Nani's Gang Leader

Nani's Gang Leader (also known simply as Gang Leader) is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written and directed by Vikram Kumar. Produced by Mythri Movie Makers, the film stars Nani, Priyanka Mohan, Kartikeya, Lakshmi, Saranya Ponvannan, Shriya Kontham and Praanya P. Rao. The music is composed by Anirudh Ravichander. In this film, five women seek the help of a crime novelist to avenge the death of their loved ones. The film was released on Thursday 13 September 2019, after being pushed back from previously scheduled release date of 31 August 2019. It received positive response from critics. This was the last film where Mohan Cherukuri (CVM) was involved in Mythri Movie Makers and also Priyanka's first lead role and Telugu debut film.

Plot
Six individuals successfully completed a bank robbery worth inr 3000000000 after which one robber kills the rest of the five and escapes with the money. Five bereaved women - Saraswati, who lost her grandson; Varalakshmi, who lost her son; Priya, who lost her fiancé Avinash; Swati, who lost her elder brother; and Srinidhi (Chinnu), who became mute due to the shock of losing her father. They are brought together by Saraswati to avenge their loved ones. "Pencil" Parthasarathy, a small time crime novelist who watches American movies and rewrites their plots into local Telugu novels, is approached by the five women in hope of tracking down the culprit. Pencil initially refuses, but sensing a good and probably first original story agrees to help them. The ragtag group, who eventually name themselves as Revengers, narrow down on a main suspect: Dev.

Dev is an ambulance driver turned F1 racer, who is now the new sensation in India. In order to buy a sports bike, Dev killed his father and gained insurance. He also took up his father's job as an ambulance driver. One day, in the hospital, he joined a group of five cancer patients planning a robbery to save money for their loved ones before they die. Afterwards, he kills the five and steal the money and followed his passion of becoming a successful race driver. The Revengers plot against him to bring him to justice. They discretely follow him and finds the stashed money in the constructed building (where the five and Dev had practiced for the robbery). Dev learns that there is a gang behind him and also stole the money, He deduce Pencil's identity and also tips off the cops about the robbery and also Pencil's details in it.

Pencil successfully transfers the money before the police raid his place. However to his shock, he deduced that the money was stolen by Saraswati, who reveals that her husband, who was working at a book store near the bank was killed by Dev on the night of the robbery. She convinced the gang into believing her grandson died to make her vengeance justified the person is actually an orphan who decided to steal for orphanage for giving fund. Then she decided the money from Pencil's place and donated it for orphanage development and tells Pencil about her decision of abandoning her vengeance, after Chinnu's injury during one of the chases. Being an orphan Pencil feels happy regarding the circumstance.

Later Pencil kills Dev at the latter's garage to protect his newfound family, and frames it as a car accident. When he returns home, to his surprise, the gang decides to give up on the plan of Dev to bring him to justice for their revenge by believing that Dev will face his fate. Priya decides to move on from her fiancé and when she learns that Pencil killed Dev, but decides not to reveal it. Priya and Pencil get married where Pencil successfully publishes his first original novel Gang Leader, encapsulating his experiences. Also Chinnu starts to speak when she sees the news about Dev's death. Sukumar meets Pencil for the copyrights to make a movie based on his novel. Then he asks about It is also revealed that Pencil's dog was run over by Dev during the night of the robbery, thereby showing that his revenge is also done.

Cast

 * Nani as "Pencil" Parthasarathy
 * Priyanka Mohan as Priya Parthasarathy
 * Kartikeya as Dev
 * Lakshmi as Saraswathi
 * Saranya Ponvannan as Varalakshmi
 * Shriya Reddy as Swathi
 * Praanya P. Rao as Srinidhi "Chinnu"
 * Anish Kuruvilla as Sub Inspector
 * Vennela Kishore as Santoor Senakkayala
 * Priyadarshi Pulikonda as Ramakrishna
 * Satya as Subramanyam, Dev's former colleague
 * Naveen George Thomas as Postman
 * Josh Ravi as Bulb Murthy
 * Vivek Kumar as RTO Officer
 * Getup Srinu as Manikyam
 * Sukumar as himself (cameo appearance)
 * Anirudh Ravichander as himself in the end credit song "Gang-u Leader"

Music
The soundtrack of the film is composed by Anirudh Ravichander and lyrics by Anantha Sriram and Inno Genga. The promotional song of Gang Leader title track is reused in Dharala Prabhu.

Release
The film was released on 13 September 2019, after being pushed back from previously scheduled release date of 30 August 2019.

Critical reception
The Times of India gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Nani's Gang Leader tries to tick all the boxes but comes across as a half-hearted attempt, They succeed — but only in parts".

Behindwoods gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Gang Leader is an inventive, wildly entertaining comedy with a great ensemble performance.".

The Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Gang Leader has its moments, thanks to Nani's effortless presence. He keeps the scenes lively and bright. It is not a bad film but that doesn't mean it is outstanding either".