Chimbudevan’s latest film ‘Super Cowboy’ comes as a sweet surprise in this ridiculously predictable genre dealing with Cowboys in Indian Cinema. We borrowed this concept a long time ago from Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone’s western films set in arid lands where cowboys and marshals bay for each other’s blood. However, the whole concept of a cowboy boiled down to treasure hunt in Indian cinema, something like Takkari Donga in recent few years. This is where Chimbudevan succeeds atleast for most part of it. His film is not only an intelligent spoof but also boasts of great entertainment thanks to the comic characters created for this film. The film starring Raghava Lawrence in lead role as Simhachalam, also stars three heroines, Padmapriya, Lakshmi Rai and Sandhya. Saikumar and Nazar played other important roles. The film narrates the adventures of Simhachalam as he goes on to rescue the people of ‘Jaishankar Puram’ from Nalla Taj (Nazar).

What’s the Story? Lawrence stars as Simhachalam who lives in a village named Sholypuram and he’s a guardian to few orphans. Simhachalam is a security guard at the local bank. One day the village court charges him of negligence because a huge diamond called “Texas Mullangi” is stolen by bandits. When he is about to be hanged, he’s saved by four other cowboys who hail from another village named ‘Jaishankar Puram’. They claim to have stolen “Texas Mullangi” and are even ready to give it back to Simhachalam. However, they expect him to do a favour. Simhachalam has to turn into Simha, a fearless cowboy who was the saviour of their people. What happens when Simhachalam accepts this condition? That forms the rest of the story of this brilliantly written comic caper in Cowboy style.

What is Good: Five minutes into the film, we realize that this isn’t just another cowboy adventure. Chimbudevan weaves an intelligent story right from the beginning and quite a few times the intermittent flashbacks show a glimpse of why Super Cowboy makes a great first impression. Take that “Shadow principle” for example. The two different versions tell us something about the characters which define Simha and Simhachalam. The dialogues uttered by almost everyone especially the side actors hit you hard and they leave no stone unturned to tickle your funny bone. The first one hour of the film have more gags and comic scenes than scores of other films put together. From including films, cultural references to taking a dig at plenty of others, the film seems so original in its approach and it’s all done with utmost care.

Of the star cast, Lawrence breezes through his scenes and since we all know he’s a brilliant dancer, he shows off his dancing skills as well. He’s a cowboy who carries atleast two guns which need to be revolved all the time and he’s good at that. The three leading ladies Padmapriya, Laxmi Rai and Sandhya have nothing much to offer apart from having to look beautiful and fall for the hero. They do that pretty well. If you have noticed, ladies in such films are always good at heart and they have a soft corner for the main hero! Nazar has an interesting role which has traces of George Bush and Saikumar who plays the role of his assistant does a great job. He carries that shattered teeth and shabby look which is again a pre-requisite for the baddies with great charm.

What is bad: After a promising first half of the film, Super Cowboy falls into a trap of having to include another important aspect of a cowboy’s film. Treasure hunt! All of a sudden, everyone goes on a treasure hunt, cracking clues and escaping obstacles. The gags vanish which sets in an eerie feeling of watching a mediocre cowboy film after a slambang beginning. It’s all so predictable after a point of time and it’s such a pity that the film ends up that way. It’s almost as if the engine of bullet train being has been replaced with a steam engine.

Bottomline: The film takes a dig on various issues like Child Labour, Vegetarianism, Women’s reservation bill, advertising, sponsorship and even Indo-US nuclear treaty. It is things like these which make Super Cowboy a pleasure to watch. It could have easily been a full length laugh riot, a complete Howlarious film! However it runs out of steam right when you expect it to be something unique and ends with a bland feeling. Despite such shortcomings, I recommend you to watch Super Cowboy for atleast the first half’s sake. We haven’t been lucky enough to watch the Telugu version of C.S.Amudhan’s ‘Tamizh Padam’. Undoubtedly Chimbudevan’s ‘Super Cowboy’ is the next best option.