Kahaani depicting Akshay-Kareena flashback romance was good. Chitrangada Singh sizzles in the item song ‘Aao Raja’ and it is a full-on-energy number. Sunil Grover as the driver-constable came up with a fine act. The climax is a bit different than the usual masala films and the attempt at an emotional angle was good. Some of the supporting cast members were good. Some light-hearted and humorous scenes involving Shruti and scenes in police station ensured it’s not fully serious.
 
Negative points:

Digvijay is shown as a menacing businessman who is completely immoral and doesn’t mind killing the honest individuals. Considering his experience of killing people, it is unlikely that he thinks he killed Aditya but still he miraculously survives. Aditya surrenders himself to the cops as soon he gets his personal revenge, isn’t he being selfish in leaving the mission against corruption?
 
When cops are unable to enter National College due to a blockade, they don’t fight and just walk away. Apart from these and several other plot loopholes, performance of villain Suman Talwar was lackluster. He is too over-the-top just like some aspects of the film. Shruti Haasan doesn’t have much to do but even in that much, her dialogue delivery with a slight South-Indian accent doesn’t help the purpose. Scenes like the police van getting blocked by innumerable protesters and Akshay standing on top of it and delivering lines ‘Kaun Hai Gabbar’ might be over-the-top and preachy for many. The attempt of a Bhagat Singh kind of end is not too convincing.
 
 
Technical points:
 
The use of VFX and visual effects for scenes involving building collapse and massive crowd gathering is brilliant. Editing and direction is average and could’ve been better. Background score and cinematography is good but too South-styled. Dialogues in a masala film are extremely important and ones like ‘Sher Ka Shikaar Karna Ho Toh Bakri Ko Aankhon Ke Saamne Rakhna Padta Hai’ will surely have the single screen audiences going gaga.
 
On the whole, Gabbar is Back is a must-watch for fans of hardcore masala action dramas without too much of logic and should be avoided by the others.