Since morning the news that is trending has been the conviction of Salman in the "hit & run" case of 2002. Though it took quite an awful lot of time, the judicial system has once again reaffirmed our faith that no one is above the law & I am glad that justice has been served. Interestingly, I happened to watch Akshay's "Gabbar is Back" last night where an individual tries to rein in the corruption of the system. So was his fight against corruption, worth my time???

The film unfolds with the police being informed that 10 tehsildars across Maharashtra were kidnapped & even before they could unlock the mystery behind it; one of them was executed who incidentally turned out to be the most corrupt among the lot. This was followed by a message from the executioner "Gabbar" who emphasised that this was just the beginning of a series of executions in other similarly corrupt departments. Incidentally, Gabbar was the pseudonym of Professor Aditya (Akshay Kumar) who along with his band of former students had decided to crusade against corruption. So what had prompted Adi to take this step & can the police stop him from committing further executions???

Just like numerous other Bollywood movies, this was the remake of A.R Muragadoss's "Ramanaa" (which happens to be the only Vijayakanth film that I actually liked). Even though I knew the story, I was kinda keen to check it out after all it had Akki & it was also directed by Krish whose "Vedam" I had really enjoyed. Unfortunately, there was nothing much worthwhile in this movie as the whole product looked jaded with no efforts being made to make the proceedings engaging & it was made all the more appalling thanks to Shruti Hassan. So were there any positives in the movie??? Hmm...to be frank, nothing that I could possibly think of . None of the technical aspects, deserves special mention & even the BGM does give you a headache.

Well Akki barely had much to do apart from exhibit his martial skills & he did seem to have done a fairly decent job, in a role which offers not much scope for performance. Shruti Hasan was downright pathetic & the way she keeps blabbering about "Google" made me wonder as to how come she never got an ounce of acting talent considering the genes she possesses. She has proved that the proverb "Practise makes a man perfect" isn't true coz it's high time she improved. Sunil Grover of "Comedy Nights" fame impresses while Suman Talwar had to mouth just one dialogue for majority of the time & flare his nostrils.

Verdict: The film is unlikely to create any sort of tussle at the boxoffice & will sink without a trace. In short, you can check it out on TV but make sure to skip through the portions of Shruti Hasan or else you might end up spending money to repair the damage that you would do to your television!!!

Rating: 1.5/5

Regards...Ben

I could bet this is the nth time a film based on the theme of a common man turning into a city vigilante is made. Although I am not quite sure of the purpose of creating such movies, Gabaar is Back is no different from its previous/similar versions.

A good guy who tried to fight with the bad guy ends up almost dead after his pregnant wife is also killed in an unrelated incident. Years later, the good guy, now convalesced and fit and fine, starts an underground vigilante group, hiring fellow students who he thinks has the ability to change the way the bureaucracy works (in India). Plus, a girl who had been roaming around the studio (while the film shooting) for a role was given to play the character of a girl who I have not yet been able to fathom the necessity of.

The protagonist constantly repeats "Gabbar is back!" so as to reiterate the fact, which may be to wake up the audience if the ennui had rendered them dead asleep. The plot is straight preachy and deals with giving us superficial pleasure to know that corruption has finally been wiped off the tables. But once you get out of the theater, you may still get anxious that tomorrow you have that police verification for the issue of passport where you will need to grease few hands. Unfortunately, Gabbar is fictitious and will stay that way. If one fails to realize that, the film is a definite 10 on 10.

Even a fourth grader could guess who plays the characters I have mentioned above, so I won't go over it. Their performances were fine, and there's nothing much to talk about, except maybe Kumar; he does a better job and the three stars are for him. Shruti Haasan acts like she was handed a textbook and asked simply to read.

BOTTOM LINE: Gabbar is Back uses the same old formula where the common man turns into a rebellious smart-Aleck who suddenly has the skills of a martial artist-wrestler crossover and brains of a genius. The only difference is he's trying to eradicate corruption this time; its sequel will deal with attacks on women, and betel-nut- chewing Bhansali tells my sources that "Gabbar will be back after he makes love with his Girlfriend (2034)" will deal with selfie stick abuse and android sex. 3/10 - avoidable.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES