Stars have the last laugh

Stars have the last laugh

Tollywood stars turn funny with most losing their serious side to experiment with comedy on the big screen

Karthik Pasupulate

Naku koncham thikka undi . . . Kani danikoka lekka undi," (I am a little mad, but my madness has a measure to it) says Pawan Kalyan in his muchawaited upcoming release. The movie is a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster "Dabangg", but as far as the sense of humor in the dialogue goes, it has trademark Tollywood written all over. In fact, top Tollywood stars, who are not content with just packing punches, romancing the damsels in distress and beating up the baddies, are going the extra mile to tickle the funny bone of the audiences too.
NTR Jr's character in the just-released "Dammu" might have been an angry, young man, but it also had a refreshing comic streak to it, especially in the first half of the film. We hear the actor is going to do an encore of his funny act in his next flick "Badshah", directed by Srinu Vaitla. Allu Arjun's character in "Julayi" is also speculated to have a funny side to it. He is playing a guy who just doesn't like the idea of working. In the recent past too, Tollywood's leading men have been playing characters that are leaving the audiences in splits. Mahesh Babu did it in his blockbuster "Dookudu" with aplomb. Rana who has played serious kind of roles in his earlier films surprised everyone with his whacky West Godavari slang in his last release "Naa Ishtam". Tollywood stars show off their funny avatars
Director Chandra Siddhartha thinks that this trend is a case of the right packaging. "Yes, of late, we have seen a lot of big heroes making a conscious attempt to add a comic streak to their characters. The idea is to provide that extra dose of entertainment to the audience," he says.
The trick lies in balancing the star's persona with the character that he is playing in the movie, says writer Gopi Mohan of "Dookudu" fame. "Every actor has a certain body language and onscreen mannerisms. For example self deprecation humor works well with Venkatesh. Nag is good with underplayed subtle humor, while with Ram, the mischievous sort of flavor works. Pawan Kalyan and Chiranjeevi are good with voice modulations and whacky expressions. So we try to create circumstances which will bring their best to the fore," he explains.
Actor Allari Naresh, who is known for his comic timing, feels that comedy is an essential part of an actor's repertoire. "Making people laugh is not easy. Look at the biggest superstars in the country — Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Amitabh Bachchan, Chiranjeevi, Salman Khan — they have amazing comic timing."
To sum it all up, Chandra Siddhartha, adds, "Right now, comedy seems to be working well at the box office. That's why we are seeing more and more actors showing off their funny side now," he adds. karthik.pasupulate@timesgroup.com

NTR Jr