Gang Leader Movie Review: The movie is fun comedy-thriller and Nani takes the entire movie in his shoulders.

Cast - Nani, Lakshmi, Priyanka Arul Mohan, Saranya Ponvannan, Karthikeya Gummakonda

Directed By - Vikram Kumar

Vikram Kumar’s Gang Leader, which stars Nani in the lead as a crime novelist, is a revenge comedy that works both as a satire on the genre and as an emotional drama centered around a group of bereaved women who set out to avenge the death of their loved ones. 

The Gang leader is a story about five women lose their loved ones and seek revenge against the person who killed them. They take the help of a writer, who's notorious for plagiarising popular Hollywood films. They set out to seek revenge, but in the process, uncover each other's hidden secrets.

Nani plays crime novelist ‘Pencil’ Parthasarthy, who has so far written 28 novels by plagiarising popular English movies. He gets to write something original for the first time when four women and a young girl come to him seeking his help to avenge the death of their family members. They approach him because he’s authored several revenge stories. They wish to seek his help and borrow ideas from him for their revenge. After listening to their story, he ends up leading them in the mission.

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But soon the ladies realize that he's a fraud — who basically plagiarises popular English films to write his novels. So Kill Bill becomes Rasidhu Ni Champu and No Country for Old Men becomes Moddulaku Desham Ledu. They soon discover the identity of the killer — car racer Dev (Karthikeya), but taking revenge is easier said than done.

Vikram Kumar, who is also the film’s writer, plays into Nani’s strengths as a comedian. Even the most predictable scenes are owned by Nani with his impeccable coming timing and screen presence. The women do a great job as well, and newcomer Priyanka Arul Mohan is a revelation. It’s really nice of Nani to not let his ego and stardom come in the way of sharing screen space with so many supporting characters in almost every frame. He even lets them steal the thunder in a few scenes, which doesn’t dilute the impact of his character.

Gang Leader tries to be too many things at once and doesn't really do justice to anyone aspect. One minute it's a comedy about a writer's detective skills, then there's a parallel love track between Nani and Priyanka (with a sincere performance), which never really takes off. 

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In the second half that Gang Leader dips a little when it tries to sanitize the crime angle with an emotional sub-plot that doesn’t quite work. If it’s intended to appeal to Nani’s family audience fanbase, it may work to some extent. Another major problem with the film is a ‘comic’ stretch involving a homosexual character and it only goes to reveal the filmmaker’s insensitivity towards the subject.

Gang Leader is predictable in parts but it doesn’t make it any less entertaining. If you are a fan of Natural star then this film is for you.