In a crucial scene, the lead actor and his motley team are in a car outside the antagonist’s house, tracking his activities 24/7. Pencil Parthasarathy (Nani), being a crime novelist, remarks that the atmospherics are perfect for the situation they are in — the pouring rain adding to the tense moments on a brooding night, broken only by the loud snores of a couple of his team members. He chides them to stay awake and get a grip on things. Maybe someone should have similarly nudged the core team of Gang Leader, urging them to take a closer look at the story and screenplay.

As an idea and on paper, the story might have seemed like a fun proposition. But the truly fun portions are few and far between, and the thirst for revenge doesn’t seem strong enough to make us empathise with the characters. The film relies heavily on Nani’s impeccable comic timing and veteran actor Lakshmi’s ability to lend gravitas to any role she takes up, to shoulder a weak script.

The atmospherics are all in place, setting the mood for the key characters. Pencil lives in a nondescript house watching Hollywood and world cinema, from which he plagiarises scenes and dialogues down to the smallest detail, and has penned 28 novels. His living room has roof-to-floor bookshelves filled with empty book jackets packed with thermocol to give the impression of voluminous tomes. What happens when five women in different age groups seek his help for a revenge mission?

Pencil is no hero, at least initially, to help five strangers. Thanks to his publisher friend (Priyadarshi in a cameo), he sees the possibility of tracing their journeys and writing an original crime story. The five women — essayed by Lakshmi, Saranya, Shriya Reddy, Priyanka Arul Mohan and child actor Praanya Rao — have all lost a loved one in the aftermath of a bank robbery. They have a common enemy whom they are yet to identify and feel that Pencil, despite his dubious writing career, can help.

It’s fun to notice the little things — like the ‘Pencil is mightier than the sword’ poster in the writer’s house, and Saranya serving pulihora in a temple because, well, that seems to be her favourite dish. And, pay attention to an early scene where Lakshmi is harassed by someone for her house and threatened with dire consequences; it isn’t a throwaway line. What Lakshmi does much later reflects her anguish at the way lone elders are treated in society.

Anirudh’s music, Miroslaw Brozek’s cinematography and the production design deserve a mention.

When the five women bond with each other and with Pencil, filling their individual relationship vacuum, it’s heartwarming. If only the revenge methodology and the backstories of the characters had been fleshed out better, the film would have been a far more engaging ride.

The portions revealing Dev’s (Karthikeya Gummakonda) swift journey from being an ambulance driver to becoming a racer, have been smartly done and the actor looks menacing in his part. The gang is up against someone ruthless who won’t stop at anything for his own dreams. The cat-and-mouse game between the gang and Dev is fun in parts, the apartment sequence in particular, but unfortunately these portions don’t lead to a nail-biting finish.

Saranya, Shriya and Praanya make an impression, but Priyanka struggles with a weakly-written part. She has an impressive screen presence but nothing much to do. The romance doesn’t pass muster.

Also, what was that cringe-inducing homophobic humour doing in the film?

Gang Leader packs in some interesting characters, delivers a few laughs and makes for a decent watch. It also tips its hat to the original Gang Leader, Chiranjeevi.

But, don’t we look for something more when powerhouse talents like Vikram Kumar and Nani come together? This is Vikram’s weakest film in a long time.