‘Humble Politiciann Nograj’: 10 Episodes Too Long to Make us Laugh

The film, Humble Politician Nograj, struck a chord with the viewers as it was made at a time (2018) when Karnataka was all set for the elections. Directed by Saad Khan, Danish Sait played corporator Nograj, who was hell bent on winning the Assembly polls.

Three years later, the duo has teamed up to make a full-fledged, 10-episode series on the character that started as a radio sketch. In Humble Politiciann Nograj, the corrupt politician has become an MLA. His mannerisms and quirks have become more exaggerated, his sadism has doubled and he now has a bigger goal - to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Season 1 of the show is all about Nograj, whose One Big Party has managed to secure a few seats in the state assembly elections. However, Nograj is determined to form the government with those limited seats and help from the Family Run Party, a legacy party with a clueless scion at the helm. How does this happen? Yes, exactly the way we have seen events unfold in real life.

The series brings in a number of analogies from recent political events. For instance, resort politics, wherein MLAs have been kept hostage in a resort to prevent them from joining the opposition.

Very cleverly, the resort has been named ‘Illegal-ton’, a direct allusion to the plush property used by politicians in Bengaluru.

Then there is horse-trading of MLAs. We also see videos being leaked to malign one particular party, and the media being used to get the agenda across.

The biggest hurdle that stands between Nograj and his political dream is Krishna Gundu Bala from Most Secular Party, a national party with a wanderlust Prime Minister who is an expert in shrugging off his responsibilities. Will Nograj succeed in his quest or will Bala get the better of him? That’s for you to find out.

While the movie managed to retain the humour and keep us engaged, the show becomes increasingly boring with each episode. Most of the jokes don’t land, the caricaturish characters become offensive at times and we don’t see much of an attempt to rectify the homophobia and racism that the film, too, suffered from.

Lynching, religious intolerance, fake news, and the current atmosphere that we are living in are all touched upon, but not explored with the nuance and depth that they call for. The relationship between Nograj and his personal assistant is also, sadly, used for laughs. There are several hints to suggest Nograj might be gay and it would have been fascinating to see the character’s development in that area, but all we get are terrible jokes and facepalm moments.

Humble Politiciann Nograj had ample scope to create an intelligent satire, but sadly it restricts itself to cribbing.

The one thing that deserves credit is the decision of the makers to retain the Kannada diction and not succumb to the pressure of 'Hindi-fying' the series.

The acting, too, is praiseworthy. Danish is in top form as Nograj, the politician we abhor but also want to root for at times because of his antics. Prakash Belawadi as Gundu is impeccable. Gundu does not have ONE characteristic fit to be a politician, but he is good at one thing - nagging people to death.

Barring Kannada, Gundu struggles with other languages, but that does not deter him from putting across his point. Belawadi plays Gundu Bala with supreme confidence, ensuring that we are left in splits most of the time. Disha Madan as the reporter from ‘Paid News’ channel is also impressive. The other characters are largely underdeveloped.

The movie harped on the message that we get the leaders we vote for, but the series gives a peek into how leaders take advantage of their positions and power to exploit the public. But 10 episodes, 30 minutes each, is way too long to hold our attention. It’s great to see Nograj make a comeback, but we wish his comedy would rise above taking offensive jibes.

Humble Politiciann Nograj will premiere on Voot Select on 6 January.