In a market packed with Indian action thrillers, They Call Him OG (2025) walks in like an old-school don reclaiming his territory, bold, loud, and full of swagger. Directed by Sujeeth, this Telugu-Hindi bilingual plays out as a high-voltage showcase for Pawan Kalyan, mixing gritty gangster drama with larger-than-life hero moments that clearly target the mass audience. Released on 25 September 2025 to a record-breaking opening, the film runs for a sharp 150 minutes, flooding the screen with action while falling short in storytelling depth. It favours spectacle over nuance, and while it does not change the rules of the genre, it gives fans exactly what they want from a star-driven action entertainer.
Plot: Blood, Betrayal, and Comebacks in Mumbai and Tokyo
At its heart, They Call Him OG tells a revenge story wrapped in classic gangster trappings. Pawan Kalyan plays Ojas Gambheera, known across the streets as “OG”, a once-dreaded Mumbai crime boss who vanished ten years earlier after a brutal betrayal. During his disappearance, he trains in secret in Tokyo dojos, then returns as a silent storm, set on burning down the empire that tried to erase him.
The film opens with OG’s re-entry into Mumbai, timed with a power struggle in the underworld. Rival gangs fight over narcotics routes and black money, and into this chaos steps Emraan Hashmi as the smooth, snake-like villain, a modern crime lord who runs his cartel like a corporation, only with more bodies left behind.
Sujeeth folds in a clash of values, putting OG’s old-school sense of loyalty against Hashmi’s cold, global outlook on crime. Flashbacks show the events that pushed OG into hiding: a near-fatal betrayal by a rival femme fatale, played with icy calm by Sriya Reddy, which forces him to retreat to Japan. There, he sharpens his skills, blending yakuza-style precision with raw street brutality.
Around this core, the script adds subplots involving OG’s broken family, who get dragged into the gang war, and a slow-burning romance. Priyanka Mohan plays a determined journalist who investigates the syndicate and becomes OG’s emotional anchor. The story builds toward a violent showdown in a glittering skyscraper, where OG and his enemies face off among explosions and shattered glass as good predictably crushes evil.
For all the momentum and action, the storyline leans heavily on familiar beats. Viewers will spot shades of John Wick in the comeback-from-the-dead idea, and traces of Gangs of Wasseypur in the family and revenge angles, only without that film’s raw emotional weight. A few twists, including a mid-film betrayal from an ally, are easy to see coming. A tighter script could have kept the strong revenge thread from getting lost under so many repeated plot beats.
Performances: Pawan Kalyan in Full Command
Pawan Kalyan dominates the film and turns OG into a near-mythic figure, all rage held just below the surface. The political persona is left outside; on screen, he comes across as a hardened anti-hero, with his salt-and-pepper beard and scarred body bringing to mind an ageing gunslinger dropped into Mumbai’s rain-soaked lanes.
His strength lies in sheer presence and physicality. The knife fights and hand-to-hand brawls feel weighty and grounded, and the jumps and stunts look earned rather than overly polished by CGI. His gravelly voice turns simple lines into punchy catchphrases. The pre-interval confrontation, where he slices through a group of enemies with almost balletic violence, is designed as a mass moment, and he carries it with ease. The performance hides how thin the character is on paper and turns OG into a tribute to Pawan Kalyan’s long-standing star power in Telugu cinema.
Emraan Hashmi, in his first Telugu role, provides a sleek and stylish counterpoint. He channels the charm from his Jannat days into something darker, mixing charm with menace. His scenes with Kalyan crackle with tension, especially when the two square off in glass offices that turn into war zones. Yet his character sometimes tips into caricature, sacrificing layers for loud villainy.
Priyanka Mohan adds warmth and quiet strength as the conscience of the story. Her chemistry with Kalyan is understated, which works well in a film packed with noise and violence. Prakash Raj as an ageing mentor and Arjun Das as a morally torn lieutenant offer solid support and give a bit of texture to the world around OG.
