Tired of playing second-fiddle to the hero in most of his films, radio jockey-turned-actor Balaji Patturaj decided to write a starring role for himself. The result is the upcoming Tamil comedy LKG, about a small-time politician who tries to learn the tricks of the trade to make his way to the top. RJ Balaji, as the actor is better known, has appeared in about 25 Tamil films, including Vignesh Shivan’s Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (2015), Kalees’s Kee (2017) and Mani Ratnam’s Kaatru Veliyidai (2017). The actor felt that it was time for a change, he told Scroll.in. “I was often stereotyped as a friend who would just talk about women to the hero or dance in a wine shop in most films,” Balaji said. “Some of these roles became very boring and I could sense that people too might get bored with my films. Only around seven or eight of my roles were great.” After rejecting a string of similar roles, the actor decided to take matters into his hands. “In 2017 I said no to around 17 films and in 2018 I said no to 13 films,” he said. “If I wanted to make money, I could have said yes to all of these films. But in two years, I would have been irrelevant. That is when I decided to write my own films.” Directed by KR Prabhu, LKG, short for Lalgudi Karuppiah Gandhi, uses satire as a prism to examine major political events and trends, from the violence caused by cow fanatics to the jallikattu debate in Tamil Nadu and the use of freebies by politicians to lure voters in the state. The film, however, does not mock politicians for the sake of it, the actor asserted. “I was clear not to make troll or spoof material,” he said. “We have enough of that on the internet. I wanted to trace the journey of a small-time politician with traces of comedy.” Also starring Priya Anand, JK Rithesh and Nanjil Sampath, LKG has been produced by Vels Film International and will be released on February 22. Play LKG (2019). Balaji wrote the film along with his friends Muthu Pradeep, Gopi Krishnan, Vicky, Saravanan, Andrews, Sitrarasu and Surendran during his stint as a Tamil commentator at the Indian Premier League in 2018. “Since the matches would start in the evening, we would write the film in the afternoon,” he said. “I used to do film reviews in radio shows and have been part of 25 films. With that knowledge I charted out a basic structure for the film.” Among the recent political events parodied in the trailer are actor Kamal Haasan’s entry into politics and the inauguration of the Statue of Unity, a 182-metre statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel near the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat, built at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore. The project has been criticised for the massive expense, the alleged environmental damage and the reported displacement of several Adivasi farmers whose lands had been acquired for the project. “In the second stage of writing, we started thinking about all of the issues unresolved in the country in the past few years,” Balaji said. “We jotted them down and tried to integrate all of those things in the film. For example, the trailer starts with Lalgudi saying he will build a statue of Rs 3,000 crore. When that [Statue of Unity] happened, we decided to integrate it.” The film does not just point fingers at the establishment but also offer solutions, Balaji said. “If I wanted to share my opinion about something, I can do it on any stage,” he said. “But film has its own language. I also wanted the film to have a strong social responsibility and not just criticise politicians. If there are things that go wrong, there should be a solution for that. The film is releasing a few months before the general elections. If around 10,000 people watch the film and if at least five of them think before they vote, the film has won.” RJ Balaji in LKG. Courtesy Vels Film International. Making political films carries the risk of censorship, as was seen with Vijay’s Mersal (2017) and Sarkar (2018), both of which were forced to bow to government pressure and cut some scenes after their release. Does Balaji fear a similar fate for LKG, especially since it comes out in an election year? “I am neither a Vijay or Ajith nor a Rajini [Rajinikanth] or Kamal [Haasan],” he joked. “I want to make films in my own space and I am not sure if politicians even know who I am. I don’t know if they will take my films so seriously. Balaji, who began his career in radio in 2006, plans to continue to juggle radio, acting, writing and cricket commentary for the 2019 IPL season. “I want to work at my own pace. I want to do nothing for at least three months after the film. If these three months extend to six months also, I am happy about it.”