Lalgudi Karuppaiah Gandhi aka LKG despises his politician-father (played by Nanjil Sampath). He doesn’t want to end up like his dad, who devoted all his life to ‘serving’ party leaders. Working as a ward councillor in Lalgudi, LKG is a practical politician. He idolises cult political figures like Nagaraja Cholan from Amaithipadai and Aranganathan from Mudhalvan. Instead of being a responsible citizen, he prefers to live the life of economic offenders like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. LKG roams Lalgudi in his black shirt and saffron veshti. When a character asks if he’s a believer, he shoots back sarcastically: “It’s to strike a balance between Dravidianism and Hindutva.” The film, in several ways, is like Balaji’s costume — it’s partly funny and mostly dull. Balaji (who has also written the film) wisely chooses incidents that ensure a roaring cheer from the audience. Take the opening scene for instance: it begins with the Chief Minister’s swearing-in ceremony. During the function, a swamiji sits through the ‘Tamizh Thai Vazhthu’, inviting strong criticism. On the same stage, the Governor can be seen winking at a lady. The scene instantly reminds you of similar political incidents, and connects with the masses.
- Cast: RJ Balaji, Priya Anand, JK Rithesh and Nanjil Sampath
- Director: KR Prabhu
- Storyline: A ward councillor aspires to become the Chief Minister of the State
Sadly, the gags become repetitive after a point and give you a sense of claustrophobia. A deliberate effort has gone into the script to paint the media with shades of grey. But, the jokes work, as is obvious from a television debate scene. The panellists debate on LKG’s protest against ‘disease’, which is a sly take on jallikattu. One of the panellists, out of nowhere, starts singing ‘Selaila veedu kattava,’ to make his point. It is a scream and the crowd goes nuts. There’s an even better one where LKG and Co. make a spoof of popular TV ads. I wish it had more such inventive bits. J.K. Ritesh makes a grand appearance after the one-hour mark. It’s supposed to be a mass entry, but ends up being thamassu. The mood completely changes in the second half and you begin to care less about the film. Priya Anand makes a fleeting presence as Sarala Munuswamy, who works with Election Data Services.
The problem with LKG is that it can hardly be viewed as a film, but a culmination of video memes and trolls on the political developments in the State. The intent — to write a political satire — is appreciable, but not the writing.