Posted:
By Screen Weekly
Situational comedies from Hrishikesh Mukherjee and the likes have slipped over the banana peel. Funny men today are not articulate or subtle, they are loud and resort to cheap gags to raise some laughs. Filmmakers Ananth Mahadevan and Anees Bazmee opine on whether comedies without content work
"Slapstick and sleaze are working today, but this bubble will burst soon" – Anant Mahadevan
Comedy films today are under the scanner primarily because of the mindless images they portray. Film critics play an equal part in promoting these films by saying things like 'leave your brain at home when you watch this film'. What is the point of watching a film without grasping anything from it? Unfortunately, comedies today are nowhere close to the films made in the '60s or '70s.
Films like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Padosan or any of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's or Basu Chatterjee's films were real comedies. They had a slice of life and a story and content. These were situational comedies that did more than just clown around. You look back at films like Chupke Chupke, Golmaal and Accha Bura and wonder whatever happened to those great films and filmmakers. Mukherjee's Sabse Bada Sukh was perhaps India's first ever sexual comedy and had great content. It was based on sex but nothing like the sleazy comedy films we see today.
We don't have the filmmakers with the right sort of sensibility to make good, clean comedies today. We use our talented comic actors for stupid gags and spoofs. Disillusioned filmmaking is at its height. Even Hrishikesh Mukherjee was disillusioned when he made Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate in 1998. Those sorts of films would have worked a decade ago but today the audience has a different taste.
In recent times, the Munna Bhai series and Khosla Ka Ghosla are the only films that do justice to the comedy genre of films. The rest has just been a plethora of gags and I believe the audiences are just playing stupid by applauding such cinema.
Actors are slipping over banana peels and the audiences are laughing their heads off. Although slapstick and sleaze is working today I am pretty sure this bubble will burst soon. Just like the Lost and Found theme became obsolete, the audiences will soon realize the true worth of good situational comedy and then no one will be laughing over brainless capers.
"If one wants to put his brain in creative overdrive he should read a book" – Anees Bazmee
Comedy is the flavour of the season and comedy films are succeeding left, right and centre. People are flocking to the theatres every time a No Entry, Partner, Golmaal or Welcome is released. This is because cinema today has become more of a stress-buster. People want to leave behind complex emotions, tensions, fatigue and pressures of life and just have a good time. Films are made to entertain people and comedies today are doing that with perfection.
Yes, people are pointing fingers at these films and calling them cinema that can be viewed only when one leaves their brain at home. I would want to ask the same people a question, why do they refrain from laughing when they see something funny? Just because these critics think intelligent people do not laugh at capers, it does not make these films derogatory. The whole world is laughing out loud so what is the problem?
People tell me Hrishikesh Mukherjee made real comedy. I wholeheartedly agree with them. I too think he was a great filmmaker but he belonged to a different time. Change is inevitable. With time people change, social norms change as do perceptions. Life today is far more dramatic and chaotic than what it was 30 years ago. Mukherjee's films are from a time when life was more laidback. Not that I am saying his kind of films won't work today. They will, but they would need an alternate approach.
Films like No Entry, Golmaal and Welcome are based on contemporary stories. These are light-hearted films that have one aim, that is to make the viewers laugh. I agree they are not well-planned subjects or even compelling cinema. But the point is they are not meant to be. If someone is in the mood to put his brain in creative overdrive I would suggest he read a good book. It would be better than wasting time and energy criticizing something they do not understand.
Situational comedies from Hrishikesh Mukherjee and the likes have slipped over the banana peel. Funny men today are not articulate or subtle, they are loud and resort to cheap gags to raise some laughs. Filmmakers Ananth Mahadevan and Anees Bazmee opine on whether comedies without content work
"Slapstick and sleaze are working today, but this bubble will burst soon" – Anant Mahadevan
Comedy films today are under the scanner primarily because of the mindless images they portray. Film critics play an equal part in promoting these films by saying things like 'leave your brain at home when you watch this film'. What is the point of watching a film without grasping anything from it? Unfortunately, comedies today are nowhere close to the films made in the '60s or '70s.
Films like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Padosan or any of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's or Basu Chatterjee's films were real comedies. They had a slice of life and a story and content. These were situational comedies that did more than just clown around. You look back at films like Chupke Chupke, Golmaal and Accha Bura and wonder whatever happened to those great films and filmmakers. Mukherjee's Sabse Bada Sukh was perhaps India's first ever sexual comedy and had great content. It was based on sex but nothing like the sleazy comedy films we see today.
We don't have the filmmakers with the right sort of sensibility to make good, clean comedies today. We use our talented comic actors for stupid gags and spoofs. Disillusioned filmmaking is at its height. Even Hrishikesh Mukherjee was disillusioned when he made Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate in 1998. Those sorts of films would have worked a decade ago but today the audience has a different taste.
In recent times, the Munna Bhai series and Khosla Ka Ghosla are the only films that do justice to the comedy genre of films. The rest has just been a plethora of gags and I believe the audiences are just playing stupid by applauding such cinema.
Actors are slipping over banana peels and the audiences are laughing their heads off. Although slapstick and sleaze is working today I am pretty sure this bubble will burst soon. Just like the Lost and Found theme became obsolete, the audiences will soon realize the true worth of good situational comedy and then no one will be laughing over brainless capers.
"If one wants to put his brain in creative overdrive he should read a book" – Anees Bazmee
Comedy is the flavour of the season and comedy films are succeeding left, right and centre. People are flocking to the theatres every time a No Entry, Partner, Golmaal or Welcome is released. This is because cinema today has become more of a stress-buster. People want to leave behind complex emotions, tensions, fatigue and pressures of life and just have a good time. Films are made to entertain people and comedies today are doing that with perfection.
Yes, people are pointing fingers at these films and calling them cinema that can be viewed only when one leaves their brain at home. I would want to ask the same people a question, why do they refrain from laughing when they see something funny? Just because these critics think intelligent people do not laugh at capers, it does not make these films derogatory. The whole world is laughing out loud so what is the problem?
People tell me Hrishikesh Mukherjee made real comedy. I wholeheartedly agree with them. I too think he was a great filmmaker but he belonged to a different time. Change is inevitable. With time people change, social norms change as do perceptions. Life today is far more dramatic and chaotic than what it was 30 years ago. Mukherjee's films are from a time when life was more laidback. Not that I am saying his kind of films won't work today. They will, but they would need an alternate approach.
Films like No Entry, Golmaal and Welcome are based on contemporary stories. These are light-hearted films that have one aim, that is to make the viewers laugh. I agree they are not well-planned subjects or even compelling cinema. But the point is they are not meant to be. If someone is in the mood to put his brain in creative overdrive I would suggest he read a good book. It would be better than wasting time and energy criticizing something they do not understand.
Current Affairs
0