A film featuring Pawan Kalyan and director Harish Shankar naturally carries sky-high expectations. The reason is obvious—their earlier collaboration, Gabbar Singh, was a massive box office blockbuster. For Ustaad Bhagat Singh, the director even reworked the story to once again present Pawan Kalyan as a police officer, something Harish Shankar himself mentioned in several interviews. This is also the last among Pawan Kalyan’s pending film projects. His recent release OG turned out to be the highest-grossing film of his career, which further raised expectations for Ustaad Bhagat Singh. However, despite releasing on the festive occasion of Ugadi with huge hype, the film has failed to live up to audience expectations. Director Harish Shankar seems to have wrapped up the film with a very routine storyline. There are hardly any “wow” moments throughout the movie. While Thaman’s background score is decent, the lack of a strong story diminishes its overall impact. Still, the music does manage to inject some energy into the theatre experience at a few places.
The film repeatedly tries to portray Pawan Kalyan as a well-read individual who spends a lot of time reading books. In the climax, the makers incorporate a recent “Operation Sindhoor” episode to conclude the story. As for the female leads, Sreeleela and Raashii Khanna, their roles don’t offer much to talk about. Sreeleela appears only in the second half. The only portions that manage to bring some laughter are the scenes featuring Raashii Khanna along with Satya Rajesh and Praveen in the Nallamala forest sequences. While the first half feels somewhat okay, the second half turns more boring. The villain, played by Parthiban, is also quite predictable and resembles characters already seen in many films, offering nothing new. The movie includes a few political dialogues here and there to elevate Pawan Kalyan’s image. Overall, Ustaad Bhagat Singh fails to create much excitement—even among Pawan Kalyan’s fans.
Rating: 2.25/5