LGM movie review: A great idea wrapped in flimsy nonsensical humor is a miss

Rating: 1.5
Director: Ramesh Tamilmani
Cast: Harish Kalyan, Ivana, Nadiya Moidu

It all starts with one great idea followed by another. What ensues later in LGM is chaos and mostly nonsensical comedy. When you ponder a bit harder though, you wonder — nonsense or fun? The answer depends on how flimsy a plot you think is acceptable. Meera (Ivana) is someone who is struck with the most unusual ideas when it comes to taking decisions in her life. First, she wants to mandate a trial period for her relationship with Gautham. When she begins to develop a sense of security and is confident in their relationship, she wants to take things forward, but again, she doesn’t want to move in with a mother-in-law she has no idea about. There strikes the second idea — a trip where she can get to know her mother-in-law Leela.

Societal construct suggests that this is a preposterous idea. This is also why Gautham and Meera initially decide to break up instead of even contemplating a solution to her problem. However, it is love for one another that pushes the two of them to give something atypical a chance. There is drama, misunderstanding, frustration and a lot of pent up emotions that boil to the surface in the course of the film, and each a valid point of view from the three main characters — Gautham, his mother Leela and Meera. Everything so far is solid, but where things get tangled is when the filmmaker attempts to resolve the conflict. Everything after this point in the film is something that one would either end up hating, or laughing uncontrollably over. It is harebrained enough to frustrate you, but the underlying flimsiness is what really catapults the film into the category of “so bad, but why is it good? Why am I laughing?”

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There comes a point in the film where I began to wonder if this flimsiness in the film is intentional, or an oversight. There is no way that a filmmaker would include a song that is incomprehensible, in a film which already spells chaos and commotion. It seemed as if the intention behind the film was not to explore the dynamics of a new relationship, or the changing landscape of family post-marriage. LGM used this as a gateway to come up with something that is spectacularly stupefying nonsense. I couldn’t help but laugh even after I left the theaters, and this is despite understanding that the film was just not good. So at which point did I not want to go along on this nonsensical ride? When the filmmaker decided to get overtly indulgent with the humor that he missed on some very important plot details.

Take the conversation that Meera and Leela have about Gautham, when Meera recalls how he asked her out, she makes it seem unimportant. Say it was to aid the tone of the film, but then what of the bond between Leela and Meera. Over days the two of them drive around Goa, go to places, stay together and do various things. Yet, we never see a bond build between them. Not enough to qualify the climax of the film, at least. Then, there is the dynamics of relationships between the three characters which are never explored to fruition. Even if one were to put all of this aside, LGM just doesn’t get the balance between story arc and humour right. So the film succumbs to this careless choice leaving yet another great idea to rot in storytelling grave.

After all, how many film can we expect to see in which two women decide to understand each other outside of the constructs set by society at large?