MISSING COMEDY

Comedy has not died out in Tamil cinema despite a new generation of cinegoers coming into the fold because it has taken on contemporary themes that appeal to the audience, but in the Hindi cinema there is no genuine comedy left worth the name to deliver, sobs T N ASHOK

Historically comedy has been the piece de resistance of Indian films, whether from the south or the north. For almost five decades of the more than seven decade era of Indian films, comedy was a must and often movies had a parallel comedy track. It was like an insurance policy for the financiers, if the main story was not appealing, the parallel comedy track would ensure the film does not fail.

What were the essential ingredients of an Indian cinema over the decades which has now, albeit, undergone transformational changes with technology and viewers tastes with the audience now largely comprised of the 20 to 40 age group.

In  the 50s to 80s or even stretch it to the 90s, Indian cinema, at least the commercial cinema, followed predictable lines to ensure box office returns. Boy Girl meet love story, rich poor hiatus, cultural conflicts because of this or caste or religion or ethnicity formed the core of the narrative to provide enough melodrama for three hours, and a comedy parallel track to back up.

Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, the trilogy of giants of Hindi cinema, survived on these themes. Their peer groups were formed by the Sunil Dutts, Shammi Kapoors, Rajendra Kumars, Raj Kumars, Sashi Kapoors, followed by Sanjeev Kumar, Jitendras of the day. Then came the break from the past , a blast from the past, Rajesh Khanna immortalised love stories for the younger generation and the immense fan following he had was mind boggling . But he was soon overthrown by the angry young man Amitabh Bachchan who changed the dynamics of storyline – revenge themes became the order of the day.

Through all this transformation, the insurance policy never changed. Comedy served as the back up for all cinemas. The parallel track. Starting from Bhagvan, Agha, and others to Rajendranath, Johnny Walker, Mehmood, to name the memorable comedians, had us in splits. Their very entry would make us laugh. There were also heroes who played the comic role well, Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Anoop Kumar (immortal Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi) could play the hero as well and also metamorphose into successful comedians. Kishore was probably at his best in Padosan, matching wit for wit with the giant Mehmood, and Sunil Dutt.

With the coming of Anil Kapoors and Jackie Shroffs , the eighties and nineties , saw a gradual shift from the tragic or comic or love stories to absolutely gangster or revenge or family dramas – once a while the magnum opus of historical of the Mughal E Azaam types surface, but they also all had the comic element retained in it in some form or the other to relieve the audience from the rather serious tone.

Mehmoods, Asranis, Paintals, of the like were getting too powerful and the heroes of younger age started feeling threatened and edged out the comedy, sometimes promising, the producers that they could do it themselves. But they were not the caliber of Ashok Kumar or Kishore Kumars and fell flat on the audience. Producers, distributors and exhibitors, all felt its better comedy is left to comedians and the heroes do their work wooing heroines and fight villains before the police arrive. But there was a dearth of comedians. Barring Govinda, no hero of Hindi cinema in recent years, has had a natural flair for comedy. Even Amitabh Bachchan has shown great flair for comedy.

Sharukh Khans, Salmaan Khans, Akshay Kumars have all tried their hand at comedy. But they could not left any indelible imprint in the audience minds.

The last of the great comedians in Hindi cinema are probably the Kader Khans, Paresh Rawal, and Johnny Lever. Boman Irani is an exceptional character actor cum comedian.

He can blend the two roles well. Anupham Kher has tried his hand at comedy but often ended up being bawdy and loud. Akshay Kumar or Sunil Shetty or John Abraham had unsuccessfully tried to make audience laugh(Garam Masala) with their antics, but neither the situations were well devised nor their lines or their efforts. Probably the directors were to blame. No, not really.

Priyadarshan from Kerala has tried to make comedy survive, but he hasn’t succeeded all the time. Hera Pheri and Hulchul were perhaps the last of the great comedies – Paresh Rawal was irresistible in Hera Pheri and Hulchul, but for him the movies could have fallen flat. Though Ompuri, Sunil and Akshay did give it their comic edge.

