September 26, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Sujeeth
Telugu and Marathi with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in India and briefly in Japan, in 1993 (with flashbacks to 1970), the action film “They Call Him OG” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A vigilante, who trained as a samurai fighter when he was a boy, get caught up in a rivalry between his mentor/father figure and a gang leader.
Culture Audience: “They Call Him OG” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and action movies that are loud and flashy but ultimately have dull storytelling.
“They Call Him OG” is just another mindless action flick with a derivative plot about crime, revenge and family turmoil. This tedious movie clumsily mishandles its cross-cultural storyline about an Indian vigilante who trained at a Japanese samurai dojo. There are absolutely no surprises in “They Call Him OG,” which has hammy acting, cringeworthy dialogue and hollow characters.
Written and directed by Sujeeth, “They Call Him OG” has a “vigilante versus criminals” story that’s been done so many times before in action films. “They Call Him OG” has rushed and jumbled introductory scenes that take place in 1970, in Japan’s capital city of Tokyo. A samurai dojo is invaded by yakuza gangsters, who kill all the students, except for one, who manages to escape on a ship to Bombay.
This student is an orphaned Indian boy who’s about 6 to 7 years old. His name is Ojas Gambheera (also known as OG), who is later given the samurai name Master Orochi Genshin. On the ship with OG are two businessmen from Bombay: Satyanarayana Roy Nandan also known as Satya Dada (played by Prakash Raj) and Vardhaman Mirajkar (played by Tej Sapru), who each goes down very different paths in life.
OG saves the lives of Satya Dada and Vardhaman when OG kills a group of invading pirates who wanted to steal the gold that was on the ship. Satya Dada is so grateful to OG for saving his life, Satya Dada becomes a father figure to OG and raises OG alongside Satya Dada’s two biological sons.
The movie then fast-forwards to 1993 in Bombay. OG (played by Pawan Kalyan) is a vigilante protector for Bombay Port, where Satya Dada get many of the shipments needed for Satya Dada’s business. OG’s sidekicks include Satya Dada’s biological sons. Venkat has the role of Satya Dada’s elder biological son. Shaam has the role of Satya Dada’s younger biological son.
Vardhaman also has two sons, but they have become gangsters who want to take over Satya Dada’s business and cause terror among the locals. Vardhaman’s elder son Omkar Vardhaman Mirajkar, also known as Omi Bhau (played by Emraan Hashmi). Vardhaman’s younger son is Jimmy Vardhaman (played by Sudev Nair).
Somewhere along the way, OG met and fell in love with a medical doctor named Kanmani (played by Priyanka Mohan), and they have a daughter named Taara, who’s about 5 or 6 years old in most of her scenes. When someone in Satya Dada’s family dies, a man named Arjun (played by Arjun Das) attends the funeral, and a family secret is revealed, which leads to Arjun also being involved in taking over the family business.
“They Call Him OG” then proceeds with the predictable slew of gun shootouts, fist fights and explosions. There’s some samurai swordplay, but it’s awkwardly dropped into the movie. Taara gets kidnapped and is held hostage. OG is a stereotypical scowling “hero” who has a soft spot for his family. The end of the movie announces a sequel, but because so much of “They Call Him OG” is forgettable and senseless, a sequel is likely to be more of the same junk.
Prathyangira Cinemas released “They Call Him OG” in U.S. cinemas on September 25, 2025, the same day the movie was released in India.
