Quick Gun Murugun: Misadventures of an Indian Cowboy

Buying the ticket for this unusual kind of attempt, I had two thoughts in my mind. One that it may be a complete entertainer served with a different South Indian humor and two, it may turn out to be a sincerely attempted unsuccessful experiment by its makers. Unfortunately, it fitted well into the second category of my thoughts and was a big disappointment.

Moving around the revenge saga of a South Indian Cowboy called "Quick Gun Murugun", the movie is full of animated action sequences with bullets being shot in slow motion. The supreme hero never gets hurt seriously, as seen in the cinema of 70s and keeps on fighting with a miraculous touch. He can see the bullet coming towards him clearly, can hold it in his bare fist and can even catch it with his teeth. Senseless shots like these keep on repeating throughout the movie with characters speaking in heavy South Indian accent which also becomes unbearable after a while. Symbolically, there is a fight between the Vegetarian Hero and the Non Vegetarian villain who has plans to introduce his own Non-Veg Dosa. And another angle reveals how "Murugun" has also been to "Swarg" and even struck a deal with "Chitragupt" managing the life-accounts there.

The movie is quite strange and bizarre in its unreal treatment with no storyline heading towards any particular direction. It seems like the director just had the idea of this "South Indian Cowboy Character" and then he simply started shooting sequences of his fight with the villain and the project was ready. It makes you feel like watching a children comic strip running on the screen full of childish action sequences. It is even hard to believe that how the director not only managed to find big producers for this project but also successfully released it in the theaters with a fine promotional campaign. That was indeed a Great Job done! There is nothing much to write about the different technical departments of the project as I really found everything done lavishly but without any specific direction. Right from the sincere acting of Dr. Rajendra Prasad (QGM) to the stylishly done graphics, the efforts are barely visible due to the uninteresting and lifeless narration. Surprisingly the movie is just around 90 minutes of duration which serves as a boon for its viewers. May be they were not able to squeeze in more actions scenes towards its climax as it was already overdone.

In short, I can only describe this movie as purely made out of director Shashank Ghosh's passion and love towards the character "Quick Gun Murugun". The idea was pretty good and the project could have been the platform for another cult character of our movies. But sadly it could not materialize perfectly and the end result was just like an avoidable flavorless Dosa.

Quick Gun Murugun is a little more than what you expect – and yet falls short of your expectations. It is the wacky tale of a 'vegetarian-cowboy' who takes on Rice Plate Reddy and his gang of villains. It is also a spoof of too many things to count – South-Indian-movies, standard bollywood masala movies, cowboy movies and even McDonalds !! Filled with smart jokes – they will have you howling with laughter at the one liners. But believe it or not, the movie is somewhat of a drag ….

Telegu star Dr. Rajendra Prasad plays gunslinger Quick Gun Murugan with élan – bright orange pants and all. He is an avowed protector of cows and vegetarianism – and soon runs into Rice Plate Reddy, who is on a quest to convert every Udipi restaurant into non-veg. Reddy gets the better of him in the first encounter and our hero is thirsty for revenge.

This time, he gets a little help from Mango Dolly (Rambha) – Reddy's blonde moll – who falls for our Murugun's simple charms. On Rice Plate Reddy's side there is Dr Django and Rowdy MBA – who are implementing his plan of taking over the world with his dosas. And of course, there is our very own Lola Kutty with Murugun as well.

While hilarious, the story is actually very simple and sometimes it feels like the movie is too long for such a story. And the jokes are not spaced out enough to catch the slack in screenplay. But all the same, it is impossible to control the laughter that erupts when, for example, you see Murugan's love song picturisation. But be ready to be surprised with the violence as well – the violence is NOT picturised like a Tom and Jerry cartoon … All in all, a lot of very clever jokes interspersed with some not so interesting parts. Even though its overall rating is average, I would recommend a watch – because you are going to recall the jokes for days after the movie and chuckle thinking about it.

I write about movies regularly at http://bisprad.blogspot.com

I normally avoid watching movies in a cinema hall unless it is filled with special effects or something which demands a large screen and loud sounds. So here I was, entering a cinema hall to watch Quick Gun Murugun (QGM).

