Directors: Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan and Jeetu Arora Insan
Cast: Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Daniel Kaleb, Flora Saini, Jayshree Soni, Olexandra Semen, Jay Singh Rajpoot and Himanshu Tiwari
Good God! Narcissism was never this mainstream. MSG: The Messenger of God is a three hour long ride to showcase the superhuman ability of a religious leader called Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan. Could that name be any more verbose? Nonetheless, that’s how he’s introduced in the film, amidst CGI driven pyrotechnics et al. If that’s not all, he has a credit in almost every filmmaking department – Choreography, Art Direction, Action, Lyrics, Singing, Music, Cinematography, Story, Screenplay, Dialogue and Direction. It’s a real one man effort this film. Any form of regular criticism will seem defunct and pointless.
What’s not futile is the effort put into making this film. The production values are so lavish they’d even outshine the opulence of a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie. The story though is a simple ‘savior of mankind versus evil of men’ saga. A whole bunch of corrupt forces, both local and international, are hell bent on taking down Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan aka Guruji aka Pitaji. But Guruji was born from cosmic divinity, so there are no way the bad guys could trump his deific aura. The result of this premise is over-the-top action and high-flying stunts that are usually best left for the God of celluloid, Rajnikanth. Unlike Rajni sir, Guruji has a penchant for garish dressing and standing stiff in a movie frame, with only a glimmer of the lips moving to spout dialogue from behind a deep dark curtain of facial hair. It’s slightly surreal but very entertaining, tongue firmly in cheek.
So this film takes no effort to hide the Dera Sacha Sauda propaganda motive. So in a generous runtime of three hours you have about ten dozen reasons given to you why following Guruji will be the coolest thing to do. If you have any doubts, even the bad guys’ dialogue has but one aim. To reiterate the number of followers Dera Sacha Sauda has and how Guruji is the absolute form of incorruptible divine power. Plus he has the advantage of superhuman strength, flying Lions, motorcycles, ATVs etc. Just the mention of his name is enough to rumble an entire luxury yacht. Priceless.
End of the day, this is a commercial Hindi film. It’s as masala as it can be. Complete with half a dozen songs that are shot like kitschy and corny music videos. You have A-grade visuals, top notch make-up, a bevy of bad actors playing bad guys and Guruji eradicating evil with consummate ease. It all seems like a surreal Sunny Deol movie with a very obvious religious hangover. There’s so much glitz, action and high drama in a movie about men having godlike ability. That’s replete with the supernatural skill of being able to produce incandescent beam of light from your hands. The kind we usually associated with the deities. If all that doesn’t entertain you, then so help you God.
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