Gabbar Is Back is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language vigilante action film directed by Krish in his Hindi debut, written by Rajat Arora and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film stars Akshay Kumar and Shruti Haasan with Kareena Kapoor Khan and Chitrangada Singh in a special appearance.[2][3]
An official remake of A. R. Murugadoss's 2002 Tamil film Ramanaa, it is named after the titular antagonist played by Amjad Khan from the 1975 film Sholay. The film was released theatrically on 1 May 2015 and became a critical and commercial success.
National College professor Aditya thrashes some goons who try to vandalize college property while he demonstrates his Physics lecture to the students. On his way home one night, he encounters a young lawyer, Shruti, who is in a hurry to take a pregnant woman to the hospital, but the woman's water breaks, and Shruti, claiming to be aware of the delivery process, sends Aditya out. With the delivery being successful, they drive to the hospital, but before Shruti can thank Aditya, she finds him gone. Some days later, she bumps into Aditya again during a fight, and they begin dating. Sadhuram in the meantime finds out there's one honest officer in each department across the state, and is convinced that each of these honest officers has a link to Gabbar.
One fateful day, Aditya and Shruti are checking out of a roadside caf when Shruti is hurt in a minor accident, and Aditya takes her to the Patil Hospital where a female doctor insists on taking a number of expensive tests despite minimal injury. Aditya happens to overhear a doctor try to suggest the rather expensive Caesarean section delivery and is soon convinced of the hospital staff's dirty tricks when he notices a father-daughter duo being informed of the mother's death only after an expensive bill was paid. He deliberately checks in a poor woman's dead husband as a patient; unaware of his trap, the hospital tries to swindle money out of Aditya by pretending to treat the already dead man, making him pay heavily for tests and medicines. However, Aditya shows them the death certificate as a proof of their knowingly admitting a dead man. The young owner of the hospital, Vikas Patil, is furious when Aditya releases the video of the hospital's corruption to the media despite having struck a deal with him. Vikas is murdered by the enraged public, and his father Digvijay Patil sees Aditya in the hospital CCTV footage, only to realize this is the same man he had supposedly killed five years ago.
A flashback soon reveals that Aditya's pregnant wife Sunaina died when the buildings in their colony collapsed and killed hundreds of other people too. Aditya collected proof of the faulty buildings against builder Digvijay, who bribed everyone and tried to bribe Aditya too by offering Rs. 10 million to spare the matter, but Aditya spurned the offer by fighting everyone in the room and nearly killing Digvijay. Aditya spared him when the latter asked for forgiveness, but Digvijay brutally retaliated by hitting him with an axe and left him for dead. However, a bus full of medical students found the unconscious Aditya on a highway and saved his life. He then decided to use the power of idealistic, young, honest youths and trained students at National College to join his cause. Meanwhile, Sadhuram finds that all the honest officers attended National College for graduation. Shruti discovers that Aditya is the real Gabbar and is shocked but when he tells her the truth, she supports his cause.
CBI officer Kuldeep Pahwa takes charge of the case and is mystified by the facts. He listens to Sadhuram's findings, and they arrest the National College students listed by Sadhuram, but upon being beaten, the students do not divulge anything about Gabbar, which enrages him further. Shruti tells Kuldeep that because the law doesn't work, a vigilante like Gabbar has become a hero for ordinary citizens. Sadhuram changes his view of Gabbar. Digvijay kills an honest officer to terrorize others into passing his faulty building plans. Gabbar targets Digvijay for his act. Digvijay throws a birthday party for himself, and as he cuts the cake, he spots Aditya. Aditya and his gang kidnap him. As police search the city for Digvijay in vain, Aditya kills Digvijay in a fight that ensues between the two, following which he surrenders himself to the police and is eventually given a death penalty, sparking huge public protests and enraged students block his jail van. Kuldeep requests him to speak to the students and he does, telling them to channel their anger against corruption and be the change society needs. Finally, while being prepared to be hanged, Aditya remarks that he will die but the movement will live on.
The songs of Gabbar Is Back were composed by Chirantan Bhatt, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Manj Musik, while the lyrics were written by Manoj Yadav, Kumaar, Sahil Kaushal, Manj Musik, Raftaar and Big Dhillon.
