Veteran director Om Saiprakash, who has more than a hundred films to his credit, returns to direction with Common Man. The promise of a raw expose of the political system is certainly tempting. Add Gowrishankar SRG, coming off the acclaimed Kerebete, and the pun-packed title “Common Man – Naane CM”, and expectations are naturally raised. Unfortunately, the film raises them only to drop them rather unceremoniously.
The film fearlessly throws several political scandals and controversies at the screen. There is a “40% commission” scam allegedly orchestrated by the Chief Minister himself, politicians taking guidance from scheming astrologers, a swamiji accused of sexually abusing minors under his care, a politician getting married for the second time because the stars supposedly promise him another shot at the CM’s chair, and a police officer happily accepting bribes through UPI. If some of these sound familiar, that is probably because the film clearly draws from real political controversies and incidents that have made headlines in Karnataka.
At the centre of this political circus is our hero. His father is a victim of a corrupt system, gets jailed and eventually dies. The son becomes an advocate, determined to fight injustice. But soon he discovers the inconvenient truth that merely practising law may not be enough to fix the system. So the film decides to fix democracy itself.
Enter the biggest fantasy element of the film: the sitting Chief Minister, guided by an astrologer, hands over power for a year to a political nobody. That nobody happens to be our hero. If you are still with the film after swallowing that, the screenplay has several more cinematic pills waiting for you.
One must grant the film considerable cinematic liberty. Unfortunately, the liberty taken by the screenplay is considerably greater than the patience demanded from the audience. The narration is fragmented, the episodes are loosely stitched together and the political references often feel like a quiz where the audience is expected to identify the real-life scandal behind each scene. Beyond that little mental exercise, the film struggles to hold attention.
Gowrishankar adapts himself convincingly to a role quite different from his earlier performances. He demonstrates that he has the ability to inhabit different kinds of characters naturally. Sadly, the film around him gives him very little opportunity to make the most of that ability. The music is another bright spot and one of the better aspects of the film.
The rest, however, makes the exit door look increasingly attractive.
Common Man needed a SIR — Special Intensive Revision — of its script before the cameras rolled. Unfortunately, that revision never happened. What reaches the screen is a political fantasy that promises to overhaul the system but ultimately struggles to overhaul its own screenplay.
Verdict: Naane CM may be the film’s slogan, but after 146 minutes, the audience may well be saying, “Naane Exit!”
Film: Common Man Director: Om Saiprakash Cast: Gowrishankar SRG, Sona Ladwa, Sabby Suri, Ganesh Rao, N Narasimha Murthy, Escort Srinivas, Prakash Thuminad, Ramesh Bhat, Nagendra Urs, Bala Rajawadi Producer: N Narasimhamurthy, Surabhi Films Duration: 146 minutes Certificate: UA 16+