Will Pawan Kalyan's Hindi debut connect with audience? Trade experts answer

Mumbai: Feisty, flamboyant and frightfully popular Pawan Kalyan, who has made Telugu cinema his own is all set to make a debut in Hindi cinema with 'Sardaar Gabbar Singh'. However, it is not his full fledged Bollywood debut as the film has been dubbed in Hindi.

The film also appears to be a ripoff of the Salman Khan starrer 'Dabangg' and the similarity has not gone unnoticed by the 'Dabangg' producer Arbaaz Khan, who has sent a legal notice to Pawan for arbitrarily lifting 'Dabangg'.

A source close to Pawan claims he has received no legal notice from Arbaaz. Pawan is completely unfazed as he prepares to release 'Sardaar Gabbar Singh' in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil  this week.

Trade pundit Taran Adarsh is gung-ho about Pawan’s Hindi debut. “It will be interesting to see Pawan Kalyan's Sardaar Gabbar Singh in Hindi. He's a huge star in the South and enjoys an incredibly impressive fan following. For me, as a viewer, I'd love to see him deliver lines in Hindi. Also, for an actor, it's very important to broaden his horizons. With a Hindi release, you cater to an all-India audience at one go.”

Taran feels 'Baahubali' broke the barriers of language between Hindi and its regional counterparts. He said, “The phenomenal success of Baahubali has proved that the Hindi moviegoing audience loves to watch interesting movies and from the looks of it, after having watched the trailers, Sardaar Gabbar Singh (SGS) does look like a film that should find patronage with lovers of entertaining cinema. Pawan Kalyan is a fantastic actor and I genuinely hope that he rules hearts and also wins over the box office with this film.”

Adds trade insider Atul Mohan, “ No harm in riding the tide. South stars like Dhanush, Prabhas have tasted the blood of success here. Eros is a big studio and their expertise will give good boost to SGS. Also this week there are no major Hindi releases.”

However senior film historian Bharathi S Pradhan is not too sure if 'Sardaar Gabbar Singh' can do the trick for Pawan in Bollywood. He said, “It's a dubbed film and it doesn't amount to a debut. It's like Prabhas didn't make a 'debut' in Hindi films despite the success of Baahubali.”

Trade analyst Amod Mehra too dismisses 'Sardaar Gabbar Singh' as there is little awareness of the film. He said, “This particular film does not seem the best film for him to make his Bollywood debut and there are several reasons for this. First of all, the title is typically the kind we associate with dub films e.g. It has Sardar added to Gabbar. Second, we have already had one Akshay film titled Gabbar. Third, there is very little awareness of the film. And funnily it has a major opposition this week from another dubbed film The Jungle Book.”

However producer-journalist-critic Pritish Nandy feels Pawan Kalyan has a bright future in Bollywood. “Absolutely! I think we need to enlarge our pantheon of heroes in Bollywood. And the South guys are capable of breaking the barrier. Pawan Kalyan has a huge following. Bollywood will help him grow it.”