Humble Politician Nograj (Kannada, 2018)

Saad Khan steps into mainstream filmmaking with Humble Politician Nograj. It is a very unconventional film to go mainstream but he uses that to his advantage and gives you a film with a plot in the midst of an almost solo stand-comedy act throughout from Danish Sait. The way he has managed to weave in so many supporting characters with their quirks and individual arcs needs to be lauded.

Danish Sait is a revelation on screen. The kind of shamelessness one needs to possess to get in front on the camera and do such a narcissistic, obnoxious character is forever undervalued and for Danish to pull it off throughout his debut film is a tremendous achievement. Sumukhi Suresh gets comparatively lesser screen time then Danish but she aces her role and succeeds in using her body language and facial reactions to full effect even when there are no dialogues for her.

Vijay Chendoor as Nograj’s assistant is a riot on screen with his antics and so are the 3 politicians with varying traits who light up the screen even when it is Danish who is having all the witty lines in the scene. The part about Srinivas Prabhu’s hatred towards the ‘Number 2’ has the script to screen translation working out marvelously. Roger Narayan gets a well-etched role and performs well but is sadly pitted against Danish who swallows almost all scenes they are in.

The unusually bright and colorful tone by cameraman Karm Chawla and snazzy editing by Jagadeesh works in the film’s favor. The theme music for Nograj and the overall background score helps in setting the mood throughout. Credit to Jeet Singh, Prajwal Pai, and Sricharan Pakala, the music composers of the film.

Saad Khan’s combined writing effort with Danish and Vamsi has paid rich dividends. The film has innumerable wacky set pieces conceived brilliantly by the writing team. Some instances that stay with you are when Danish tries to play the religion card for political mileage, his ambition from school days, the gay politician, the way he repeatedly modulates the phrase ‘Indian Culture’ and not to forget the numerous ingenious scams!

Although innovatively written and shot, the film does take a nosedive when Nograj is confused about his morality towards the end. Once the antagonist starts getting more screen space and socially conscious lines, the audience have a dilemma on whom to root for during the actual result announcement.

A talented performer like Sruthi Hariharan is wasted in a character that has very less screen time and has no say in the plot. The fact that she does not play a part in even her husband’s election campaign seems to be a glaring miss.