Quick Gun Murugan

Quick Gun Murugan’s official website says, “Quick Gun Murugun is an unlikely Superhero with Guntastic powers. He is a sincere South Indian Cowboy who considers it his duty to serve and protect. The movie revolves around mis-adventures of Quick Gun Murugun and his fight with his arch villain Rice Plate Reddy!

In 1994, a maverick called Sashank Ghosh (MBA from University of Jodhpur), left MTV to become the creative head at Channel Vand created a character called Quick Gun Murugan. Those “fillers” in between programs were a rage among the youth. Quick Gun Murugan trailers quickly became the talk of the town especially in the colleges across India. It introduced the phrase “We are like this only” as a tagline that reflected the growing comfort with Indian English. Years later in the film Om Shanti Om, Shahrukh Khan imitated this character complete it the catchphrase “Enna Rascala”! This is an out and out spoof on film heros who duck bullets, thulp twenty attackers without ruining the shirt crease. The character is said to have been inspired by MGR, the cult movie hero of yesteryears in Tamil films.

Everything about the film is tongue in cheek and exaggerated. The storyline is wacky. Quick Gun Murugan (played by 57 year old Telugu actor Rajendra Prasad) , the Indian cowboy drinks whisky and smokes, is loyal to his dead sweetheart (Played by versatile actress Anuradha Menon of “Lola Kutty” fame) and is now on a mission to protect the world from being fed non-veg dosas being churned out by McDosa company run by villain Rice Plate Reddy (played by Tamil actor, director, Nasser). Rambha, plays the buxom love interest of QGM – Mango Dolly. Chaplinesque in its exaggerations, this is not a movie that will appeal to a large base of movie goers. Those who are familiar with the concept of Murugan will appreciate the transition from a 30 second avatar to a full fledged movie.

The memorable part of the movie lies in the way it uses exaggerated literal translations of Tamil and Hindi phrases right through. The movie has been made in three languages, Hindi, English and Tamil The film opens with the zany, “The earth is my bed, the sky is my ceiling, the whole creation is my native place. My name is Murugan – Quick Gun Murugan.” Quick Gun’s sentences end with Mind it!”

Exaggeration is the name of the game. The green shirt, the leopard skin jacket, the cowboy hat, the pot bellied hero and voluptous heroine in a blonde wig all spoof regular characters in mainstream Indian cinema. There are political comments made on traffic in Mumbai, fast food chains (wonder who McDosa chains were trying to point to) to the TV anchors who sensationalize news, the addiction to soap operas on cable tv – nothing has been spared.

That perhaps is one of the limitations that will restrict the number of people who will want to see the film. The audience who wants a clear plotline with no ditracting hyperlinks will find the storyline thin. You know what, there will be movie goers from mainstream cinema, who will not find anything comical in this film. They are so used to the hamming actors that this may just seem mainstream to them. If you loved him in the 30 second commercials, go check out the film. Or maybe you want to become a fan on Facebook.

Summary: This movie is a genre breaker.

Download a caricature of Quick Gun Murugan at http://abhijitbhaduri.com/2009/08/quick-gun-murugan/

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