Ustaad Bhagat Singh is much less a movie and extra, a lazily constructed automobile for star worship and political signalling, one which shortly wears out its welcome for anybody outdoors Pawan Kalyan’s core fanbase, observes Sreeju Sudhakaran.

Because the title implies, Ustaad Bhagat Singh is the title of our protagonist. He’s an orphan who does not actually have a correct title, so he’s christened after his favorite freedom fighter. When requested if he likes Mahatma Gandhi, he says he respects Gandhi however loves Bhagat Singh extra.

After all, the title conveniently permits him to resonate with each proper and left-leaning audiences. It additionally permits him to take pleasure in wanton violence in opposition to villains whereas sporting a cowboy hat (which, amusingly, is forgotten inside minutes). It goes with out saying that the utilization of the title is solely for hero elevation. On one hand, he claims to be impressed by Bhagat Singh’s writings; on the opposite, he wears an Om pendant and incessantly quotes the Bhagavad Gita.

I perceive Pawan Kalyan’s ‘predicament’. He has to appease the majoritarian sentiment of his fanbase, and that can’t precisely occur if he begins quoting from the Communist Manifesto. Nor can he be proven getting into a Muslim-majority locality with a pink tilak on his brow whereas claiming the place is NOT Pakistan.

What Ustaad Bhagat Singh is about

Ustaad Bhagat Singh, directed by Harish Shankar, could not totally grasp the beliefs of the person whose title it borrows, however it definitely understands the template required to bundle Pawan Kalyan’s motion persona whereas additionally giving him ample room to venture his political inclinations.

For the ‘Energy Star’ and his fiercely loyal fanbase, it is a win-win. For everybody else, it shortly devolves into a well-known, overlong, and exhausting grind.

The story follows Bhagat Singh (Pawan Kalyan), an orphan raised by a kind-hearted headmaster (Ok S Ravikumar), who later turns into chief minister. When the CM is grievously attacked, the opportunistic Nalla Nagappa (R Parthiban) takes over as interim CM, with ambitions of constructing it everlasting.

In the meantime, the CM’s hedonistic son winds up in Bhagat Singh’s village, placing himself squarely within the protagonist’s crosshairs. Quickly, we be taught that Bhagat Singh has a previous — and that previous is deeply intertwined with Nagappa.

Template-Pushed Potboiler

Ustaad Bhagat Singh is so template-driven that it presents little in the best way of shock. The hero is launched with an motion set-piece harking back to Mohanlal’s Malayalam blockbuster Pulimurugan. As soon as he grows up (into Pawan Kalyan), he will get one more stylised entry — once more via motion, once more positioning him as a saviour.

The primary half leans on lighthearted sequences the place Pawan Kalyan and a bunch of comedians attempt arduous to land jokes, aided by meta commentary and now-tired callbacks to different superstars. Raashii Khanna is current primarily to tick the romantic field and ultimately change into a damsel in misery. Her significance to the plot is as evident as the shortage of political agenda within the movie.

Simply when endurance begins to put on skinny, the inevitable flashback arrives. Right here, the hero transforms right into a trigger-happy cop with one more (re)introductory motion scene that frames him as a ‘Hindu’ saviour. Since this flashback monitor dominates virtually everything of the second half, it introduces one other romantic angle via RJ Leela (Sreeleela), whose ‘cute’ antics really feel extra grating than charming, typically rivalling Parthiban’s caricaturish villainy.

There are additionally the standard padding units: A few useless songs — one the place the heroine chases the hero, and one other the place Pawan Kalyan breaks into dance to generate whistles from followers. A token dose of amma pasam is thrown in via Gautami’s character whereas additionally fully losing her. Feminine characters are subjected to harassment and assault, largely to justify the hero’s violent retaliation.

Unsurprising Twists and Unsubtle Propaganda

Given Pawan Kalyan’s present political positioning, there’s additionally a random scene the place he chants ‘JSR’, and one other the place he forces a bunch of regular residents to chant ‘Jai Hind’ at gunpoint. What’s ‘patriotism’, if not performative and coercive?

To additional amplify its ‘patriotic’ pitch, the movie introduces caricatured jihadi antagonists, written and dressed precisely as one would count on in such narratives.

Within the climax, the terrorist chief dutifully checks each field from the right-wing playbook to impress the hero, invoking every part from Operation Sindoor to claims a couple of rising Muslim inhabitants in India pushed by alleged Bangladeshi infiltration.

Sadly for Ustaad Bhagat Singh, if the movie supposed to experience the wave of Islamophobia, it will get outdone by its Bollywood rival of the week, Dhurandhar The Revenge, which embraces that house way more unabashedly.

There are some ‘surprising’ twists and turns the place some characters usually are not who they proclaim to be. If you don’t really feel your jaw dropping, that is as a result of there isn’t a logical buildup for these reveals.

The motion sequences are generic and unimaginative, with no actual sense of stakes. However that is anticipated when the movie refuses to position its protagonist in any real hazard. As an alternative, he wields twin assault rifles like toys, mowing down hordes of villains whereas enemy bullets conveniently keep away from him, as if they’ve opted for voluntary retirement. What considerably works for these scenes is the background rating offered by S Thaman who goes into full Anirudh mode right here.

Ustaad Bhagat Singh is much less a movie and extra, a lazily constructed automobile for star worship and political signalling, one which shortly wears out its welcome for anybody outdoors Pawan Kalyan’s core fanbase.

Ustaad Bhagat Singh Evaluation Rediff Ranking: