The Bollywood bevda sobers up

I remember the not-so-good old days when comic relief in the Bollywood movie came in the shape of the village drunk, the weirdo villain, a horribly racist depiction of a ‘Madrasi’ or a Goan, the effeminate side-kick or, at worst, a soft-target disabled person. The tired old ‘jokes’ such alleged comedians traded in rarely went beyond schoolyard humour or scatology. Some of the more capable ones could do a convincing impersonation or two, but they ruined the effect by pulling faces like little boys or giggling annoyingly before the punch line. Not for these old stalwarts subtleties like irony or deadpan humour. Friends from the South tell me that Tamil cinema wasn’t much better. While there were honourable exceptions (like Hrishi-da), overall, the scene was dismal.

That’s why I am cheered (or should I say tickled) by some recent developments. I just saw a few clippings of the last Filmfare Awards. And boy, was I surprised! Pleasantly so. Saif and Shahrukh Khan were brilliant. Irreverent, cheeky, tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating, ruthless, quick-witted and hilarious. This was quality comedy. Far from the slapstick, toilet humour and the lame jokes we had been subjected to for years. I was really heartened by it. I must say I loved Shahrukh in OSO too, particularly his many brutal digs at himself (e.g. when his character declares that over-acting is his “family problem”).

This seems to be in line with other developments in filmdom. There has been a spate of movies with different brands of humour in the past year or two. Some of them have been off the mark, others have had their moments, while a few have been quite good. But what’s important is that our writers and filmmakers seem to be coming of age in a genre that has been neglected for too long. Let’s hope they evolve and sharpen their collective wits. Let’s hope they serve up more laughs. Who knows? We might some day have a thriving stand-up comedy scene in Mumbai or Delhi or Chennai or beyond.

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