Gabbar is back under the direction of Krish. It sounds like some superhero combo. It indeed is. Krish has given Gabbar the power to reduce the corrupt forces in the society to pulp. Gabbar is a teacher, an aam aadmi called Aditya, who teaches gravity and then defies it by bouncing the bribe seekers and their mentors against the ground when he is pushed into a corner by the corrupt system.
Making Gabbar the hero is strong statement on the times we live in but the kind of vigilantism that the film casually promotes till the climax is dangerous. A remake of Tamil hit Ramanaa , the tone is obviously sledge hammer where everything is overemphasised and exaggerated. In the original it was Vijaykanth, here a bearded Akshay Kumar is the captain of the ship. Akshay literally towers everybody in the film and his earthy swagger reflects even in a romantic number. It might irritate the discerning but for the fans of Khiladi Kumar it is the ultimate kick.
However, despite all the reminders of subversion that he is Gabbar and not Gandhi what one really misses is the moral dilemma of a teacher who involves his students in a mission where the corrupt are hanged from the lamp posts without any judicial probe. Nobody asks him why is he turning his personal revenge into a mass movement without knocking at the doors of court and the media? From creating his own code name to the modus operandi to deciding his fate, Gabbar decides everything on his own reducing it to a one-man show. It is one thing to unleash one-man army on a larger than life villain but quite another on something as real as corruption. We have seen the implications during recent events.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
There are many scenes in Gabbar Is Back that made a packed audience of film journalists laugh out loud at its press screening in Mumbai, but none as effectively as this one. A forty-something violent do-gooder named Gabbar (Akshay Kumar) is at a graveyard in broad daylight. An anti-corruption crusader looking to change the system, he and his merry band of vigilantes have kidnapped a highly corrupt police officer, who is to be executed soon to serve as an example. His sort-of love interest has found out that he is a wanted criminal in the eyes of the law.
Gabbar Is Back is this kind of film, which hops genres, sensibilities, and levels of logic with sure-footed ease and Kumar's goofy grin on its face. As an out-and-out masala entertainer, it is one of the more effective films I've seen this year. Its 131 minutes don't feel like too much of a chore to sit through. I am literally as surprised as you are.
But, obviously, not all of this may be intentional on the part of the filmmakers. Gabbar Is Back is the fourth remake of Ramanna (2002), the Tamil hit that also spawned Tagore (2003, Telugu), and Vishnu Sena (2005, Kannada). We're watching a copy of a copy of a copy, whose Hindi makers had the brilliant idea of giving the central character an ironic twist i.e. naming him after Hindi cinema's most iconic villain.
This decision, complete with subtle-as-a-hammer recitations of Amjad Khan's immortal lines in his unforgettable style, was an obvious ploy to get audiences into theatres. Because, let's face it, take away the character subversion and the movie's storyline of vigilante justice is as formulaic as can be. There are times when Gabbar also simply feels like a more f**ked-up version of Munnabhai.
Speaking of Rajkumar Hirani, one of the film's earliest surreal moments -- and there are many -- involves easy-peasy childbirth. Shruti (Shruti Haasan, presumably named so because she didn't want to mask the tattoo of her name on her shoulder) is a lawyer who helps her friend deliver a child (a hilariously fake rubber baby; perhaps the same one from 'American Sniper'?) in the backseat of a car she just flagged down -- in what is possibly the shortest period of labour in human history. At the wheel is Gabbar, also known as Aditya, a bearded, incredibly fit college professor who is seriously popular among his students. His physics lecture -- where he attempts to explain the different kinds of forces (inaccurately) -- is rudely interrupted by gunda-types, so he decides demonstrate what he is talking about by brutally beating them up.
"As an out-and-out masala entertainer, it is one of the more effective films I've seen this year. Its 131 minutes don't feel like too much of a chore to sit through. I am literally as surprised as you are."
What's almost impressive about Gabbar Is Back is how sincerely its hackneyed script tries to set up sub-plots and give its characters genuine traits as well as, occasionally, self-awareness. The college principal steps in to admonish Aditya/Gabbar for being violent on campus. A rotund, samosa-loving cop gets his Gelusil as well as his just desserts later in the film. A corrupt public works officer, upon hearing of Gabbar's exploits, decides to mend his ways and returns bribe money to a potential contractor -- but doesn't forget to add that he'll sign his file only if his track record is legit.
b1e95dc632