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. The ward councillor in Lalgudi, he is a practical politician. He idolises cult political figures — 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. For instance, take the opening scene. 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.

Sadly, the gags become repetitive 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. Take for instance the television debate scene. The panellists debate on LKG’s protest against ‘disease’, which is a sly take on jallikattu. One of the panellists, starts singing Selaila veedu kattava out of nowhere, to make his point. It’s a hoot and the crowd goes nuts.

J.K. Ritesh makes a grand appearance after the one-hour mark. It’s supposed to be a mass entry, but ends up being thamashu. 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 the Election Data Services. The problem with LKG is that it can hardly be viewed as a film, but a culmination of video memes on various political developments in the State. The intent — to write a political satire — is appreciable, but not the writing.