<doc-sep>'I am already a politician': Actor RJ Balaji speaks to TNM on 'LKG' Actor 'RJ' Balaji opens up on the timing of his film, the theme and his own political aspirations. Flix Interview From a household name to hero, actor 'RJ Balaji' as he is fondly called, has had a great run in Tamil cinema. TNM catches up with the actor ahead of the release of 'LKG' a film that he has scripted and stars in. The film's trailer which recreates and refers to questionable actions of our politicians ,from floating thermocol on running water to building Rs.3000 crore statues, has created a buzz even before its release. It follows a slew of other big budget political dramas starring popular actors who have questioned the current dispensation. So how is LKG going to differentiate itself from the rest? Actor Balaji answers this and much more in this interview. We know the expansion of LKG in the film, but is there more to the title? I don't want this to be a hardcore political film which has only a few takers. Out of 100, I don't want just 20-30 people to see it. I wanted a very mass-y and catchy title. I wanted the title to attract people and even make someone who is in the interior part of Tamil Nadu go buy a ticket. The second reason we've chosen this title is also because our knowledge of politics is at the level of kindergartners. I thought it made sense that way too. There's been a slew of films in the recent past that take on state and central politics. Where does LKG fit in? When I started writing this film with my friends, I told them there was a season for ghost films, then short filmmakers entered the industry to make small movies and now it is the season for political films. I knew there would be many films that will release while we write this movie and even after it releases. The mood in the country is such that people are angry or have something to say. When we started writing, we decided it will not be a spoof or a parody of what is happening today. Apart from that, I thought it was to be a proper film with a story and also about the journey of a politician. Through that journey, I wanted to convey the larger message of the film, which is to invest five more minutes before you vote. So, it is not just another film trying to use what is happening right now. LKG seems to be about a TN politician who is interested to enter national level politics. Any real life inspirations behind the story? You may have seen two or three parodies in the film's trailer..I don't even call them parodies, it is actually a recreation of what happened. We just showed the same shots in the film. We are not looking to make a spoof, so we had a story which shows the journey of a man travelling from one point to another. We also had 350 real life incidents already written on paper. But if we included too many, it would have become a Tamizh Padam 3. That is a good genre but that is not what I was looking for here. Also, we can find such content on social media, why would I need to make this film for two hours with so much effort? The actors who've been acting in these films with political overtones are considered to be harbouring political ambitions themselves. How about you? I actually have a 25-year-old political plan. When I was in eighth standard, we were told to write down our ambition on a piece of paper and I said I want to become a politician. That is because I started reading political magazines from a very young age and had a high interest in politics. But once I grew up, and got into radio and saw what is happening around me, I started distancing myself from electoral politics. The trend now is - an actor who voices his opinion will support a party three months before the elections, then he'll get a seat. And if he doesn't get it then, he will get one or two lakhs every day, wave and say vote for the person concerned. If this is politics, it is too little for me. Right now, what I am doing is politics. What I have been doing for 4-5 years is politics. My politics is doing things that are possible within your own sphere. I want to be the friendly neighbourhood superhero who can save four people around him. I can't change India or Pakistan but I can help people around me. I have been a politician now and I will be one till I die. Skeptics say filmmakers never spoke up when Jayalalithaa was alive, so is this a false sense of bravado? They are two big leaders of all time - Kalaignar and Amma. When they were alive, I'm not sure if many actors were vocal about politics or many people actually started parties. When they were alive and active in parties, I was a nobody. All of us who wrote this film had made a YouTube video about three or four years back. We saw the quality of the film recently and couldn't even sit through it. That was the maturity in our thought process and standard of writing then. Somewhere I evolved as a person and my views evolved. So, I think it the right time now for me to talk or make sense. If they were alive now, I don't know if I would have the same guts but I would have made the same film Are you saying that it is only now that you have the material to make such a film? We always had material but we were afraid to speak out. I am amused when people talk like we were very happy until four years back and suddenly our happiness has been taken away. It is not that.