Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam is an interesting experience

The man who gave us the laugh-riot Imsai Arasan 23-Aam Pulikesi, and the semi-serious Arai Enn 305-il Kadavul is back again, this time with a brand-new cowboy story set in our own Tamil Nadu, after a gap of 38 years.

AGS Entertainment's Tamil film Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam, directed by Chimbudeven, is in the best tradition of the yesteryear classic Ganga, and pays homage to every sheriff who ever walked the dusty town in the wild, dusty west. Stars, boots with spurs and hats with jaunty brims intact.

The story begins with a bang; after a very brief history of cowboys, their origins, migratory instincts (apparently, there are even Thai cowboys) and their eventual settling down even in the wilds of Tamil Nadu.

The small town of Sholaypuram (in homage to the great Amitabh, of course) is up in arms over the theft of their greatest possession: the Texas Mullangi (Texas Radish) a simply huge diamond that beats every single gem stone mined anywhere in the world. Its guardian, Singaram (Raghava Lawrence) would fall at anyone's feet "quicker than his own shadow," as he puts it himself, and literally shakes in his boots at the thought of the theft.

Sentenced to death for his crime, he's saved in the nick of time, cowboy fashion, by a band of horse-mounted warriors comprising of Dagulandi, Viruma, et al (Ilavarasu, Mauli, Vaiyapuri and Ramesh Khanna). Of course, there's a reason behind their kind act.

Turns out there's an identical double for Singaram -- he's the Lightning Warrior Singam, the man who can spin guns in a flash, shoot like a demon and is a nightmare to his enemies. Some years ago, he disappeared and no one knows where.

Malignant entities like Olakkai (Sai Kumar) and his boss, Kelattukkattai (Nasser) from USApuram have risen up again, and the people suffer terribly. They need Singam to vanquish evil but all they've got is Singaram, his look-alike. Thus, they offer a trade-off -- if he will pose as Singam, they will give him their temple's treasure -- a stone that's a clone of the Texas Mullangi, to take back to his village.

Having given a rather interesting flashback to Singaram, complete with special effects, bleak cinematography and harmonica music, the gang returns to Jaishankarpuram (a brilliant homage to South India's James Bond and homegrown cowboy) where all the women are dressed in flowing skirts and bonnets, and the men in flared trousers and wide-brimmed hats.

Singaram stumbles and stutters through gun-fights and a budding romance with Pali aka Pappali (Padmapriya) with whom he sings a couple of colourless duets. G V Prakash isn't really at his best, here. The songs hamper the pace as well.

The real fun begins, though, when Singaram, rendered uncommonly courageous by a temporary victory against Olakkai, suddenly decides to win over the neighbouring red Indians as well.

Enter Athri Kesa (M S Bhaskar), who, in a truly marvellous role, sports feathers a mile long, trots magnificently on horses and speaks a language that has to be constantly translated. His daughter Thumbi (Sandhya) has a soft spot for Singaram -- in fact, all the girls, even Kelattukkatai's sidekick (Lakshmi Rai) do.

Treasure hunts a la McKenna's gold (a glorious spoof that reduces you to fits of laughter), lost maps, treacherous journeys, intriguing puzzles and disastrous adventures follow our hero and his motley band of merry men. Some are genuinely hilarious -- like the tongue-in-cheek references to Indiana Jones, and the puzzle-questions that the hero is supposed to answer (and everything from the IPL to the Tamil alphabet is raked in). Others have lesser impact.

It might look like Raghava Lawrence is the hero but in reality, he's largely relegated to the sidelines except for the Singam flashback and those are truly impressive. The cowboy look, complete with spurs and waist coat suits him. Otherwise, the screen is occupied willy-nilly by M S Bhaskar (in a fantastic performance), Vaiyapuri (with a deadpan face), Nasser (who apes American capitalists and throws in a few well-placed barbs) et al. Aside from these, Sai Kumar deserves special mention. The man is a revelation. Who knew he had such a flair for comic villainy?

The heroines, on the other hand have little to do. Padmapriya is alright; Sandhya gives an impromptu dance performance while Lakshmi Rai plays with a giant carom-board and wears revealing dresses, which is pretty much it.

Azhagappan's camera-work is appealing, bringing in the stark landscape and the Wild West feel perfectly, while T Muthukumar's art direction, with the Marshall's office and Passmark bar is superb. The special effects are neat too. The problem is, it's a little too perfect.

This is supposed to be a spoof, after all; you're expected to revel in the ridiculous situation of Tamil speaking cowboys  but the sets and costumes work too well. You might as well be in Mexico, not Tamil Nadu. 

Chimbudeven is known for slipping in relevant political issues in comic situations. He does it here as well but either Raghava Lawrence lacks Vadivelu's charisma, or the director's run out of steam, because they lack spice, here. The first half moves slowly, thanks to this. At times, it also looks like Chimbudeven rather submerged himself too completely in the cowboy era – it's almost a proper Western, and only the actors' comic timing saves you from being a run-of the-mill flick.

The movie stumbles a bit between comedy and seriousness. The other slight drawback is the heavy referencing done to yesteryear cowboy classics. Unless you're up to date with at least McKenna's Gold, Indiana Jones and our very own Ganga, the in-jokes would go a bit over your head.

Nevertheless, the film has genuine laugh-out-loud situations that save the screenplay at the right moments. It's no Imsai Arasan, but Chimbudeven's genuine love for the long-lost fantasy Wild West era, the Michael Jackson referrals, the sets and the actors make it an interesting experience.

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