Gangstars

ComposerSai KartheekCountry of originIndiaOriginal languageTeluguNo. of seasons1No. of episodes12ProductionProducersCinematographyRakesh ErukullaEditorKishore MaddaliRunning time21–25 minutesProduction companiesOriginal releaseNetworkAmazon VideoRelease1 June 2018 (2018-06-01)^[1]

Gangstars is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language crime drama television series by Amazon Prime Video,^[2] 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.^[3] The series stars Jagapathi Babu, Navdeep, Shweta Basu Prasad, Siddu Jonnalagadda, Apoorva Arora^[4] 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.^[5][6][7]

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.^[8]

Cast

Main

• Jagapathi Babu as Kumar Das "K.D." , a gangster who has been informed that he has cancer and is going to die
• Navdeep as Vishwa, an arrogant and controversial film hero.
• Shweta Basu Prasad as Aishwarya, a haughty film actress
• 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."^[9] 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."^[10]

References