- Date of Release: 25 September 2025
- Genre: Action, Drama
- Language: Telugu
- Watch On: Theatres Only
They Call Him OG
Introduction
The main USP of a mass masala entertainer is to entertain the audience, even at the expense of logic that would take the backseat. And to be fair, it is alright to just sit and enjoy a film without having to worry too much about the plot or the analysis that will follow. It isn’t just why people tell you to leave your brains at home – a scientific irony itself that aptly applies to the mass masala films. But the issue arises when the filmmakers think it is deemed necessary to add sub-plots after sub-plots after sub-plots, so much so that the proceedings become overstuffed and over-indulgent. It is then that you as a viewer are confused too – were we better off in carrying our brains with us, or is it still okay to have left them at home. The new Telugu film They Call Me OG falls exactly in this category, much like Sujeeth’s Saaho (2019) – a trope that did also spoil films like Coolie (2025) for me. Films like these give me an impression that the makers are never sure of how much is enough to lure the audience in – failing to understand that fan service coupled with entertainment is the only thing audience is looking for. Everything else is a swing and a miss for most, who keenly wait for their hero to beat the bad guys to pulp without worrying too much about the convoluted subplots along the way. In other words, they hoot during the highs and care two hoots for the rest of the drama!
Story & Screenplay
In simple words, the premise of They Call Me OG is as binary a plot could ever get, following a gang war between two warlords Satya Dada (Prakash Raj), and Mirajkar (Tej Sapru) and his two sons Jimmy (Sudev Nair) and Omi (Emraan Hashmi). The era is that of the early 90s, something that makes this gangster drama even more generic with its aesthetics. So you have long wavy hair, bell bottoms, giant cigars, funky glares and a lot of razz with the walks, even as I digress. But circling back to the plot, the rivalry is mainly due to an RDX-laden container that eventually summons the OG – Ojha Gambheera (Pawan Kalyan) into the picture.
Like Malayalam films that mostly focus on some grounded world building, the Telugu industry is generally known to add texture in the world building through the place of origin. And whilst most of the drama is set against the backdrop of Mumbai, the origin story of OG traces its roots to Japan in the manga culture that boasts of a rivalry between the Yakuza gang and the Samurais – something that faintly draws a parallel to the current setup and the rivalry that ensues. Needless to say, there are characters with nunchucks, machates and guns that inflict a lot of violence, blood and gore along the way, that definitely felt a part of the world, and honestly, I didn’t seem to mind this at all.
The issue for me, like most mass masala films remained the lack of an emotional depth in the drama, particularly due to an overstuffed screenplay that didn’t necessarily elevate the mass moments for me. For instance, a subplot involving OG’s wife Kanmani (Priyanka Arul Mohan) hardly added any emotional substance to the narrative whereas the reality remained on how THAT particular incident ought to have been the driving force in the narrative. Likewise, the atrocities and deaths caused by a few characters ought to have been infuriating, but I wasn’t as moved given how little the writing chose to invest in the emotional core. But little did I know that the watchable first hour would end up being the ‘better half’, culminating on an enthralling interval block that hits it out of the park.
One major criticism remained the characterization, a trait that was an offshoot of the overstuffed writing too. None of the characters including the protagonist stand out – there is an accompanying style but little to negligible substance associated with every character. For instance, Omi who is the prime antagonist is so generic and flat with his character, that he hardly seemed like a threat to the OG. OG on the other hand too isn’t handed too many moments that would define his personality. For instance, the only moment wherein you spot his aura is in the police station sequence wherein he commands the fellow cops to handle a senior cop while contemplating whether to cut off his finger with a knife or his entire hand with a larger weapon. The film needed moments like these to truly elevate the drama which wasn’t the case here.
The trajectory of the screenplay resembles an innings of cricket wherein the team gets off to a flyer at the start, but later on, the going increasingly gets sluggish by the minute. This is the exact same issue that I had with the Hindi film Jaat (2025) also, that tried to weirdly entangle so many subplots that the main objective of the drama remained lost. So while the quest for the container filled with RDX continues, the writing deviates into a wild swing in the form of Japanese origin story of OG, a potential revenge subplot involving the character of Arjun (Arjun Das), a random attempt at building a Saaho universe, a subplot involving a don sitting ‘somewhere in the middle east’, and a late kidnapping subplot that sees the drama to the end.
And none of the subplots land while derailing a mass masala entertainer that could have been so much more simple, even as the drama further suffers from a fetish of a second part. <span;>Also what do you even say when Omi has atleast one hundred chances of finishing off OG, but he misses every single one of them! It is similar to an overconfident team that would lose a match due to a self goal. But oh, this is a mass masala entertainer wherein even the protagonist can deflect bullets with a sword – my bad, I forgot there is no logic involved. But what about the convoluted plot? No questions asked, I tell you!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues double up as an information dump for the viewers, adding complexity in a simplistic plot without much payoff. And that will go down as a demerit. The music and BGM by Thaman is outstanding to the core, and if this film is watchable then most of the credit goes to Thaman and his ability to understand the world here. The BGM is never overpowering even while being in sync with the era that the drama is set in, and that keeps the boat afloat here. The cinematography comprises of frames that seem to be grand, further enhanced by the colour grading and production design that adds to the grandeur of the drama. The impact is definitely there, and how I wished that the writing was better!
The editing pattern is faulty here particularly because of the idea of jumping from one moment to another, without pausing and choosing to invest in the emotional core of the drama. As a result, the emotions backing the action set-pieces aren’t there, thereby flattening out the drama. Even the action set-pieces are choppy with its editing style that didn’t exactly give me that high. Director Sujeeth has a much better outing as compared to his previous film Saaho. But there is an indulgence in his craft that allows the drama to meander. You see that he holds a lot of potential in the world building but he ideally requires a script anchor to revolve his writing around one conflict as opposed to spreading himself thin across multiple subplots. This is exactly what goes wrong here – the subplots seem unnecessary and add nothing to the drama, whereas the same time could have been spent on characterization. The direction is pretty middling here, just like the writing that is pretty bland.
Performances
The performances are decent but the lack of characterization doesn’t allow every act to land. Priyanka Arul Mohan as Kanmani is woefully out of her emotional depth that was integral to the plot, and her chemistry with the protagonist is negligible. Harish Uthaman as Dheenanath, Abhimanyu Singh, Upendra Limaye, Tej Sapru as Mirajkar and Rahul Ravindran as Bhadra are decent but none of the characters really stand out because there isn’t enough meat to them. Prakash Raj as Satya is sincere but hardly leaves an impact on the screenplay. Arjun Das as Arjun is pretty solid and he makes his presence felt. Sudev Nair as Jimmy is menacing and intimidating while doing a good job.
One standout performer for me was Sriya Reddy who is phenomenal as Geetha, using his facial expressions to good use here. Emraan Hashmi as Omi gets a rough deal here – yes, he is presented stylishly but his character is so generic that he hardly seems intimidating, and leaving no real impact. Pawan Kalyan as Ojha Gambheera aka OG is in top form here. The man has a charismatic screen presence, so much so that even his glances ooze of the aura that he posseses (and people aren’t crazy to drown in this aura of his). His act works even when the writing is dull or seemingly generic with his characterization, allowing his demeanor to do most of the talking. And as a fan service vehicle, Pawan Kalyan makes the most of this outing wherein he is pretty good to witness.
Conclusion
They Call Him OG boasts of all style but very generic substance particularly in terms of the writing that makes this a middling affair. On a side note, an urban legend states that ‘They Call Me OG’ for watching such bouts of mediocrity every week and surviving through it. Should I take this as a compliment? Available in a theatre near you.