Today Kader Khan, Johnny Lever, are not wanted and they can do a great deal to revive comedy which is fast dying on the Indian screen. David Dhawan,  Satish Kaushik have tried their best to keep comedy alive on the screen and they have to depend on the histrionics of Paresh Rawal, or Boman Irani , the only two titans of comedy still around.
Heroes should keep off comedy; they don’t have the caliber of the old timers such as
Sunil Dutt, Kishore Kumar or Sanjeev Kumar.

The 21st century has virtually sealed the fate of comedy in Hindi cinema. Even Rohit Shetty with the Gol Maal series hasn’t been able to come anywhere near the comedies of the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties.

The basic problem has been the shift in audience ages and audience perceptions of comedy. The old time comedy may not appeal to the younger generation and the younger generation is also stressed out so much with peer group pressures as in school or college and work related pressures, there is no time for comedy in their lives, though comedy would help to relieve much of their pressures and relax them.

Comedians need to come back on the Hindi screen and a talent hunt has to be on to identify the younger generation talent that can titillate the yappy crowd. Standup comedies on TVs perhaps also have stolen the thunder of comedy from Hindi cinema. The standup comedians et al Rajiu Shrivastava have not also made a successful transformation from TV to Films. Even stand up comedies only make the guest Archana Pooran Singh and Shekhar Suman laugh and not the audience.

In contrast, in regional cinema, let’s take the Tamil cinema for instance. Comedy has not died out despite a new generation of cinegoers coming into the fold. That’s because the accent on comedy has also changed, it’s become more contemporary taking on contemporary themes that appeal to the audience.

If heroes of today in Hindi cinema have not made successful comedies, Rajni Kanth and Kamala Hasan have shown their extraordinary talent in comedies – Rajni Kanth’s memorable one being the Tamil adaptation of Gol Maal and Chandra Mukhi , and Kamala Hasan has given a string of hits, Panchatantra, Tenali , Vasul Raja (Tamil version of Munna Bhai),  Dashavatar ( Balram Naidu keeps you in splits).

Usually remakes are not good but Kamala Hasan showed Vasul Raja was as good as Munna Bhai because of his adaptation for the role to the local audiences. Similarly Pazmmal Sambandham,  which spawned the Hindi version with Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor failed to evoke the same humour. Houseful inspired by another Tamil film failed to create the same impact as the original as Akshay Kumar overacted and Rithik Deshmukh didn’t know what timing was and only Boman Irani secured the movie.

Today Tamil cinema is dominated by comedians such as Vivek, Vadivelu and a host of peers such as Mayil Vahan, Mano Bala, and others. Vivek probably takes the cue from the greatest satirist Cho Ramaswamy and delivers dialogues punchy and raunchy on social themes or even political themes. Vadivelu relies heavily on his body language and rustic dialogues and facial expressions to regale the audiences. You simply don’t have such talent any more in Hindi cinema.

There was a time when Mehmood and Nagesh, the immortal comedian of Tamil cinema, used to essay each others roles in remakes. And they produced gems.

Tamil Cinema like the Gujarati, Parsi or Maharashtrian theatres has the powerful backing of the theatre movement which throws up huge talents. S V Sekhar and Crazy Mohans have shown what rip roaring comedy is and they have been successful on screen too.

Unfortunately, the theatre movement in Hindi has not backed up the Hindi cinema. The theater movement has been more serious and would produce only the iconic Naseruddin Shahs and Pankaj Kapurs and not comedians. Satish Shah is an exception, but in theatre he is famous for his adaptation of Arthur Millers death of a salesman. Serious stuff. 

Today if comedy has to survive in Hindi cinema, it has to go beyond Priyadarshan, David Dhawan, and Rohit Shettys because they can only conceive, but there is no genuine comedy left worth the name to deliver. One can’t depend upon Paresh Rawal and Boman Irani to do the trick always to rescue them. We simply need more comedy and more comedians. Otherwise Hindi cinema will tend to become drab and dreary.

Writer is a senior journalist and Ex Economics Editor, PTI