Directed by Sujeeth, the film also stars Emraan Hashmi in his Telugu debut. Released on September 25, the film quickly entered the ₹100 crore club. According to trade tracker Sacnilk, the gangster action thriller earned approximately ₹104 crore in India after two days of release.
A day before the release, Pawan Kalyan’s OG collected ₹21 crore from its preview shows. The film opened to a massive collection of ₹63.75 crore on Thursday. The total includes a significant contribution of around ₹63 crore from the Telugu market and smaller contributions from the Tamil (₹0.22 crore), Hindi (₹0.5 crore) and Kannada (₹0.03 crore) markets.
Collections dropped significantly, but the film added an estimated ₹19.25 crore, bringing the two-day total to roughly ₹104 crore.
They Call Him OG had an overall Telugu occupancy of 41.57% on Friday, September 26. Despite the second-day drop, collections are expected to rise over the weekend.
The film recorded one of the biggest Indian openings of 2025 and the seventh-biggest opening for a Telugu movie.
Film trade analyst Sumit Kadel rated the movie They Call Him OG 3.5 stars, calling it a “Paisa Vasool gangster drama”. He praised its visuals and the performances of its lead actors.
In a post on X, he wrote, “Overall, They Call Him OG is a Paisa Vasool gangster drama. Pawan Kalyan’s top-notch performance + Sujeeth’s focused storytelling + Thaman’s thundering BGM = MASS + CLASS experience. Dekh k aao maza ayga, it should have been released with a good number of shows in Hindi Belt also. On box office front it has the potential to emerge a BLOCKBUSTER.”
OG
REVIEW – A TECHNICALLY STRONG & STYLISH ACTION ENTERTAINER !!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐???? ( 3.5 Stars ) #TheyCallHimOG marks the comeback of #PawanKalyan with a bang . As Ojas Gambheera, PK delivers a performance fans have been waiting for – intense, silent, ruthless yet deeply… pic.twitter.com/6Uup7dfytV
— Sumit Kadel (@SumitkadeI) September 24, 2025
Kalyan's last film, the historical action-adventure Hari Hara Veera Mallu, was a commercial failure, grossing just ₹116.88 crore worldwide and ₹102.38 crore at the domestic box office.
Produced by DVV Entertainment, this Sujeeth-directorial also stars Priyanka Mohan, Sriya Reddy, Arjun Das, and Prakash Raj in key roles. The story of the film centers on a gangster named Ojas Gambheera (Pawan Kalyan), who returns to Mumbai after a decade-long disappearance. His goal is to confront and kill another crime boss, Omi Bhau, played by Emraan Hashmi.