Jest in Time ; Powered by the Success of Wink-and-Nudge Comedies, a Spate of New Movies Learns to Love Irony, Repackaging Flirtation As Fun and Criminality As Cool
Summary
Aankhen bhi kamal karti hain, personal se sawal karti hain, goes Kajrare, the anthemic song from Bunty Aur Babli. Almost six months on, that flirtatious tone seems to have become a national obsession. The broad comedy that Govinda specialised in seems to have been flushed down to where it belongs-the toilet. In its place, barring a successful ribald aberration like Kya Kool Hain Hum, is an equally off-centre but slightly more sophisticated sense of humour, which is naughty, not nice.
As Suparn Verma, writer and director of the forthcoming Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena, puts it, "No one likes chocolate anymore. They prefer bitter chocolate." With a tinge of irony. Every amorality, from infidelity (No Entry) to criminality (Bunty Aur Babli), is being made palatable with a dash of humour. Gone are the days when Majrooh Sultanpuri would balk at G.P. Sippy's suggestion that he use the phrase "lal lal gal" in a Blackmail song. It was too "vulgar", thought Sultanpuri. Now, GP's grandson, Rohan Sippy, thinks nothing of giving all his conmen characters in the forthcoming Bluffmaster some likeably witty lines. Sample this: Nana Patekar hires oomphy Priyanka Chopra as his secretary and when she is aghast at his advances, asks: "Did she think I was giving her Rs 75,000 a month for her typing skills?"See the full content of this document
Extract
Jest in Time ; Powered by the Success of Wink-and-Nudge Comedies, a Spate of New Movies Learns to Love Irony, Repackaging Flirtation As Fun and Criminality As Cool
Even the ultimate chocolate factory, the Yash Raj Films, has realised audiences appreciate edginess. They want to be surprised, w...
See the full content of this document