On the other hand, the female characters, including Sriya Reddy’s dangerous rival, never feel fully developed and often exist mainly to push the plot forward in this very male-centred narrative. The cast keeps the film watchable and energetic, even when the emotional threads fade too quickly.
They Call Him OG Cast and Crew Highlights
- Pawan Kalyan as Ojas “OG” Gambheera: Delivers a powerhouse performance as the brooding anti-hero.
- Emraan Hashmi as Omi Bhau: The slick antagonist bringing Bollywood edge to this Telugu powerhouse.
- Priyanka Arul Mohan: As the female lead, adding emotional layers.
- Supporting Roles: Arjun Das, Sriya Reddy, and Prakash Raj shine in pivotal parts.
- Music: Thaman S’s score amps up the adrenaline.
- Cinematography: A crisp visual style capturing Mumbai’s neon-lit chaos.
The film was released in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil, with English subtitles available for wider audiences.
Direction and Technical Bravado: Sujeeth’s Stylish Spectacle
After the huge scale of Saaho, Sujeeth dials things in slightly and delivers a more focused film, while still filling it with stylish flourishes. He builds a cross-border crime world that feels heightened but visually striking. Mumbai’s wet streets and crowded docks stand in sharp contrast to Tokyo’s neon-lit back alleys, bringing to mind the tight tension of films like The Raid in some of the close-quarters fights.
The problems set in once the second half starts. The pace slows as characters explain motivations and backstories in long stretches, and some logical gaps appear. OG’s ten-year wait for revenge, for instance, raises questions the script does not really answer. Still, Sujeeth stages escalation well. Fights grow from smaller, enclosed brawls to a wild police station sequence that mixes chaos with clean action geography.
On a technical level, the film is impressive. Cinematographer Santhana Krishnan uses deep blues, harsh whites, and burning reds to set the mood and contrast the grime of shipyards with the polish of luxury towers. Action choreographers Anbariv design set pieces on a grand scale. A standout sequence at a harbour mixes gunfire with slow-motion katana swings, delivering both style and impact.
Thaman S. delivers a loud, energetic background score that keeps the pulse high. Heavy percussion backs the fights, while softer string themes underline flashbacks and emotional beats. These musical swells power the big elevation moments that had theatres cheering. The visual effects work is strong for the most part, from flaming car chases to trippy Tokyo montages, although a few scenes reveal their green-screen roots if watched closely.
The Verdict: Big-Screen Star Vehicle with Shallow Roots
They Call Him OG functions first and foremost as a Pawan Kalyan celebration, a blood-soaked, larger-than-life ride that enjoys every bit of its own excess. With more than ₹800 crore collected worldwide, it became the eighth highest-grossing Indian film of 2025, pushed along by massive support from Telugu audiences and wide dubbed releases.
Critical response stayed mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, the score sits around 45 percent, with many reviewers praising the scale and stunt work while criticising the predictable plot and thin character work. Fans on social platforms and forums hovered around the 3.5 out of 5 mark, calling it a perfect “whistle-worthy” watch for the cinema hall.
The emotional beats rarely cut deep and sometimes feel added late in the process, more as checkpoints than as real turning points. The R-rated violence also goes overboard in places, leaning into graphic detail that edges past even the wildest moments in something like Deadpool, only without the same sense of wit.
For viewers who enjoy mass action cinema, the film works as loud, guilty fun, a heady mix of style, fights, and star aura that leaves them pumped rather than thoughtful. Sujeeth drops hints that more stories in this universe could follow, which could succeed if future instalments bring sharper writing to match the strong action.
As a one-time big-screen experience, They Call Him OG delivers enough fireworks to justify the ticket. As a long-term classic, it falls short. Yet the title fits Pawan Kalyan’s turn. Whatever the film’s flaws, when he walks onto the screen as OG, the audience watches.