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For those who watched MTV at its initial Indian days, Quick Gun Murugan is a familiar & iconic character. His way of delivering a "Mind It!" is legendary. Even for this generation, who hadn't been aware of QG Murugan, this movie will be enjoyable. Director Shahshanka Gosh was clear from its inception that QGM is a parody of cliches in South Indian movies. Not at any point Shashanka Gosh pretends QGM to be a coming of the age film or something "rediscovery" of an iconic genre. In that way Shashanka was very clear about his product - spoof of South Indian movies and had placed the cowboy QG Murugan there.

QGM starts with the murder of Murugan (Rajendra Prasad) by Rice Plate Reddy (Nasser) and the soul of Murugan is carried away by a "kingara" driving an auto and even demands tips for the journey. Murugan was on a mission - to save the vegetarianism & cows from the evil clutches of Rice Plate Reddy, often mourning for his deceased locket lover (Anu Menon of Channel "V" Lola Kutty fame). So he asks for an extension and comes back to the earth. Meanwhile Rice Plate Reddy had grown into a business empire of McDosa, with cows slaughtered for filling the dosas. QG Murugan locates him but had to confront Rowdy MBA (Raju Sundaram) first and with the help of buxom Mango Dolly (Rambha) and finishes his mission after some Matrix-esque fights.

There is a dark humour through out the movie which will definitely make you smile atleast. Whether it is the swagger of Murugan or the "Mind It, I say", or the thick Malayalaee accent with which Locket Lover speaks, no matter how serious the scene looks, it just puts a smile in your face. If you take out that humour element, the movie is surprisingly violent with an over dose of blood and fights.



I missed Quick Gun Murugan because on the weekend (aug 28, 2009)it was released Akila's Valaigappu function (Aug 30, 2009) was scheduled and by the time I was ready to see it, the movie was taken out of theatres. Since there was a confusion about the language of the movie - whether it was an English / Hindi / Tamil / Telugu movie, its DVD was also not available in the market. Believe me.... the characters speak in Tamil but not in English as made out. That's why I said that IKMS is not the first Tamil Cow Boy after 38 years, but QMG is.

Good things first - Undoubtedly IKMS is the best of these two cow boy movies because of its sincerity in its approach towards this genre. Director Simbudevan makes a sincere effort to "educate" and "prepare" the viewers for watching a Cowboy movie (I got some intresting bits about the variety of cowboys). The ground work / hard work for this movie is clearly evident in its ambience, location, costumes and VFX. The comedy is definitely working even if it is not the slapstick variety. Ex. Shadows "lagging" behind the protagonist's actions, "Why Singam Why?" dialogue. The casting was good with a healthy mix of veterans and young artistes. Lawrence was good as Singam and pleasant to watch, devoid of his irritating style mannerisms. Nasser, even though loud, makes his presence as comedy villian. Surprisingly he is the link in both the cowboy movies. The dry & barren landscapes of a cowboy land is recreated here without any traces of Indian village. Art director Maniraj & cinematographer Azhagappan had to be lauded along with the costume director.



Seems Simbhudevan got carried away by the though of cowboy fantascy that he sucks a big time in the screenplay department. The "Red Indian"s episode could have been easily chopped off even though Red Indians & Cow Boys are synonymous. The female leads have nothing to do & quite pathetic to see talented actress like Sandhya wasted terribly. Padmapriya, as Singam's love intrest, gets more footage than the rest. The music is pathetic & not worth mentioning. Simbhudevan confuses at times whether this movie is a spoof, when he pays tribute to late. Jayasankar who was the last cowboy hero in Tamil & USA where cowboy culture was prevalent by naming the villages as Jayasankarpuram & USAPuram. The indecision between a serious adventure film and a spoof is visible at many places.

Both QMG & IKMS may not fall under the Classics, but definitely worth a dekko for their unconventional attempt!!!