Okay, let’s move on to the elephant in the room: the Tamil comedy scene is on the verge of extinction and beyond redemption, except for one writer to miraculously seem to save the dying art of comedy.
In the world of Tamil cinema, judging the success of a comedian is easy. Some funny movies, and that gave him the license to be a hero. Today there is a shortage of comedy – also because half of all comedians are characters. We saw this happen with Vadivelu and Santanam. Now Yogi Babu.
Gurkhas are a two-minute homage to the almost invisible Gurkhas’ lives:
Who were once seen as protection from darkness. Bahadur Babu (Yogi Babu), a Gurkha. It is originally from Nepal and settled in Chennai as an immigrant.
His attempts to get into the police training academy were unsuccessful. In the end, he complains about his work, unlike his grandfather. Who is also a teacher who cares a lot about other people?
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During the half-hour in the film, Babu meets a stranger, Margo (Elisa), advertised here as a comedy “market”. At best, Margo meets insecure tourists visiting Chennai who is forced to trade arms. It turns out that Margo is the American ambassador.
In that sense, Gurkha is an entirely fictional film as I have never heard/read from an American ambassador wanting to see Baahubali 3.
Babu tried his luck to lure him in, and I am glad there is no song by Kalyaana Vayasu this time. Sam Anton goes a step further and adds a slide to the caption that says: Gurkhas are not who knows what brains. This could work if it were the perfect substitute.
The comedy part was very uncomfortable, even though today’s stellar comedians led us.
Example: Babu calls the police officer “Harris Jayaraj”, who calls his junior officer “Trisha Kumar”. Forget humour for a moment. Even lines are hard to work with.
Sam Anton’s idea of making laughs scares me by avoiding Harry Potter-themed spells – “stupefy”, “sectumsempra”, “redocto” – and avoiding any dialogue in the name of comedy.
Most of the Gurkhas take place in a mall where a group of people and Margo. They are held hostage by a self-proclaimed terrorist. How appropriate, I wonder, because the real hostages are those sitting in the theatre.
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The Gurkhas are partly satire parodying events in Tamil Nadu, and Sam Anton connects them in the main plot. There are, for example, references to the notorious Godman Nithyananda, actor Vishal, politician H Raja, “anti-India” statements, episodes with hot water bottles, Sivakumar’s selfie dispute, sterile protest incident involving police officers standing in a van to open fire.
And again, “Blue Sattai” Maaran asks where the stolen story came from. The film starts to relax in the parts mentioned above in the second act as they feel repetitive.
Gurkha is a film that tries to make people laugh and laughs at itself, which is the result. However, sometimes Yogi Babu’s character goes above and beyond, making it difficult to take the story seriously.
Raj Bharat, who can be seen in Sigai, appears very calm in the kidnapping series:
As he gives his character energy and determination. I wish I had seen more of his role. But the Gurkhas keep their distance from the other supporting characters. Of course, we stop caring.
Gurkha is Yogi Babu’s third film in the lead role after Swimmingaavu Kokila and the youngest Dharma Prabhu. Usually, comedy works best as a condiment for other characters, but for Yogi Babu, this is the main dish. In a primarily aimless film, the expression on his face leaves you breathless.
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Kids can love Gurkha for Undertaker, and Yogi Babu and Anand Raj jokes. Your scenes guarantee full entertainment. It’s refreshing to see the audience cheer for content far from the typical cult of the characters. There are some toilet humour scenes too – literally, but sadly, it’s hardly funny.