Comedy as an art is dead.... to be precise, it's very rare to see a movie which can actually qualify to be called a comedy.... all we have have today is those slapstick nonsense that goes on in the name of Comedies... inane comedies that embody more vulgarity than comedy, and situations that are more ironic than comic..... maybe it's because the ability to understand and appreciate real comedy is dead.... and why not, when mankind itself is no longer capable of staying true to it's own words and ideals, wherein shalt remain the talent to make and appreciate real comic situations...... it would be so embarrassing to laugh at one's own self, if it would remind on of the hypocrisy of his or her own character; and trust me hypocrisy is something common to our ilk.
And the worst part of comedy in films today is the stupid mindless thought of trying to squeeze out the last tang from a used lemon.... you make a good movie, the movie makes money or entices laugh and you are out to mess up with it by making a sequel or prequel or a franchisee..... that too, with no sense of propriety or sensibility.... it seems that 'Brevity is the soul of wit', that great statement by the inimitable William Shakespeare has been forgotten by the denizens of the film world.... And I don't blame them - in a film industry where Golmaal series is considered comedy, where is the place for the old Golmaal (1979) that was more of a true comedy than all the 3 namesakes combined!
Look at Hera Pheri, a movie that defines comedy in it's own way.... and look at Hera Pheri 2 - a rape cannot be more gruesome! Now here comes Bheja Fry to fry my 'Bheja' all the way..... thank God, there was no Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro Part 2 ..... or else I would have definitely had second thoughts on my deferred suicide!
The art of the beautiful is the art of brevity and the look of a comedy should always be a look at freshness.... it's lacking like hell .... No Entry is about womanizers, it's a hit and suddenly every comedy is about womanizers..... Saajan Chale Sasural is about a guy who loves and marries 2 women and suddenly every movie is about a man stuck between 2 women..... Hello, what happened to originality?
The best comic movies have always been the stand-alones.... Charles Chaplin never had a need to repeat a story and look at his repertoire - Gold Rush, City Lights, The Kid, The Last Dictator, so many of them and each one of them, a classic! and just look at the subjects.... awesome! This is what I am talking of, a comic movie need not have 'the usual suspect' circumstances, 'the usual suspect' characters and 'the usual suspect' scenarios.... comedies can be created out of everything .... Cases in point, 'Tere Bin Laaden', a brilliant and humourous take on Terrorism, 'Welcome to Sajjanpur', a humourous look at life in Rural India and 'Well Done, Abba', one of the best films on Corruption and of course, who can forget 'Peepli Live!', one of the best black comedies made in recent times.....
Comedy is strong when it also shows the beauty of other emotions, of pain, of loss, of betrayal..... Charles Chaplin was the master of this beautiful masala mix.... Look at City Lights, no film shows better how a woman uses a man for her own needs and then conveniently forgets him and this beautiful complex emotion is shown in just one scene at the window.... Look at The Kid, the scene wherein the kid is taken away from Charles leaving him all alone in this world is one of the most powerful scenes in entire cinemadom.....
Coming closer to home, have a look at Kunwaara Baap, and Mehmood makes you cry and laugh with his performance of a surrogate father of a lame child..... This is the power of Comedy ... this is the power of Filmdom; films are made of moments such as these, that burn on your conscience and consciousness for all times to come....
I hope the art of comedy will survive; I hope we will all be treated to more beautiful comedies in the future; I hope there will be movies, capable of standing on their own.... I know I am hoping against hope but then, a guy can hope... Can't he?
And the worst part of comedy in films today is the stupid mindless thought of trying to squeeze out the last tang from a used lemon.... you make a good movie, the movie makes money or entices laugh and you are out to mess up with it by making a sequel or prequel or a franchisee..... that too, with no sense of propriety or sensibility.... it seems that 'Brevity is the soul of wit', that great statement by the inimitable William Shakespeare has been forgotten by the denizens of the film world.... And I don't blame them - in a film industry where Golmaal series is considered comedy, where is the place for the old Golmaal (1979) that was more of a true comedy than all the 3 namesakes combined!
Look at Hera Pheri, a movie that defines comedy in it's own way.... and look at Hera Pheri 2 - a rape cannot be more gruesome! Now here comes Bheja Fry to fry my 'Bheja' all the way..... thank God, there was no Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro Part 2 ..... or else I would have definitely had second thoughts on my deferred suicide!
The art of the beautiful is the art of brevity and the look of a comedy should always be a look at freshness.... it's lacking like hell .... No Entry is about womanizers, it's a hit and suddenly every comedy is about womanizers..... Saajan Chale Sasural is about a guy who loves and marries 2 women and suddenly every movie is about a man stuck between 2 women..... Hello, what happened to originality?
The best comic movies have always been the stand-alones.... Charles Chaplin never had a need to repeat a story and look at his repertoire - Gold Rush, City Lights, The Kid, The Last Dictator, so many of them and each one of them, a classic! and just look at the subjects.... awesome! This is what I am talking of, a comic movie need not have 'the usual suspect' circumstances, 'the usual suspect' characters and 'the usual suspect' scenarios.... comedies can be created out of everything .... Cases in point, 'Tere Bin Laaden', a brilliant and humourous take on Terrorism, 'Welcome to Sajjanpur', a humourous look at life in Rural India and 'Well Done, Abba', one of the best films on Corruption and of course, who can forget 'Peepli Live!', one of the best black comedies made in recent times.....
Comedy is strong when it also shows the beauty of other emotions, of pain, of loss, of betrayal..... Charles Chaplin was the master of this beautiful masala mix.... Look at City Lights, no film shows better how a woman uses a man for her own needs and then conveniently forgets him and this beautiful complex emotion is shown in just one scene at the window.... Look at The Kid, the scene wherein the kid is taken away from Charles leaving him all alone in this world is one of the most powerful scenes in entire cinemadom.....
Coming closer to home, have a look at Kunwaara Baap, and Mehmood makes you cry and laugh with his performance of a surrogate father of a lame child..... This is the power of Comedy ... this is the power of Filmdom; films are made of moments such as these, that burn on your conscience and consciousness for all times to come....
I hope the art of comedy will survive; I hope we will all be treated to more beautiful comedies in the future; I hope there will be movies, capable of standing on their own.... I know I am hoping against hope but then, a guy can hope... Can't he?