The problem with all comedies is that it has to grab you within the first 3 minutes. Attention is easy to grab, but difficult to retain. In action movies, you can step down the tempo with relief scenes or other movie making tricks, but with comedies, you cannot lose the tempo and you cannot rehash the same thing over and over again.

There is a simple plot of evil villain wanting to take over the world with a perfect dosa to keep the movie going, but it is not the soul.

From a viewer perspective, I felt that QGM lacked a vista. It is obviously noticeably that it is not a big budget movie, otherwise I suppose the film would have been panoramic and given me a more fulfilling cinema hall experience. It is a movie made for the sake of making movies and not money making. If the movie carries by word of mouth and does a Blair Witch Project and a sequel / prequel is approved, I would like to see film making passion increased exponentially - along with special effects, action and drama. But the special effects in the film is surprisingly good.

My overall impression of QGM was that an opportunity for making cult classic may be lost. The film showcases a director's love for making films and not money generating love. The script was brilliant in places but dragged in equal number of other instances. The acting was adequate, but did not make me love or hate the personalities. In some of the action sequences, the editing faults were a little too obvious to me.

The film focuses too much on the central characters, which is actually a good thing since you can devote more time and space with them, but I would have preferred a John Woo or a Wong Kar Wai or even the Sergio Leone treatment of the main characters. You need to be under the skin of these characters and empathise with them. I would also have personally preferred a more national flavour rather than limiting it to the south of India using the Bengali, Punjabi, Bihari and other fine Indian nuances.

The film was a light experience and as an after thought, made me want to watch more. These are the kind of carbon elements that the big producers should be focusing on. Not producing loud movies or having characters hamming in the name of comedy.

Somehow, the only line that remains imprinted in my mind and brings a wistful smile is "Lizzen no ..."

Of Course Its One Of The Most Hilarious Movie Of Recent Times..! Quick Gun Murugan Is Actually A Spoof Of Old Indian Movies And It Really Won What The Directors Intended With It.

For Example We Have McDosa..! A terrific Name for a Dosa Company..like That the movie is filled with real fun ideas and we'll have a smile on our face until the end of movie.

Rajendra Prasad And Nasser Lead the Show along with Sandya Mridul And Rambha.A Special mention needed for Rambha for Her gorgeous appearance as Heroin in colorful Out fits..! Final Word : Go For It.. Its A Fun Ride!

This movie is great fun. Most people who didn't like the movie probably didn't get it. This was like Kill Bill, an homage in the form of a spoof. The director probably paid homage to the south Indian / Rajnikanth genre, where over- the- top is considered normal. Even over- the- top Hollywood is not spared (the bullet time references, although it was done in southern Indian movies much before Matrix!)

Possibly the movie was a labour of love for the director. We all fall in love with characters we create, then go on to do a hash job with the story. The director in this case has probably given a lot of liberty to the writer, and allowed him to take the character and own it. The writing is therefore good, the plot suitable. The jokes are really funny, you have to see them in context and really get into the movie. Every comedy movie needs a conflict. The conflict generated is not as strong, and starts late into the film, granted, but within this story world, it is adequate. And believe me, it does suck you in. Few other issues that you can ignore is that the set pieces and climax had pacing problems. I am watching this on TV, and even with the distractions of the commercial breaks, i am hooked. Trust me, if you were having some beer while watching this with some buddies who also get the humour, it is THE time pass movie to watch. I am definitely getting the DVD.

After this movie, there were some other good comedies that i can recall, "tere bin Laden", "Phas Gaye Obama", but this one is in its "wown league i say". The lead guy needs to get some kind of an award. He has played himself, spoofing actors like himself. Dr. Rajendra Prasad (as credited) must have really understood the concept and was perfectly cast.

Some of the jokes and the stylization could have been tweaked to make it funnier and more involving. Having said that, most writers couldn't have been able to create the no. of references to clichés and write these jokes. Even the obvious/ anticipated jokes make you laugh. "You are a Cowboy, do your job and protect the cows." In fact, if you change the tone of the movie, it could be a real movie released few decades ago by Tollywood/ Mollywood and later remade in Bollywood. ITs not a perfect comedy, none of them are. This one is better than most.

Please to note: for bonus only purposes: that Mango Dolly looks like Sridevi.. hot, not?!

My vote: 7/10 (needs more "elaichi in payasam")

---------------------- The END I say -------------------------------

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