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They Call Him OG Movie Review: Ah, Mr John Wick - when you set out to avenge your dead dog and stolen car, spawning three sequels and a spinoff, did you ever imagine you’d inspire countless imitators around the world? One such contender has landed this week in the form of They Call Him OG, starring politician and occasional actor Pawan Kalyan. If John Wick is Baba Yaga, here people call him 'Baagul Bua' - which, much to my relief, isn’t an aunt from Karol Bagh, but a local name for the boogeyman. ‘They Call Him OG’ Review: Pawan Kalyan and Sujeeth’s Action-Drama Is a Mass Treat for Power Star Fans, Emraan Hashmi Also Shines in His Telugu Debut.
When someone’s dubbed "the boogeyman," there needs to be a lot of hushed talk and fearful glances before the character finally makes an entrance. The characters in They Call Him OG do exactly that - waiting anxiously for OG to arrive and clear a very bloody mess.
'They Call Him OG' Movie Review - The Plot
So, who is OG? He’s Ojas Gambheera (Pawan Kalyan), a man trained as a samurai in a Japanese temple before circumstances force him to jump ship - literally - to India in the 70s. After saving the gold of smuggler Satya Dada (Prakash Raj), Ojas is taken in as his adopted son.
Watch the Trailer of 'They Call Him OG':
Cut to 1993. A crate full of RDX is forced to land in Satya Dada’s Mumbai port. Jimmy (Sudev Nair), son of Satya Dada’s old associate Mirajkar (Tej Sapru), kills Satya Dada’s biological son in an attempt to retrieve it. Satya Dada hides the RDX, enraging Mirajkar’s elder son Omi (Emraan Hashmi), who returns to India demanding answers - unaware that Satya Dada’s adopted son, long absent, is about to make a vengeful comeback.
'They Call Him OG' Movie Review - Sujeeth’s Ambition and Grand Visuals
They Call Him OG is directed by Sujeeth (Saaho... a single scene establishes both movies in the same universe), who once again shows that he has ambition - though here, it feels scaled down compared to the sci-fi elements of his previous outing. Like many mainstream Telugu directors, Sujeeth loves grand visuals, intricate set-pieces, and layers of moving parts. But towards the end, his many narrative wheels spin out of sync. Stylish ambition feels like a temporary sheen without a strong emotional core to anchor it.
The film is jam-packed with events, subplots, and characters - all seemingly designed to elevate the hero’s mythical status. OG’s backstory stretches from the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the underbelly of Mumbai’s smuggling era, painting him as a man forged by history. And yet, it’s frustrating that such a rich character is trapped in a pedestrian storyline that takes nearly half its runtime to truly start tracking.
Cinematographers Ravi K Chandran and Manoj Paramahamsa give the film a striking, cinematic look, ensuring OG never looks cheap, even when the writing falters.
'They Call Him OG' Movie Review - Fast-Paced but Emotionally Distant
To its credit, the film keeps things moving. The first half, with its chain of killings and chaotic domino effect that eventually pulls OG back into the fray, is engaging enough.
The action, choreographed by Peter Hein, Kecha Khamphakdee, Dhilip Subbarayan, and Ravi Varma, is cleverly edited by Naveen Nooli to disguise Pawan Kalyan’s lack of real samurai training. The marketplace fight - OG’s big adult reveal - hides his sword strikes behind awnings, turning them into blood-soaked curtains for his victims. Another scene where OG protects his mentor is elevated by smart camerawork and editing rather than intricate choreography. But at times, the staging is so focused on making OG look cool that it’s hard to ignore how many villains conveniently forget they have guns.
OG, who had given up on violence for a peaceful family life with a doctor wife Kanmani (Priyanka Mohan) and a young daughter, eventually returns to his violent ways - and you don’t need to be a fortune teller to guess why. If a hero starts the film with a blissful family life, you know someone’s getting sacrificed to thrust him back into the cycle of vengeance. That’s why wives and daughters exist in these stories: if both don’t die, one is spared, so the hero has someone to rescue in the climax. A mentor or father figure won’t do - apparently, they don’t carry enough emotional weight for the script. Saaho Movie Review: Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor’s Thriller Aims to Go Fast & Furious but Peaks At Race 3 Level.
This is one of the major flaws of films like They Call Him OG. Death is everywhere, yet none of it resonates. The villains are dispatched in a flurry of stylised killings, and the 'good' deaths feel like preordained plot devices designed to fuel OG’s rage. Even when he loses someone dear, there’s no emotional impact - because we know their purpose from the start: to die so the hero can rise and the film gets more action and mass scenes.
That said, the pre-interval bloodbath is a gorgeously staged sequence, numbing you with its violent ballet of hackings and beheadings.
'They Call Him OG' Movie Review - A Second Half That Falters Big Time
Post-interval, OG returns to his old hunting ground in Mumbai to face Omi. The police station sequence is easily the best moment of the second half — a scene that finally gives OG some feral unpredictability. Unfortunately, the rest of the second half fails to sustain this momentum. The action becomes repetitive, and we get one too many slow-motion shots of Pawan Kalyan glaring into the camera. ‘They Call Him OG’: Nani Praises Pawan Kalyan’s Film As ‘Original Giant Blockbuster’ (View Post).
One major subplot - OG’s mysterious history with Satya Dada’s grandson Arjun (Arjun Das) and his widowed mother (Sriya Reddy) - which supposedly drove him to leave Mumbai years ago - hints at something substantial. Sadly, it's almost forgotten until the film suddenly remembers Arjun needs to do something in the third act, when an evil Emraan Hashmi and a chain of bomb threats apparently aren’t enough to sustain tension. The subplot is meant to paint OG in morally grey shades, but come on - we’ve watched enough Telugu cinema to know our heroes can’t truly cross the moral line without a justification attached. (Ravi Teja even justified sexual assault as a moral act in Ravanasura!)
Everything leads to a climax where OG must save Mumbai from the villain’s bomb plot - though the film never really bothers explaining why the city is under threat (I know the reason, but in the alt history that OG provides, is it the same?). The final action set-piece gives OG one more chance to unleash his inner samurai, and of course, he saves the day. Never mind the countless lives he didn’t save earlier.
'They Call Him OG' Movie Review - The Performances
Apart from the police station sequence and his climactic outburst, Pawan Kalyan plays OG with a cool detachment that prioritises swag over emotional connection. Emraan Hashmi looks like he skimmed the script just long enough to cash the cheque, while the supporting cast - Arjun Das, Shriya Reddy, Priyanka Mohan, Prakash Raj, Sudev Nair, Abhimanyu Singh, Harish Uthaman - do what they can with thinly written roles. At least Reddy and Nair get a few moments to shine when the spotlight isn’t firmly fixed on PK. But once OG takes centre stage, it’s the Pawan Kalyan show - for better or worse.
'They Call Him OG' Movie Review - Final Thoughts
They Call Him OG is big on style, ambition, and hero worship but light on emotional resonance. Sujeeth delivers a few striking set-pieces and a bloody first half, but the narrative never truly grips you. For fans of Pawan Kalyan, the film will scratch that “mass hero” itch — but for everyone else, this is just another myth-making exercise that prioritises elevation over innovation.
(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 26, 2025 12:53 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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