Gurkha Movie Review Rating 2.5/5
Production: 4 Monkeys Studio Cast: Yogi Babu Direction: Sam Anton Screenplay: Sam Anton Story: Sam Anton Music: Raj Aryan Background score: Raj Aryan Cinematography: Krishnan Vasanth Editing: Ruben Stunt choreography: Dhilip Subbarayan
Tamil cinema has been making heroes out of its successful comedians. Comedy is an essential ingredient in Tamil commercial cinema, and those who make it big mint money. And it’s just a matter of time before popular comedians graduate into playing hero as their ‘ego’ starts working.
The latest comedian to join the ‘hero’ slot is Yogi Babu, who had two back-to-back releases — Dharma Prabhu, which hit screens on 28 June, and Gurkha this week.
When comedians turn heroes, it’s almost as if they do it with a vengeance, since all these years they were at the receiving end of being hero’s best friend and the butt of all ridicule. They have a lot to prove because they want the industry to know that they too can be heroes.
Elyssa Erhardt is seen playing the role of a US Ambassador, who doesn’t have security around her as and when the film wishes. For instance, Yogi Babu barges into her house while chasing a small kid, and there is no guard. As he watches her getting out of the swimming pool, the guards arrive. We are not able to buy the fact that she doesn’t react when she sees a stranger inside her house, without a tinge of remorse.
A few dialogues make you cringe so much. A film that speaks about the people who protect us (includes Army, Watchmen, and Gurkhas)
Half hour into the movie, Babu meets a foreigner Margot (Elyssa), pronounced here as ‘market’, because: comedy. At best, Margot comes across like a clueless tourist visiting Chennai, who was forced to act at gunpoint. It is revealed that Margot is an American ambassador. In that sense, Gurkha is truly a fictional movie, for I’ve never heard/read about an American ambassador wanting to watch Baahubali 3. Babu tries his luck to charm her and I was glad that there was no Kalyaana Vayasu song this time. Of course, logic is the least anybody would expect in this type of movie —Sam Anton takes this in his stride and adds a slide in the credits that says: Gurkha is a no brainer —which perhaps would have worked had it been an unapologetic spoof.
Gurkha is Yogi Babu’s third film as the lead actor after Kolamaavu Kokila and the recent Dharma Prabhu. Usually, for other heroes, comedy works best as a flavouring, but for Yogi Babu, it is the main dish. In a largely-aimless film, his expressions keep you engaged. Kids might love quite a bit of Gurkha for Undertaker and the gags of Yogi Babu and Anand Raj. Their scenes guarantee total fun. It’s refreshing to see the audience cheer for content that’s away from the quintessential hero-worshipping. Further, there are a couple of scenes of toilet humour – literally, but unfortunately, they are barely funny.
