Cowboy Tales

Quick Gun Murugun is an unlikely superhero. He is a sincere South Indian cowboy who considers it his duty to serve and protect. Now a movie is about to capture his mis-adventures in his fight with arch villain Rice Plate Reddy,who wants to convert the world to non-vegetarianism. Sharon Fernandes spoke to director,Shashanka Ghosh on the birth of QGM:

How did QGM come about?
We were looking for something very Indian and cool that needed to be discovered. Rajesh Devraj,a friend who was then in advertising ca,me up with a colourful cowboy from the 60s South Indian film genre. This was way back in the 1990s. (QGM was used in a promo for Channel V) QGM’s hero is Clint Eastwood and he thinks of himself as a distant eklavya to Eastwood’s Dronacharya. QGM also has a strong sense of duty. He is often pressured to give up his cowboy status and get a safe job or business. But he is steadfast. “I am a cowboy,this is my duty;” he says. So he is a man of values!”

Where did the vegetarianism versus non-vegetarianism idea orginate from?
Logically it was a tongue- in-cheek statement,the American cowboy herds cows which are then slaughtered for beef. The Indian cowboy worships and protects cows – starting with the original cowboy Lord Krishna – so a vegetarian cowboy in India is a natural interpretation.

What kind of audience did you have in mind for QGM?
We made it for young minded people anywhere who have a sense of humour. The movie has Hindi alongside English plus a 20 per cent of a Tamil subtitled version. The English is as Indians speak English.