After its dramatic premiere at the London International Film Festival – packed house, standing ovation and so on – and after touring the international film festival circuit in Los Angeles and New York, Shashanka Ghosh’s Quick Gun Murugan finally makes it to the release schedules this week.
An absolutely unique musical comedy western, made in Tamil, Hindi and English, the film stars Rajendra Prasad as the eponymous hero and the delectable Rambha as a blonde Mango Dolly. Quick Gun enters into an epic battle across time and space to prevent an evil restaurant owner from introducing a non-vegetarian dosa onto his menu. He uses the catchphrase made popular when the character was invented for a series of promotional videos for Channel V – ‘Mind It!’ – and the character combines the traditional cool attitude of the Tamil male hero with imaginative superhero powers.
In the movie, Rambha looks – well, voluptuous would be the word – and a long way from the size zero obsession of most Bollywood stars these days. “Rambha’s character Mango Dolly is a blonde, sultry seductress,” says the director, “I needed someone who looks and talks like the real women we had in the past and not someone who is skin and bones. In fact, I asked Rambha to get a few more curves if possible but not lose an inch!”
The movie even launches a new musical form – Tamil Bhangra! Top bhangra artist Mika has composed the launch video for the movie in a style that combines Punjabi bhangra beats with traditional Tamil rhythms. “Yes it is true that for the first time we are trying something this innovative,” he says, “When we finished recording the song, we couldn’t believe how funky it was sounding. It has turned out to be very catchy.”
