The lead character in "Humble Politician Nograj" is played by Danish Sait.
Elections are round the corner in Karnataka - a reminder that politics is serious business. Or is it?
A new Kannada movie, "Humble Politician Nograj", is taking a very satirical look at the hunt for votes and what our would-be elected representatives are ready to do to get them.
The self-styled "Humble Politician Nograj" is ambitious and he wants to dethrone the sitting legislator and get the ticket from his party - called "Some Big Party" - to get elected himself.
An obstacle to Nograj's goal - an honourable former NRI, who also wants to become MLA to make things better for the people, and not for himself.
But Nograj will stop at nothing. The character is played by Danish Sait, who incidentally, hails from a political family. His grandfather was a minister and his uncle is one now - although he insists his family background gave him no special insight. Danish has caught the attention of radio listeners with his social and political spoofs.
Talking about his experience of working in the movie, Danish told NDTV, "It was fun because I had to play someone who I would dread myself. I don't want someone like that to really lead us or the country that we love so much. It was fun playing the bad guy."
Director and co-writer Saad Khan has been thrilled by the response received in the first week. "Nagaraj is a character who is so entertaining that Danish has created that when we worked on writing the full-fledged script, for us it was about the journey going on in our state. And to depict that through the eyes of this narcissistic mad man called Nagaraj. And he calls himself 'humble' which adds 10 pounds to the joke," he told NDTV.
The film was also screened for politicians who had their own takeaways. Nataraj Gowda, a Congress politician, said, "This film shows what politicians face and what is in their mind. It shows the pain and what problems and obstacles they face."
Kaveri of the BJP is hopeful that the satire will bring about change. "Though it looks like a funny thing, a serious message is going out from this movie... There will be some change in politics," she said.
Congress National Spokesperson Rajeev Gowda also came to see the movie. "I think we all need to lighten up and see the humourous side of life. Humour can also reveal a lot of detail. It can convey messages about reform and reality. True humour can shake things up in this manner. I am looking forward to a laugh riot rather than the regular riot!" he said.
The film does also point the finger right back at us - we have voted for the Humble Nograjs of this world. Are we getting the political leaders that we deserve?
There is much that viewers find familiar about "Humble Politician Nograj" - and much that we find funny. And it is precisely because this film is striking a chord that it is getting such a positive response.