Gabbar Singh

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Gabbar Singh is a 2012 Telugu-language action comedy directed by Harish Shankar, a remake of the 2010 Hindi film Dabangg. It stars Pawan Kalyan as a police officer who names himself after a fictional film character, with Shruti Haasan as the woman he loves. A major box office success, it revived Pawan Kalyan’s career and won him the Filmfare and SIIMA awards for Best Actor – Telugu.

Story

Venkataratnam Naidu grows up resenting his stepfather, who favours his younger half-brother, Ajay. As a boy he renames himself after the screen character Gabbar Singh and is eventually sent away to boarding school. Twenty-one years later he returns to his home region of Kondaveedu as its Circle Inspector, still estranged from his family. There he falls for Bhagya Lakshmi, a handicraft seller, and runs into Siddhappa Naidu, a local strongman who wants to become the area’s MLA and is ready to use Gabbar’s troubled brother to get his way. The film follows Gabbar’s campaign to stop him, and this summary leaves the rest unsaid.

Cast

• Pawan Kalyan as Venkataratnam Naidu, known as Gabbar Singh
• Shruti Haasan as Bhagya Lakshmi, a village girl
• Kota Srinivasa Rao, Rao Ramesh and Jaya Prakash Reddy in supporting roles
• Malaika Arora and Parvati Melton in a song

Making the film

Pawan Kalyan liked Dabangg and bought the remake rights from Arbaaz Khan. Although he first planned to produce it himself, Bandla Ganesh produced it under Parameswara Cine Creations. Pawan Kalyan approached Harish Shankar to direct; the two had earlier planned a project that became Mirapakaay. Shruti Haasan joined in November 2011, replacing Ileana D’Cruz, in the role Sonakshi Sinha had played in the original. The film was launched in Hyderabad on 18 August 2011 and shot mainly in Pollachi; the source gives its budget as ₹30 crore. Jayanan Vincent was the cinematographer.

Music and dialogue

Devi Sri Prasad composed the soundtrack, and the team released songs at Tirumala and at Simhachalam temple in Visakhapatnam in April 2012. The song “Kevvu Keka” draws on folk songs traditionally sung by farmers at work. Only a few lines were written for Pawan Kalyan’s character, but they came to typify the police hero of Telugu cinema; the director said the film’s final line, about the police removing the public’s fear rather than causing it, summed up its message.

Release and box office

The film opened in around 2,500 theatres worldwide. Critics generally found the story formulaic but praised its comedy, screenplay and entertainment value; The Times of India said it set a new benchmark for value for money. It broke box office records: according to the source it earned a record first-week share, ran 50 days in 307 centres and grossed ₹150 crore worldwide, among the highest for a Telugu film at the time.

Legacy

The film made Shruti Haasan one of the most sought-after actresses in Telugu cinema and ended a run of flops for Pawan Kalyan. Several later films took their titles from its songs, and scenes and songs from it were referenced in films such as Naayak, Attarintiki Daredi and Race Gurram. A standalone follow-up, Sardaar Gabbar Singh, was released in 2016.

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.