Written and directed by Sujeeth Reddy, They Call Him OG is an action drama film starring Pawan Kalyan, Emran Hashmi, and Priyanka Arul Mohan in lead roles. It narrates the journey of Ojas Gambheera’s through Japanese martial arts, Mumbai underworld, fifteen-year exile, a personal loss and return to power.

Fifteen minutes through, you get a clear hang of what Sujeeth has on offer: an outright fanservice to Pawan Kalyan. Right from the film’s title card to end credits, he celebrates Pawan Kalyan as a samurai, a dreaded gangster, and a mass icon. The writer-director succeeds for the most part in this aspect.

On the flip side, the film falters with some cliched action episodes, poorly written characters, and excessive violence. In a film that boasts top-class production standards, Ravi K. Chandran’s cinematography and Naveen Nooli’s editing prowess stand out. Yet the most hard-hitting aspect of the film’s technicalities turns out to be music.

Be it the love track, action blocks, or drama, Thaman delivers an absolute banger of a background score and deserves high praise. Talking about the performances of the cast, Pawan Kalyan is awe-inspiring in a role tailor-made for him. Shriya Reddy too delivers a noteworthy performance as a hot headed widow while Emran Hashmi, despite his super-stylish attire, falls prey to lazy writing.

Priyanka Mohan, who plays a young doctor and Gambheera’s love interest, looks bubbly as always. Prakash Raj, Arjun Das, and Tej Sapru are passable and leave no impact. Coming to writer-director Sujeeth Reddy, he succeeds in elevating Pawan Kalyan as a samurai-turned gangster. But his inexperience shows up in creating memorable supporting characters, and novel plot points.

While this can be termed as an improvement over his previous flick Saaho (2019), he is yet to prove his mettle in the mentioned aspects. To conclude, They Call Him OG is a a run-of-the-mill action drama created with the sole purpose of emphasizing Pawan Kalyan’s undeniable superstardom. It deserves a watch for actor’s effortless charisma, Sujeeth’s whistle-worthy moments, and Thaman’s electrifying background score.

Verdict: Sujeeth Hits The Bullseye!