LKG MOVIE REVIEW
LKG Movie Review
The popular radio jockey,
actor and social activist RJ Balaji makes his debut as writer and hero
with LKG, a political satire laced with his trademark humour.
LKG opens with Lalgudi
Karupaiah Gandhi aka LKG (RJ Balaji), who is about to be sworn in as the chief
minister, getting shot. The film then goes back in time to narrate how LKG, a
councilor in the small town of Lalgudi, managed to get elected as the chief minister.
RJ Balaji is in full form,
keeping us engaged throughout. The story too doesn't meander at any point. LKG
has in fact avoided a lot of commercial compromises that we see in such
political genre films and stays true to it's intent.
Priya Anand appears as a Data
Analyst for Elections and plays her part well. Her characterization, despite
being one-note, is something we've rarely seen in Tamil Cinema. She is a
matured, strong-headed girl who is completely focussed on her job throughout
the film.
LKG is mostly a satisfying
political satire and inarguably the best among the recent crop of political
films. Its success lies in how efficiently it manages to strike a balance
between idealism and cynicism, and reflects the attitude of the common man towards
politics.
There are many hilarious
scenes that instantly connects with the audiences about a particular political
party or incident. In fact, it is obvious that Balaji and his friends helped
themselves to real-life incidents that went viral and spiced up the script.
Right from the beginning, the
voice in his head tells the audiences that he is in politics for himself, and
not for the people. He goes around wearing a saffron veshti and black
shirt, which brings in votes from both the believers and the atheists. He
always manipulates the situation depends on the number of votes he will get or
the hard cash he makes. LKG also realises the politics of today is run by
the corporates and professional image builders.
The story is wafer-thin and
has been derived mostly from real life incidents and mixed well to be
packaged into a commercial entertainer. The director conveniently uses memes,
pop culture references and social media tools to push the plot forward. The
film shows how social media trends can affect the outcome of polls in India.
And the final scene, a monologue where Balaji explores what is wrong with our
political system, is an eye-opener.
