Gangstars is a 2018 Indian crime drama streaming television series in Telugu by Amazon Prime Video,[1] produced by Swapna C Dutt, Chakravathi Gutta, Sanjay Reddy, Anil Pallala under the Early Monsoon Tales and Silly Monks Entertainments banner and directed by Ajay Bhuyan. The series was created by B. V. Nandini Reddy.[2] The series stars Navdeep, Shweta Basu Prasad, Jagapathi Babu, Siddu Jonnalagadda, Apoorva Arora[3] and music is composed by Sai Karthik.
It is the first ever Amazon Prime Video original series in Telugu, and has 12 episodes with dubbed versions in Tamil and Hindi.[4][5][6]
Plot
The series is set in the backdrop of the film industry and involves two movie stars, two ex-lovers, and one gangster. How one incident sets up a chain of events in motion and interconnects the lives of all these characters, interspersed with a murder is the intriguing crux of the narrative.[7]
Cast
Main
- Navdeep as Vishwa, an arrogant and controversial film hero.
- Shweta Basu Prasad as Aishwarya, a haughty film actress
- Jagapathi Babu as Kumar Das "K.D." , a gangster who has been informed that he has cancer and is going to die
- Siddu Jonnalagadda as Ajay, who tries to become a film director. He is the manager of Aishwarya.
- Apoorva Arora as Keerthi, who tries to become a film producer, manager of Vishwa
Recurring
- Sivaji as C.I.Anjaneyulu, a corrupt police officer
- Posani Krishna Murali as Blockbuster Paala Subramanyam, a film producer who produces the movie for helping KD
- Thagubothu Ramesh as Rani Rajkamal, Aishwarya's make-up
- Krishna Bhagawan as P.K.R., Vishwa's father
- Rahul Ramakrishna as Red, K.D.'s brother-in-law
- RJ Hemanth as Vicky, Ajay's friend
- Radio Mirchi Kiran as Director of the film
- Ranam Venu as an ad film director
- Raja Ravindra as Ajay's father
- Dhanraj as a choreographer
- Ananth as a producer
- Rallapalli as astrologer
- Sanjay Reddy as a doctor
- Uttej as Gopal, ward boy in the hospital who has taken debt from K.D.
- Annapurna as Keerthi's grandmother
- Aishwarya as Priyamwada, Keerthi's mother
- Sri Lakshmi as Keerthi's aunt
- Hari Teja as Girija, K.D.'s wife
- Mounima as Jahnavi / Jaanu, a journalist
- Gayatri Gutta
Reception
Haricharan Pudupeddi of the Firstpost called the series a "wasted opportunity". He added that " Despite having so much of talent at its disposal, the show fails to rise above a very predictable story of action and comedy."[8] Hemanth Kumar CR writing for The News Minute stated that "Gangstars feels like a missed opportunity to create something unique and charming. It has its moments, when it takes a sly dig at the film industry, but when it focuses on its own story, it becomes too self-aware of what it wants to do and it never finds its groove."[9]
References
- ↑ Telugu web series, GangStars will be available from Friday. The Times of India(1 June 2018). Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ↑ GangStars review: Jagapathi Babu-Navdeep's web-series gets superb response from audience, Hooli, Shekhar H. International Business Times(31 May 2018). Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ↑ Navdeep, Shweta Basu and Jagapathi Babu's to star in a new web series called 'GangStars'!. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com(19 May 2018). Retrieved 7 June 2018.
- ↑ 'Gangstars': Amazon Prime's first Telugu web series to star Jagapati Babu. The Hindu(17 May 2018). Retrieved 7 June 2018.
- ↑ Amazon Prime Video launches first Telugu web series 'GangStars'. The New Indian Express(1 June 2018). Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ↑ Gangsters and the film world collide in Amazon Prime's first Telugu web series 'Gang Stars'. Scroll.in(23 May 2018). Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- ↑ Riding on the digital wave(3 June 2018).
- ↑ Gangstars review: Amazon Prime's maiden Telugu web series can be best described as a wasted opportunity - Entertainment News , Firstpost. Firstpost(2018-06-05). Retrieved 2020-09-19.
- ↑ Amazon Prime's 'Gangstars' Review: A quirky comedy which never finds its groove, CR, Hemanth Kumar. The News Minute(7 June 2018). Retrieved 19 September 2020.