Gabbar Is Back Review: Death Of A Plot

Aaditya/Gabbar (Akshay Kumar, who looks like a model straight out of an undergarment brand’s ad shoot) is a man on a mission. He kidnaps and kills high-profile government officials like it’s one of the easiest things to do. He delivers punch dialogues with a smirk, while doing dare-devil stunts. He digs out secret information that even the country’s CBI doesn’t have access to. In between all these, he finds time to fool around with a young, stylish lawyer – Shruti (Haasan), who is often more irritating than Nargis Fakhri in Rockstar.

Gabbar Is Back, directed by Krish, is a remake of Vijayakanth-starrer Ramanaa, a 2002 Tamil super-hit directed by AR Murugadoss.  The plot isn’t very novel – A common man taking on the government system.

Gabbar/Aaditya hates dishonesty, corruption and everything evil.  The second time he sees Shruti, she is lying through her teeth to a senior lawyer and his driver. But Gabbar falls in love with her. Because she is pretty, cute and can pout.

Also, there is Chitrangada Singh sizzling in an item number – An utterly sexist, inconsequential song sequence. Singh employs her lips, thighs, cleavage, hips and every body part to make a very strong statement – That sexism is an organic part of Bollywood. To see an actress of her calibre appearing in a libidinous song meant to titillate and objectify is heart-breaking.

*****

From the trailer, Gabbar looked like an Indian version of V For Vendetta. Government officials, ministers and police frantically searching for a man, who is a darling of the public. Wide-angle shots of crowd chanting ‘I am Gabbar’.

But Gabbar isn’t V For Vendetta. It isn’t A Wednesday. It isn’t even 4 The People, a 2004 Malayalam experimental thriller which was about four college students hunting down and killing corrupt officials.

Gabbar could have been better. Akshay Kumar isn’t Vijayakanth. He is versatile and has never let himself  be trapped in an image. In the recent past, he has delivered many power-packed thriller films like Baby and Special 26. But sadly, Akshay Kumar let this one end up as a run-of-the-mill entertainer, not very different from Singham and Dabbang.

Gabbar Is Back is typical Bollywood fare that has has nothing new, except a beard that has done wonders for Akshay Kumar’s face.

 *****

 

The Gabbar is Back review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have an advertising relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.