Quick Gun Murugan - Movie Review
Director: Shashanka Ghosh | Writer: Rajesh Devraj *
Okay, I've already heard many people say that the movie is not worth watching, and I completely disagree. That's what pushed me to write the review. Apparently, the movie has got a couple of bad reviews in the newspapers, I have no idea why, most of the time lots of terribly bad movies get good reviews, especially in TOI.
Quick Gun Murugan is Classic Slapstick Humour. It's well done, not too sexist, it has low brow and high brow cross-references and original, entertaining cultural references. Frankly, what more do you need in a light movie? A spoof of Tamil cinema, the movie reminds me of one of my all-time favourites, Kung Fu Hustle.
You're guaranteed to leave the theatre in a good mood, smiling: It's not too long either.
The theatre I went to in Chennai was not packed because it was a Sunday morning show, but almost everyone in the audience was in splits the entire time.
A warning note: It doesn't make sense to expect too much (its not THAT great), since its still rough at the edges, and not as polished as it could have been. And the reason I'm raving about it is the dearth of such movies in Indian cinema. As a film buff I still expect better.
Image via www.media.photobucket.com
The villain - Rice Plate Reddy:
Image via strawdogs.files.wordpress.com
The vamp/heroin Rambha:
Image via whatslatest.com
So you've seen some of the excellent and colourful cast, although I couldnt find a picture of one of my favourite villain characters - Rowdy MBA Rascal - I loved the insane amounts of case-taking of MBA's!!
Finally a found a pic of Rowdy MBA The Side Kick Villain:
Image via nowrunning.com
The wiki tells us of the origin of the main character Quick Gun, who started off as a television promo on Channel [V] making phrases such as "Mind it" and "We are like this only" part of an iconic cultural identity. Quick Gun has come a long way from there.
Interestingly, the movie is in English, but it breaks into Tamil or Hindi whenever translation is not possible. In this way, even if it's in English, you never lose the Indian flavour at all. For example,
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
during a love song, he is singing in English and it sounds really ridiculous and funny, and then he switched to Tamil naturally, which is even funnier due to the subtitles that then appear, translating everything literally! This part was tricky, but well executed. Even the trilingual scenes in Mumbai, with English, Tamil and Hindi, switching from one language to another is handled naturally.
So indulge your light hearted side and watch this movie, and remember -
WE ARE LIKE THIS ONLY!
^_^
Lucknow Food: Paan and Kulfi
The meal is important, but the right way to end your large satisfying meal in Lucknow is vital. You could do paan, or kulfi, or both, depending on how much you can consume. The paan is good, of course, paan is usually good in most parts of India, but what was special here was the beautiful way it was decorated and the cost (cheap compared to Mumbai). Though I only had the sweet paan with supari, not the bitter ones that some people prefer. I can't chew tobacco - *yech*
Kulfi! Our taxi driver recommended this place, which was really hard to find, so I can't really give directions, but I can say with confidence that its walking distance from the famous Tundey Kababi.
The sign below says Full Box - 40Rs, Half Box - 20 Rs:
The famous kulfi place uses small round tins to serve the Kulfi, which are then washed and re-used when a new batch is set. This is a photograph of the tins getting collected before being sent off for refilling:
Large Oil Slicks on Manori Beach
I had visited Manori Beach near Mumbai a couple of months ago and was totally horrified and dissapointed by the polluted beach. Here are a few images of the condition of the beach at that time:
A friend of mine investigates the oil slick (ewww):