<doc-sep>RJ Balaji and his team of writers in LKG provide a script that is razor sharp and able to provide maximum laughs The popular radio jockey, actor and social activist RJ Balaji makes his debut as writer and hero with LKG, a political satire laced with his trademark humour. Balaji’s USP has always been comedy and debutant director Prabhu allows him to play to his strength. It is a spoof and a satirical take on Tamil Nadu politics of the last two years (to be exact, after former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s death), according to RJ Balaji, who is also credited for the story and the screenplay. LKG is a neat political satire that shows how cynical the common man is about the current political scenario. There are many hilarious scenes that instantly connects with the audiences about a particular political party or incident. In fact, it is obvious that Balaji and his friends helped themselves to real-life incidents that went viral and spiced up the script. There is the incident of a Tamil Nadu minister floating thermocol taped together on the Vaigai dam reservoir to prevent the water from evaporating. Another scene taken from real life has a politician slapping a man in public, the video of which went viral. The opening scene has our hero Lalgudi Karupaiah Gandhi aka LKG (Balaji) getting shot at as he is about to be sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. In a flashback sequence, it is shown how a small time crooked but ambitious councilor LKG climbs up the political ladder using his tact and gift of the gab. He has also a personal score to settle as his father (Nanjil Sampath), who was in politics for 30 years, did not make money and was considered a failure by the people. Egged on by his uncle (Mayilsamy), who acts as his PA, LKG decides to take a different political line where he uses people’s trust and faith in him, so that he can make money and capture power. Right from the beginning, the voice in his head tells the audiences that he is in politics for himself, and not for the people. He goes around wearing a saffron veshti and black shirt, which brings in votes from both the believers and the atheists. He always manipulates the situation depends on the number of votes he will get or the hard cash he makes. LKG also realises the politics of today is run by the corporates and professional image builders. So he seeks the help of a Cambridge Analytica-like firm, headed by Sarala Munusamy, who has shortened her name to Saa Ra (Priya Anand), to market himself aggressively and influence social media users, and thereby the elections (there are rumours that in real life a top Tamil Nadu politician only listens to his image maker than his own party men). This helps LKG to become popular among the influential national news channels. Soon, he becomes a favourite of Deputy Chief Minister Bhojappan (Ramkumar Ganesan), who is taking care of the state after the CM was hospitalised. And when the CM dies, he is pitted against his arch rival Ramraj Pandian (JK Riteesh) in the by-election that follows. The story is wafer-thin and has been derived mostly from real life incidents and mixed well to be packaged into a commercial entertainer. The director conveniently uses memes, pop culture references and social media tools to push the plot forward. The film shows how social media trends can affect the outcome of polls in India. And the final scene, a monologue where Balaji explores what is wrong with our political system, is an eye-opener. It is an out and out RJ Balaji show, and he is there in every frame of the film. Balaji and his team of writers provide a script that is razor sharp and able to provide maximum laughs. Priya does a neat job, making the most of a character with a mind of her own. However, there are some logical loopholes in the script and the hero really does not have any major political setbacks. LKG, with a runtime of 124 minutes, is able to grab your attention, as it comments on the murky world of Tamil Nadu politics. Overall, it is fun and the wink at the end will make you laugh loud as you come out of the theatres. Rating: 3.25 stars<doc-sep>Film: LKG Director: K.R Prabhu Cast: RJ Balaji, Priya Anand, Mayil Swamy and JK Riteish and Nanjil Sampath Rating: 3/5 Even if you’ve even passively followed the state of politics in Tamil Nadu during the last two years, you know enough to laugh at the mockery of the system. This has had an adverse effect on the attitude of general public towards politics and even voting for that matter. RJ Balaji’s LKG, which is a very topical political satire-cum-drama, asks all the important questions and hits all the rights spots while serving as an eye-opener to truly understand politics and the real power of voting. Balaji plays Lalgudi Karuppaiah Gandhi aka LKG, a councillor with political ambitions. With many tricks up his sleeve, he knows the right strings to pull to get a job done. From helping people in his neighbourhood to get admission for their kids in an international school to getting his cut in the local road contract; he knows how to earn a few extra bucks and at the same time earn his share of publicity by hook or by crook. The story follows his political journey from a local councillor to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In the introduction scene, it has been made very evident that LKG is not in politics for the people, but for himself. This is established very early on when we see him worshipping Vijay Mallya and popular political characters from Tamil films. He’s street smart and can turn any situation in his favour. When he locks horns with a powerful politician who has built a political empire over last three decades, the means he employs to deal with the situation again emphasise how there is right or wrong in politics. The film is Balaji’s show all the way. He shines both as actor and writer in delivering a highly relevant political satire that takes references from contemporary