Nani's Gang Leader
Nani's Gang Leader is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film[1] written and directed by Vikram Kumar.[3] Produced by Mythri Movie Makers, the film stars Nani, Kartikeya Gummakonda, Priyanka Arul Mohan, Lakshmi, Saranya Ponvannan, Shriya Kontham, and Praanya P. Rao.[4] The music is composed by Anirudh Ravichander. In this film, five women seek the help of a crime novelist to avenge the death of their loved ones. The film was released on 13 September 2019, after being pushed back from previously scheduled release date of 30 August 2019.[5]
| Nani's Gang Leader | |
|---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Vikram Kumar |
| Written by | Vikram Kumar |
| Produced by | Naveen Yerneni Y. Ravi Sankar Mohan Cherukuri |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Miroslaw Kuba Brozek |
| Edited by | Naveen Nooli |
| Music by | Anirudh Ravichander |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Sarigama Cinemas (North America) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 155 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
| Budget | ₹25 crore[2] |
| Box office | est. ₹45 crore[2] |
Plot
Pencil Parthasarathy is a small time crime novelist who watches American movies and rewrites their stories into local Telugu novels. Meanwhile a great robbery takes place in the city where ₹300 crore (US$40 million) are stolen by five individuals. As soon as the robbery is finished, the five are found murdered and the money stolen.
Five bereaved women Saraswati (an aged woman) lost her grand son, Varalakshmi, a small time cook (a middle-aged woman), lost her son, Priya, an IT Professional (a young woman), lost her fiance, Swati a college student (a teen) lost her elder brother and Srinidhi ('Chinnu'), a small child became dumb in a shock after losing her father in the robbery.
They come together and try to find someone who would help them avenge their loved ones. They approach Pencil to help them figure out the culprit. Pencil, at first, refuses to help but sensing a good (and probably his first) original story, agrees to help them.
After a few twists and turns, the ragtag group named themselves as 'Revengers' finally narrows down on their main suspect: Dev.
Dev is a small-time ambulance driver turned a successful F1 racer became a new sensation in India. As an ambulance driver, Dev never lost a patient due to his skilled and prompt driving of patients to the hospitals. Before that he is good for nothing and participates in illegal races for few bucks. Later to get a sports bike he killed his father an ambulance driver for the insurance money and taken up his father's job. But in order to become a successful race car driver, he needed money. In order to get the money, he joined a group of cancer patients (the original five) who were planning on a robbery to set aside money for their loved ones (the five women).
After the robbery, Dev killed the five men, stole the money, and became a successful race car driver. Then, all the gang plot against him to try bringing him to justice. However, Dev gets to know that someone is targeting him and tries to hack their address, but the leader of the gang, Pencil takes his decisions smartly predicting every next step of Dev. After a series of events, Dev confirms that there is actually a gang of six that are behind him. He gives a tip to police about the robbery that mentions Pencil's details in it. But after knowing the police ride Pencil tries to shift remaining money which they had stolen from Dev to challenge him but to his shock it was stolen again by Saraswati which reveals that she lost her husband in the robbery who is a security guard in the bank instead of the thief(the original five) reveals he is an orphan who decided to donate the amount to the orphanage development. Finally however Pencil reaches her then Saraswati tells him that earlier she decided take vengeance on Dev after watching injured Chinnu in the chase of Dev she decided leave her Vengeance and start a peaceful life along with them that's why she tried to donate all the money to the orphanages. Being an orphan Pencil realised that he found a family for himself feels happy. Later all the team assembles and decided to leave their vengeance on Dev by believing god will take care of him.
At the end of the movie, Dev is killed by Pencil because not for the revenge but to protect his new found family which they was known to him and creates it as a car accident unknown to the other members.
After watching death news of Dev,Chinnu gets her voice back in a sudden shock. After hearing the news Saraswati and Priya who understands that Pencil killed Dev and decided to not reveal it. Later all of the members of the gang live together like a family Priya and Pencil got married. With his experiences Pencil publishes his new book "Gangleader" which became a huge success and finally film ends with Director Sukumar meets him to make a film which based on his novel.
Cast
- Nani as Pencil Parthasarathy
- Kartikeya Gummakonda as Dev
- Priyanka Arul Mohan as Priya
- Lakshmi as Saraswathi
- Saranya Ponvannan as Varalakshmi
- Shriya Kontham as Swathi
- Praanya P. Rao as Srinidhi "Chinnu"
- Anish Kuruvilla as Sub Inspector
- Vennela Kishore as Santoor Senakkayala
- Priyadarshi Pulikonda as Ramakrishna
- Satya as Subramanyam, Dev's former colleague
- Vivek Kumar as RTO Officer
- Sukumar as himself (in a guest appearance)
- Anirudh Ravichander as himself ("Gang-u Leader" Promotional video)
Music
| Gangleader | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 2019 | |||
| Recorded | 2019 | |||
| Studio | Albuquerque Records, Chennai | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Language | Telugu | |||
| Label | Sony Music | |||
| Producer | Anirudh Ravichander | |||
| Anirudh Ravichander chronology | ||||
| ||||
The soundtrack of the film is composed by Anirudh Ravichander and lyrics by Anantha Sriram and Inno Genga. The promotional song of Gang Leader title track is reused in Dharala Prabhu.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ra Ra (Roar of the Revengers)" | Anantha Sriram | Prudhvi Chandra, BasherMax | 04:05 |
| 2. | "Hoyna Hoyna" | Anantha Sriram, Inno Genga | Inno Genga | 04:52 |
| 3. | "Ninnu Chuse Anandamlo" | Anantha Sriram | Sid Sriram | 05:33 |
| 4. | "Gang-u Leader (Promotional Song )" | Anantha Sriram | Anirudh Ravichander | 03:28 |
| No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Katharaayadam Reprise" | Anirudh Ravichandar | 03:02 |
Marketing and release
The film was released on 13 September 2019, after being pushed back from previously scheduled release date of 30 August 2019.[5]
Reception
Critical reception
The Times of India gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Nani's Gang Leader tries to tick all the boxes but comes across as a half-hearted attempt, They succeed — but only in parts".[6]
Behindwoods gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Gang Leader is an inventive, wildly entertaining comedy with a great ensemble performance.".[7]
Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Gang Leader has its moments, thanks to Nani's effortless presence. He keeps the scenes lively and bright. It is not a bad film but that doesn't mean it is outstanding either".[8]
References
- "GANG LEADER". British Board of Film Classification.
- "2019లో భారీ వసూళ్లు రాబట్టిన సినిమాలివే." Sakshi (in Telugu). 31 December 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
- "Nani's Gang Leader with Vikram K Kumar has THIS Chiranjeevi connection". Filmfare. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- "Nani, Vikram Kumar team up for new film Gang Leader, watch video". The Hindustan Times. 25 February 2019.
- "Mythri Movie Makers". Mythri Movie Makers on Twitter. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
- "Gang Leader Movie Review : Gang Leader shines in parts but is let down by a haphazard screenplay". TimesofIndia.
- "GANG LEADER MOVIE REVIEW". Behindwoods.
- "Gang Leader movie review: A okayish film saved by Nani's performance". IndianExpress.
