Ustaad Bhagat Singh movie review: Pawan Kalyan cop actioner has style overload, substance missing

Pawan Kalyan’s star power drives the film filled with slow motion heroism and political undertones. Despite some moments, the weak writing, one-sided narrative, template characters hold it back

Ustaad Bhagat Singh

Ustaad Bhagat Singh movie plot:

Chinnaiah (Pawan Kalyan), a gifted archer is found by an honest school headmaster (KS Ravikumar) during his teens while finishing off elephant poachers. As he grows up inspired by the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, he is named Ustaad Bhagat Singh and becomes a cop. His school teacher is now the chief minister of the state. Meanwhile, a corrupt rowdy Nalla Nagappa (Parthiban) is eying for the CM position, as he locks horns with Ustaad Bhagat Singh in a war between good and evil.

Ustaad Bhagat Singh movie review:

If someone is to give a penny to the audience for every slow-motion frame in Ustaad Bhagat Singh, it would fund them as much needed to produce a film, specifically a Telugu film, for the sheer idea of how much the industry spends on glorifying its heroes with every camera antic as possible. Even with a commercially bankable star like Pawan Kalyan at the centre, director Harish Kalyan employs all tactics to make him look larger than life, not to forget the excessive Dutch angles, which are meant to create unease. If that is what a director wants audience to feel, it is just tip of iceberg in the choices that ruin Ustaad Bhagat Singh, a film that solely rides on being a political extension of Pawan Kalyan’s offscreen ideologies. To add on, a messy commercial template film that never rises above than its stereotypical elements, makes Ustaad Bhagat Singh a messy outing.

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In Ustaad Bhagat Singh, Pawan Kalyan is a fierce cop who can single-handedly finish off his opponents, and fires bullets like it’s a Holi gun. If the protagonist of the movie is staunch Bhagat Singh follower who quotes verses from Bhagavad Gita, there are no brownie points if you guess the villains are part of a Muslim terrorist outfit who infiltrate into India aided by Nalla Nagappa, to subsequently wage a war. Through the film that runs for more than two hours, there are strong hints dropped as to with whom the film’s empathy lies; like when Ustaad Bhagat Singh when asked to erase his forehead tilak, he says that he is simply going to a Muslim area and not Pakistan.

The religious divide is not the only issue in Ustaad Bhagat Singh, a film that contradicts itself too much. When the film finds its humour in dividing the word psychotherapist as ‘psychothe’ and ‘rapist’, it cannot defend itself when it uses a sexual assault as a plot pusher. Speaking of psychotherapist, there is Shlokha (Raashii Khanna) who comes to the forest resort for her sister’s wedding, along with her therapist who is trying to heal her from a break-up. Coincidentally, the forest is also the home for Ustaad Bhagat Singh who happens to be the vigilante of the place. It isn’t funny or romantic when the hero decides to describe each part of Shlokha’s face, to console her about the break up. On the topic of female lead, the movie also has Leela (Sreeleela), a RJ, who is constant chatterbox, but never rises above being the template bubbly girl who endures a tragedy right when things seem to be falling into right places.

Also read: Youth movie review (2026): Ken Karunaas is mature performer in a coming-of-age story that misses depth

Ustaad Bhagat Singh tries to survive solely on its political ideology, Pawan Kalyan’s star power, and camera movements. But its one-sided narrative, blatantly template-driven villains, and weak characterisations prove to become the weak points that bog the film notches below. When the film attempts to paint its protagonist and antagonist as pure black and white, Ustaad Bhagat Singh is simply stripped down to nothing but a weak script.

Ustaad Bhagat Singh movie verdict:

Ustaad Bhagat Singh is a film that you cannot take seriously, merely because it solely attempts to pacify audience with one-note characters and story arcs. The battle between the good and bad merely exist to push an agenda, and put a star on a pedestal. Pawan Kalyan’s heroism and presence come as a saving grace, but how much can a film ride on single shoulder when the expose of weak script is visible in almost every frame. Ustaad Bhagat Singh is barely impressive and undeniably template reliant.

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