cinema, politics and social media to make the film even more entertaining. There’s a hilarious stretch about meme creators and the role they play in our lives. The film does get slightly over indulgent at times but it makes up for it with great jokes at regular intervals. Also read: Deepika Padukone’s comment on husband Ranveer Singh’s crazy dance video is bang on. Watch video LKG recreates several political scenes from recent times. The whole hospital scenario featuring J. Jayalalithaa is one among them and it only makes us understand how the whole situation was handled in a hush-hush manner. The film strikes a fine balance between satire and drama, never going overboard in trying to make its point. Priya Anand, who looks fabulous like never before, chips in with a refreshing performance as a political strategist who helps Balaji reach his goal. Nanjil Sampath, Mayil Swami and JK Riteish play their respective parts quite well. LKG can’t be brushed aside as any other political satire. As much as Balaji plays to his strengths and relies heavily on comedy to make his point, this is a very important and relevant film that encourages us to see politics from a different point of view. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop<doc-sep>
'LKG' review: RJ Balaji's film is more spoof than intelligent satire While â€˜LKGâ€™ makes liberal use of recent political events and is entertaining for those who catch the references, it fails to go beyond that. Flix Kollywood A saint in saffron remains seated as the 'Tamizh thaai vaazhthu' is played; a Governor throws a sidey glance at one of the women on stage, right in the middle of an important political event. The audience needs no encouragement to laugh. They've seen it all play out in the theatre of the absurd that Tamil Nadu politics has become. RJ Balaji's LKG, directed by Prabhu, is among the many Tamil films in recent times to question the government at the state and central level. Quite interesting, because Bollywood too has had a slew of releases that are pertinent to the election season, only those films have pandered to the government that is in power while Tamil cinema has made the opposite choice. LKG is about an ambitious ward councillor, Lalgudi Karuppiah Gandhi, who is at the kindergarten level of power, but wants a bigger share of the pie. His heroes, the ones to whom he does daily puja, are Sathyaraj's character from Amaidhi Padai and Raghuvaran's from Mudhalvan. Anyone familiar with Tamil cinema territory would know that this marks him out as the villain rather than the hero. But then, LKG has no hero - its purpose is to reflect a certain reality, and in that sense it is unabashedly a "message padam". The film makes liberal use of recent political events and while this is pretty entertaining for those who catch the references, it stops well short of being an intelligent satire. The problem is that Prabhu seems to have been undecided on whether he's making Tamizh Padam 3 or a realistic film that bites because it touches a raw nerve. Take Priya Anand, for instance. She plays Sarah M Swamy (real name Sarala Munuswamy), who manages a team at VR Analytica, a Cambridge Analytica-type of company that helps politicians win elections. But just as her name is bogus, so is her characterisation, which is limited to uttering stock phrases about "corporate". When she decides to help LKG win the election, she barges into his home like Kajal Aggarwal in the Colgate Active Salt ad (by the way, why didn't that awesome 'I challenge Kajal Aggarwal' line from the trailer make it to the final cut? I'm upset), and takes over his life. Sure, the scene itself is funny, but it once again establishes LKG as a spoof along the lines of CS Amudhan's film which released a few months ago, rather than an original product. RJ Balaji has tried his best, but the problem is that you can see him trying. The comedy often feels forced and he resorts to shouting whenever he needs to emote. Ramkumar Ganesan is perhaps the most assured actor in the cast, playing the Deputy CM who gets an opportunity to become the CM (no marks for guessing how and why). In its eagerness to reveal how influenced people are through social media and viral trends (meme creators, for instance, attend the CM's swearing in, instead of the press), LKG barely scratches the surface of any real issue that affects people's lives. Why, for instance, do people vote for freebies? Why do they sell their votes for cash? Is it just moral depravity? The judgement is delivered well before the film can really examine the matter. After Sarkar, Vijay's Deepavali release that berated voters in a similar fashion, several had written about how this was an elitist and tone-deaf view of the masses. LKG too is content to remain in this territory, not going beyond the depth of an average WhatsApp forward. The second half of the film, which pitches a battle between Ramaraj Pandian (JK Rithesh) and LKG, is disappointing to say the least. To make a point about the media spreading rumours and social media taking it to be the truth, the film resorts to a generous dose of homophobia. Earlier on, too, there are throwaway dialogues about whether one is a true "aambalai" or not - and of course, the film has no woman politician at all, despite the whole crisis in Tamil Nadu having been triggered by the death of one!