'My Lord' Movie Review: A Distinctively Raju Murugan Social Comedy Until It Veers Into A Typical Melodrama 

There might be a hundred things you may not like about Raju Murugan’s cinema, but not having a voice that is distinctly his own, cannot be one of them. This voice isn’t just limited to the overarching themes he wants to discuss, his films’ politics or plot, or the manner in which even familiar actors behave differently when they’re in his movies. Even when you get in and out of his movie, there could be dozens of frames only this man could have thought of.

There are many such images in My Lord, a film that’s as fascinating as it is frustrating. During a crucial point, the film pauses as you see an army of top medical professionals performing an elaborate pooja, as a massive multi-specialty hospital and its multiple ambulances look on. As these white-coated men of science wait for a divine calling, we see a rooster walk past them nonchalantly, to underline the embarrassment of this image; it’s the kind of image that would fit right in as the centrefold cartoon in any political journal. One can argue the same about the character played by Guru Somasundaram. He’s an eccentric small-town journalist who fights for what’s right. When we see him first in his office, the walls aren’t just lined with photographs of the country’s political figures. On the other side, we see framed remains of all the body parts he’s had to lose in his many fights for justice. And when it’s time for him to deliver one of his rousing speeches, his right hand with its missing ring finger (he wears a glove) is a sign of just how incorruptible he is, told in a hilarious, eccentric manner. 

It’s the kind of character that feels just right in a film like My Lord. As it keeps repeating, it’s a film about the death of democracy and a bruised and beaten member of the fourth estate is par for the course. It is about Muthu (Sasikumar) and Susila (Chaithra J Achar), a married couple who discover that they’ve both been issued death certificates, officially deeming them dead. As they walk from pillar to post to prove that they’re still alive, the powers that be does everything to make sure they no longer exist, on and off paper. 

A still from 'My Lord'

If you recall Guru Somasundaram’s Joker, you will understand how this plot is also distinctively Raju Murugan. But if his signature was all over the 2016 film, you find a lot of this has gone missing in My Lord. For one, the aforementioned eccentricity is limited to just a handful of characters in this film. You find that both the film’s leads, Sasikumar and Chaithra, choose to play their roles with restraint, without the exaggerated quality required to fit into the film’s madcap world. When we meet Muthu first, we see him perform a street play which culminates in him attempting suicide. It’s a single-take sequence that is almost three minutes long, and at this point we see Muthu commit to the film’s madness. But the wackiness of this character goes missing almost immediately after this sequence gets over. You can say the same about Susila too. On paper, you see that her character gets visions from her deceased father that takes over her body, yet even she chooses to perform this role with subtlety. What this does is make you feel like you’re watching a regular movie whenever it’s these two on screen.

Here, we miss other characters like the journalist (played by Guru Somasundaram), as well as a cricket-obsessed loan shark, and another comical corporate manager who will go to any extent to find a kidney for his boss. It’s as though these characters have fully understood their assignment, even better than the leads and the film comes together best when scenes are written around such eccentrics. What makes My Lord wobble even more is how it abandons its social comedy setting to turn into a typical social melodrama. We see Muthu and Susila being chased around the State as they run away from being trafficked for their organs. Scenes, such as the one set inside a courtroom in which both Muthu and Susila find refuge during their hiding, work better as an idea than what it looks like on screen. And the film begins to lose its bite as it veers away from what was so unique about it in the first place.

Which means that by the end, it feels almost unidentifiable with the earlier portions which showed so much promise. When it ends with a loud message delivered without any cinematic subtlety, it degenerates from a biting satire to a generic drama about helping thy enemy, watering your plants, eating healthy and sundry. Though it showed signs of Raju Murugan finding his footing again after the abysmal Japan, as it leaves behind its strengths to play safe, My Lord becomes a film that’s indefensible, my lord.