Gurkha (film)

Gurkha
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	Sam Anton
Screenplay by	Sam Anton
Produced by	Kishore Thallur
Starring	Yogi Babu Elyssa Erhardt Anandaraj Charle Raj Bharath
Cinematography	Krishnan Vasant
Edited by	Ruben
Music by	Raj Aryan
Production company	4 Monkeys Studios
Release date	12 July 2019 (2019-07-12)
Running time	145 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹4 crore (US$480,000)
Box office	est.₹8 crore (US$960,000)(see below)

Gurkha (transl. Brave Soldier) a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Sam Anton.^[1] The film stars Yogi Babu in the lead role,^[2] while Elyssa Erhardt, Anandaraj, Charle, Raj Bharath, and Manobala, among others, play supporting roles. The film is produced by 4 Monkeys Studio, with cinematography and editing is handled by Krishnan Vasant and Ruben respectively, continuing their association with the director. The music is composed by Raj Aryan. Principal photography commenced in around December 2018, and the film released on 12 July 2019. It was inspired by Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009).

Bahadur Babu (Yogi Babu) belonged to a family of Gurkha who initially had the intention to become a cop, but unfortunately, he gets rejected as he is branded unfit and is unable to clear the physical fitness tests. He joins a security agency known as Shakthimaan Security Services owned by Kavariman (Manobala). Later in the movie, he gets posted as a security officer in a mall. The other characters, who have a parallel storyline in the movie, are a gang of ex-servicemen headed by Thyagu (Raj Bharath) who on the sidelines plans an elaborate antisocial scheme and ultimately stages a takeover of the mall where Bahadur Babu works in. Based on the scheme, the people who are lured into visiting the movies under the false pretense of getting free tickets and shopping vouchers, including Bahadur Babu's love interest Margaret (Elyssa Erhardt), are held as hostages. In the end, it is up to Bahadur Babu to save the people and become a real hero.

The first look poster of the film was unveiled by actor Sivakarthikeyan on 15 September 2018 and the first look poster itself revealed that the film will be a summer release.^[3][4] The film titled as Gurkha implies that the film is based on security guards, and it is played by Yogi Babu. The movie was produced by Kishore Thallur under 4 monkeys studios. The filmmakers also reportedly hired Elyssa Erhardt, a Canadian model who earlier played a small acting role as an assistant to Sundar Ramaswamy (played by actor Vijay) in Sarkar). Elyssa will play the female lead as a foreign ambassador, along with a dog.^[5][6] The film also marks Elyssa's acting debut in Kollywood.^[7] The shoot wrapped in around early January 2019, and the reports confirmed that the film will be released in or around April 2019.^[8]

The soundtrack was composed by Raj Aryan.^[9]

Srivatsan S for The Hindu gave the film negative review, saying "Most of Gurkha takes place inside a mall, where a group of people, along with Margot, is held hostage by self-proclaimed terrorists. How appropriate, I wondered, for the actual hostages are the ones sitting inside the theatre."^[10]

The first look poster, which portrays Yogi Babu as gurkha along with a dog, created buzz among social media users related to racism and stereotype portrayal of the Gurkha community.^[11]

• Gurkha at IMDb