Gabbar Is Back
Year: 2015
Director: Krish
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Shruti Hassan, Suman

Without any filmi family background or any big banner godfather, Akshay Kumar has been coolly churning 100 crore hits one after another. Now with Sallu bhai facing crunch time in his legal battles, Akki remains Bollywood’s top draw when it comes to delivering box office hit out of nothing…literally nothing!

Gabbar Is Back is yet another resounding proof of that ability. As this film, a remake of a Tamil hit, races to become the year 2015’s fastest earner, let’s just see what it has got.

What’s the plot?

 It is a story of a wronged man, a Physics professor in one of the colleges, who was once left for dead after a brutal assault for standing up against a corrupt builder. But somehow he survived that ordeal and came back stronger. Now assuming a secret identity- Gabbar; he has formed a state-wide undercover team of dedicated vigilantes and has started killing off corrupt individuals one by one. With corrupt civil servants, cops, doctors and builders facing his wrath, Gabbar evokes intense media speculation and sharply divides public opinion- with majority supporting his ‘corruption clean-up’! A special team of cops, headed by a CBI agent, is set up to nab Gabbar but he keeps eluding them. What will be the culmination of his mission?

Verdict

A crudely concocted plot…Check!
An improbable chain of coincidences….Check!
A back-end soapy story of romance and revenge….Check!
Over the top melodrama….Check!
Laughable villain….Check!
Meaningless item songs…Check!
Gut wrenching action scenes….Check!
Pseudo-philosophical patriotic lectures….Check!
Underwhelming performances….Check!

If with such terrible attributes the film is still managing to tick the 100 crore box in the box-office collection column, then the credit must go to the main lead Akshay Kumar. He alone delivers a watchable performance and carries this mere skeleton of the film on his shoulders! The rest of the cast just tags along without making much impression.

Gabbar Is Back is not even an entertainer in the Masala Movie bracket but still its screechy preachy anti-corruption motif seems to have touched a raw nerve somewhere. And be forewarned- besides using some famous dialogues with twists, there is no connection to the Bollywood’s most famous villain - Amjad Khan’s immortal Gabbar Singh from Sholay!

Watch it only to realize once more, how inexplicable the box office verdicts are!
 

Rating

1.5 stars