Quick Gun Murugan (QGM) was a character created by Shashankha Ghosh for the Channel V promos almost a decade back. QGM’s smart one-liners like “One Whisky and One Masala Dosa” and a heavy south-Indian accent made him so popular amongst urban Indians that Shashankha Ghosh decided to make a movie out of it. Delayed due to controversy, QGM finally released in AP almost a month after it premiered across the country. Originally made in English, this 90 minute movie also saw the dubbed Hindi and Telugu versions releasing and this review is based on the Telugu version.

What is it about : The film starts with the dead vegetarian cowboy Quick Gun Murugan (Rajendra Prasad) in Heaven trying to convince Chitragupta to send him back to earth so that he can avenge his killing by Rice Plate Reddy (Nasser). Rice Plate Reddy is a crook who owns the Mc Dosa Company with an evil mission to turn everyone into a non-vegetarian as well create the world’s best non-veg dosa. Quick Gun Murugan is sent back to earth to discover that Rice Plate Reddy is on a kidnapping spree to get that elusive recipe for non-veg dosas. With Mango Dolly (Rambha) by his side, he goes after Reddy and his gang with blazing guns and dancing bullets. Mango Dolly is ofcourse the bar-dancer with a heart of gold who has the hots for our Quick Gun Murugan. No dosas for guessing what happens by the end!!!

What is Good: Rajendra Prasad looks completely natural in his colorful (or garish) get-up as the vegetarian cow-boy. Though it was easy for him to go overboard, he plays out the character very sensibly which is not surprising given his impressive repertoire of comic roles that he has done over so many years. Nasser looks menacing as Rice Plate Reddy while Rambha looks every bit of the bimbo she plays. The art direction is impressive with its bright vibrant colors and is totally kitsch with its calendar art, plastic flowers, etc. The “action” scenes where we have QGM dodging bullets are funny despite being unrealistic.

What is bad: Dubbing it in Telugu was a BIG mistake. For a character whose charm was his south-Indian accented English, hearing him and the other characters speak in Telugu literally took the charm out of Quick Gun Murugan’s persona. The Telugu dubbing ensured the one-liners fell flat and managed only a few occasional laughs from an audience who didn’t seem to relate to the characters anyways. The confrontation at the end did not have the punch that was needed.

Me Thinks: Quick Gun Murugan is a multiplex film that is best watched in the English version which will do complete justice to the film and its colorful characters.

Tailpiece: The Happy Birthday jingle plays in the background everytime Rice Plate Reddy kills someone …truly hilarious … I Say!!!