COMEDIC TRENDS IN INDIAN FILM
INDUSTRY
Many actors in Indian film Industry are hesitant to take up comedy,
arguably ‘tricky’ artform, for their steady progress, at times they intentionally
bring out same factitious gestures and banal comic performance. Yet, the strength
of first-rate comedy is to maintain perfect timing, exciting and remarkable thrill,
genuinely to keep the curiosity of inquisitive audience. Certainly, a good
actor presents spontaneous and unscripted framework of comedy, the actual power
of a performer tremendously depends on competence and craft for comedic roles.
The instantaneous comedy has modified the path of some actors favourably, with effortless
craftsmanship and on the spot imaginative improvisation, they repertoire their
inherent skills with brilliance. Undoubtedly, comedy is keystone aspect of an
actor’s creativity in overall performance, an essential part of cinema
entertainment with its credible influence on masses. There are actors who empower
silver screen with brilliant and sharp comic sense and playfulness of the mind,
presenting themselves with deep-rooted mind and body connection.
Earlier times it was clean-cut comedy, just to fit in a
comedian for brief scenes in three-hour long movie, to make audience giggle with
visual and verbal humour on screen. Comedians Johnny Walker, Tun Tun, Rajinder
Nath, Keshto Mukherjee, Paintal, Mehmood have left a lasting impression in
Indian cinema, though the script did not offer them full-fledged humourist
roles but more of a guest appearance to entertain after few scenes of romance
and action as the story telling revolved around the leading actors of the movie.
Kishore Kumar, a whimsical performer, though a singer, was also a filmmaker and
famously recognized for comic antics, with physical comedy, contributed to his genius,
the fantasy for comedy intrinsic in his film scripts made movies lively and
enjoyable, the light-hearted comedy Padosan with Sunil Dutt is absolutely
engaging and riveting even now.
In mid -70's, as the popularity of the leading actor Amitabh Bachchan rose,comedy became mainstream, versatile Amitabh had a natural ability to master
different dialects, with multifarious comic attributes, created such a superb
comical scene in front of a mirror in Amar Akbar Anthony, continued witticism
in movies.
During the same period filmmakers initiated a trend to prefer
leading actors to take the charge of comic roles over defined comedians, a form
still exists in present times. Sanjiv Kumar known for outstanding performances,
it was his inimitable style of comedy that made him an exceptional comedian.
The classic actor does not toil vigorously for his jocularity
as a performer and adhere to typical nonsensical illustrations and perception in
consciousness but with quick wit and extremely spontaneous approach. A keen mind
with shrewd playfulness and distinctive verbal fluency, masterly gestures
triumphs in the broad field of comedy. An
exemplar of intelligent comedy is the Bengali cinema and some of its
illustrious creators are famous for giving great masterpieces, the actors have
also been exceptional with intrinsic comedy craft, be it Utpal Dutt, Anup
Kumar, Tulsi Chakraborty, Devan Verma and few more.
The outstanding performances
of legendary Utpal Dutt, with his clever deadpan humour and wit in Hindi cinema
are well known, comedy became more effortless with comic depiction in various
hues. The rapturous family-oriented comedies by legendary Basu Chatterjee and
Hrishikesh Mukherjee escalated the standards of Indian cinema, their creations,
Chupke Chupke, Chotti Si Baat, Khatta Meetha, Gol Maal, Shaukeen, Naram Garam, Khoobsurat,
Rang Birangi, Baton Baton main, Chameli Ki Shaadi and few more quality films full of humour and exuberant
vitality with happy endings are cult classics of 70’s-80’s, left a lasting impact
in society. More recently, the Bengali director Shoojit Sircar has done
commendable work in movies like Vicky Donor and Piku. Besides, Chasme Badoor, Angoor and few more from
the same period were classic contemporary comedies and
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron a hilarious comedic gem, packed with memorable characters
defined entertainment.
As the structure of comedy evolved, augmented with
contemporary nuances, the astounding performances of few actors in comical
roles became notable, though there are not many popular female actresses who showcased
humorous demeanour genuinely, however Sridevi, a master of the comedic genre, a
genius with brilliant comic tickle was the best actress and she had a sense of
inquisitive zeal with own inventive energy, displayed rare incredible skills in
Chaalbaaz, Mr India etc.
Sridevi could easily turn the character alive with her
exuberance and physicality, the audience identified with magnetic character she
enacted on silver screen.
Actors Dharmendra and Juhi Chawla with
perfect comedic flair, were not able to showcase their talent due to dearth of
good scripted projects, their artistry underutilized except in few multi starrers.
Dharmendra, with easy and natural creativity, a very consistent performer had a
brilliant comedic knack.
Juhi Chawla with mischievous twinkle in her eyes and
impish smile was always a delight to watch on the screen, the charm, impishness
and her comedic streak still alive to enthrall the audience with cheerful
entertainment.
The slap stick comedy flourished in the times of Kadar Khan,
Shakti Kapoor and Govinda, with their sophomoric humour, required little skill,
presented themselves as pranksters and bluffers, must have felt stupid for such
childish meaningless gibberish. The movies were utterly nonsensical, loaded with
coarse content which often featured hideously outrageous dialogues, aimless and
accidental activity based on vulgar humour offended certain sections of
society. Presently, comedy roles performed by some leading actors, where their
characters show the continuation of slap stick comedy still prevails.
In due course, the significance of comedy expanded, in
today’s computer generation, we know that man can be altered into robot, Ranbir
Kapoor was like a pathetic robot in a disaster movie, mimicking Dev Anand with insipid
comedy made audience lose interest in his Tamasha. Popular comedy actors, Boman
Irani and Paresh Rawal are integral part of any comic film. Sanjay Dutt an
accomplished actor with Munnabhai’s series has proved that he is a multifaceted
artist in film world. Akshay Kumar, an adept craftsman of varied acting genres,
highly successful in comedy movies, has perfected the art of situational comedy
relevant to films and gone beyond in other comic genres with his flexible
creativity and talent.
The old approach of comic characterization is no longer
adopted by some of the present actors, new modern and alternative narratives are
being conceptualized to entertain audience. The evolution and progression of
alternative comedic methodology in Hindi cinema started few years back, has produced
a movie like Badhaai Ho, manifesting the societal mores and successfully
identified with the masses. The same
comedic transformation has introduced a new genre of dark comedy movies, recently
released Judgemental Hai Kya, innovatively presented refined accumulation of
ideas by its creators, winning critical acclaim.
The contribution made by Bengali directors with oratorical
and literary power, vivid imagination and humour without any irrelevant and
overt comedic exaggeration, has been remarkable. They preserved the soul of
comedy in Indian cinema, assimilated different styles with vast original illustrations
and embedded a potent spell in the golden decade of Indian film industry, made
an inedible imprint on our memories and consciousness.
Anuradha Singh
23rd October, 2019
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My articles on the related subject are
as follows...
Anuradha Singh (2020).
ICONIC ROMANTIC PAIRS – INDIAN CINEMA https://asingh2019.blogspot.com/2020/06/iconic-romantic-pairs-indian-cinema_6.html?m=1
Anuradha Singh (2019).
COMEDIC TRENDS IN INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY
https://asingh2019.blogspot.com/2019/10/comedic-trends-in-indian-film-industry_23.html?m=1
Anuradha Singh (2019) DHARMENDRA – FOREVER
and EVER
https://asingh2019.blogspot.com/2019/01/dharmendra-forever-and-ever.html?m=1
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Indeed the Bengali Directors gave us best comedies
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