Ustaad Bhagat Singh Review: Pawan Kalyan’s much-awaited film Ustaad Bhagat Singh released in theatres on March 19, 2026, during the Ugadi festive weekend. Directed by Harish Shankar, the action-comedy had created strong buzz before its release. The film premiered in North America a day earlier, and audience reactions started coming in soon after the first shows.
Fans of Pawan Kalyan praised his screen presence and mass moments, but many viewers felt the film looked old-fashioned. Social media is full of negative reactions. Some fans called it entertaining, but many others said the film feels like an outdated commercial drama without freshness.
Ustaad Bhagat Singh Review: Why Viewers Are UPSET
Soon after the early screenings, audience reviews began trending online. While some liked the action scenes and background score, others criticised the writing and narration.
Venky Reviews (@venkyreviews) shared their Ustaad Bhagat Singh review and wrote, “A Completely Outdated Commercial Entertainer! A commercial film like this doesn’t necessarily need out-of-the-box writing, but it at least needs some freshness. This one feels outdated to the core from start to end. A few elevation blocks work, but the film lacks flow, feeling like a stitched-together compilation of commercial scenes. Harish Shankar falters on both comedy and commercial writing. Thaman tries to elevate with his BGM but has little scope. PK tries in parts, but this one misses his trademark energy. Boring! Rating: ⅖.”
Film tracker Christopher Kanagaraj (@Chrissuccess) posted, “#UstaadBhagatSingh – PK’s look, Screen presence & Dialogues r the positives in this Routine, Outdated Drama. Parthiban Naidu as weak villain. Sreeleela ok. Raashi Khanna has no scope. Thaman does a Anirudh work in BGM. One melody track nice. Narration is a Patience Tester. BORE!”
A user wrote, “Fans may enjoy here and there, but overall it’s an outdated, stale product…
Thaman’s score is fine. Rest all the technical aspects”
One viewer even advised others to skip the theatre experience, saying, “My neighbours planned to watch the movie and asked my opinion since I’d already seen it. I clearly told them it’s a total disaster, cringe and outdated. Suggested they wait for OTT instead of wasting money. They agreed! Mission accomplished.”
About The Film AND Clash With Dhurandhar 2
Ustaad Bhagat Singh is a cop action drama about a tribal boy who grows up learning courage and strong values from his teacher, who names him Bhagat Singh. As he becomes an adult, he joins the police and works at Mahankali Police Station, where he fights crime and injustice. The film is directed by Harish Shankar and is based on the 2016 Tamil hit Theri.
The movie stars Pawan Kalyan in the lead role, with Sreeleela and Raashii Khanna as the female leads. The supporting cast includes R. Parthiban, Ashutosh Rana, Gautami, Nawab Shah and KS Ravikumar. Songs are composed by Devi Sri Prasad, while Thaman S. has given the background score. The film has a runtime of 2 hours and 34 minutes and received a U/A certificate.
The film was released on the same day (today) as Ranveer Singh‘s spy thriller Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge, starring Ranveer Singh. This created a North vs South box office buzz after another big film was postponed. However, director Harish Shankar earlier said the clash should be seen as a celebration of cinema and not a competition.
