They Call Him OG movie review: Pawan Kalyan, Sujeeth and Thaman deliver paisa vasool actioner

OG movie review: Emraan Hashmi’s south debut passes muster, but isn’t the most exciting, in the film that’s best described as Telugu cinema’s John Wick

Pawan Kalyan in They Call Him OG

They Call Him OG movie story: When a container loaded with RDX lands at a port controlled by Satya Dada (Prakash Raj), his rival Mirajkar’s (Tej Sapru) son Jimmy (Sudev Nair), sets in motion a series of events that culminate in the return of former gangster and warrior Ojhas Gambheera (Pawan Kalyan). Seizing control of the port and finding the explosive stockpile won’t be easy for big baddie Omi (Emraan Hashmi), what with Ojhas in his path.

They Call Him OG movie review: OG is director Sujeeth’s masterclass on presenting a fan service film – take a charismatic leading man, use his natural swag and mix it with the right amounts of elevations, heighten the impact multi-fold with some banger BGM and throw in some decently menacing villains into the mix. Sujeeth cracks this formula to such good effect that one overlooks the limitations of the story he has.

After settling for a life of domesticity with his wife Kanmani (Priyanka Mohan) and young daughter Tara, Gambheera gets pulled back into the world he left behind, when trouble comes knocking on his mentor Satya Dada’s door. Add in some personal tragedy and Gambheera’s motivation to slice, dice and chop away at the villains is quadrupled, if not more. That’s about all there is by way of story, but Sujeeth packs this with enough characters and sub plots to warrant a lot of gory violence.

Also read: Pawan Kalyan's OG gets 'A' certificate: High violence & cuss words muted, runtime locked

Pawan Kalyan is not at his most agile, so when he is not chopping up people with a sword or machete, he makes do with looks that could kill. And strangely, those close up shots of his eyes end up being very effective. Sujeeth also takes a leaf out of the Prashant Neel school of hero elevation, so there are ample slow-motion shots of Pawan, just sauntering around, with gun, without gun, with sword and without – it’s just all there. Hell, he’s even made a reflection shot of the actor’s legs as he walks through a puddle of water scream swag. You get the gist, right!

Cinematographers Ravi K Chandran and Manoj Paramahamsa are credited with the visuals, but they wouldn’t be half as exciting without music man Thaman’s incredible score. The background score is on another level – this is Thaman on steroids, literally. The film is packed with a bevy of actors and Sujeeth uses most of them to good effect. From Prakash Raj to Shriya Reddy, Harish Uthaman, Sudev Nair, Arjun Das, Priyanka Mohan, etc. pretty much everyone makes a mark in the larger scheme of things, even though the focus is firmly on Pawan.

Personally, I thought Emraan Hashmi’s big south debut as the main villain Omi was a bit of a dampener. A killing machine like Gambheera needed a menacing and formidable opponent; Omi wasn’t that. While OG does feel overstuffed with characters and sub plots, it still manages to remain engaging for the most part.

They Call Him OG movie verdict: OG is not the kind where logic comes into play. Pawan Kalyan is at his A-game in this mass-meets-class tale; but the real hero is, undoubtedly, Thaman, who hits it out of the park with his score. Pawan Kalyan fans will have a jolly good time with this one.

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