The recent crop of ‘comedy’ films starring some of the top actors of Bollywood have been less funny and more an assault upon the intelligence. Movies such as the Housefull series, the Golmaal series, and the assorted films with Kool and Masti in the titles have been crass and cringey; wholly unfunny. Bollywood has however, made some really funny films in the past; with genuine humour. This isn’t crass titillation and suggestive innuendo, but real humour:
This is a simple story about three mechanic brothers – Ashok, Anoop and Kishore – who stay away from women because women mean heartbreak apparently. But then love happens and so do a lot of terrific songs. This delightful song is a dream sequence where Kishore Kumar is trying to recover Rs. 5 and 12 annas from Madhubala, the beautiful woman who got her car repaired one rainy night.
Featuring Sunil Dutt, Saira Banu and some of the best comics of the time – Kishore Kumar, Mehmood, Mukri, Om Prakash, Keshto Mukherjee, this is a story about wooing the neighbourhood beauty. This is a film full of stereotypes but hugely funny nevertheless. She is into music and performing arts, but he only attracts donkeys when he sings. There is the elaborate pursuit of the object of one's affection, subterfuge, an attempt to learn to sing, getting beaten up by baddies and being nursed to good health… and some fantastic music. Ek chatur naar is arguably the best jugalbandi song ever made for a Hindi film.
This lovely movie harks back to gentler, simpler times; and perfectly showed off the comic timing of Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan. The story is about exposing snobbery, about friendship, romance, loyalty and a whole lot of good natured fun… and of course music. Enjoy this beautifully melodious song picturised on Sharmila Tagore and Dharmendra who is pretending to be a chauffeur when he is actually a member of the family.
No subsequent movie of this name ever came close to the genuine humour and the delightful characters of this film. Amol Palekar's troubled character is forced to pretend to be himself and a nonexistent twin because of an idiosyncratic employer (Utpal Dutt). There are deceptions and blunders and misunderstandings and a whole lot of laughter. Then there is this song – a philosophical ode to seizing the moment and living life.
This is arguably the finest satire ever made in Bollywood and starred some of the generation's finest actors: Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapoor, Satish Shah, Ravi Baswani and others. Never did a Hindi movie make such a bold criticism of a corrupt system while cloaking it all in genuine humour; never did dead body play such an important role in a film. Given the gentle lampooning of Indian mythology in the famous stage sequence in the end, this is a film that probably would not be allowed to be made today.
Based on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, this movie stars the redoubtable Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma, both in double roles. Two sets of twins separated at birth, accidentally crossing paths as adults and the ensuing confusion are completely hilarious. Here is a short scene featuring the confusion of mistaken identities.
Quite frankly, the 2013 remake of the same name was not a patch on the original made in 1981 starring Farooq Sheikh, Deepti Naval, Rakesh Bedi, Ravi Baswani and others. In the original, three bachelors like the same woman (Neha) while she likes only one of them (Siddharth). The two guys have no chance with her, but that doesn’t prevent them for creating a fictional romance in their head (enjoy this hilarious parody video) resulting in a whole lot of confusion and comedy.
This is one of the silliest Hindi films ever made. It is also one of the funniest. It is a film that proves humour doesn’t have to be intelligent and certainly doesn’t have to take itself seriously. It is also the film that boasts the cinematic coup of starring both Aamir Khan and Salman Khan and the redoubtable Paresh Rawal. A series of implausible, silly events, the film keeps us in splits throughout. Here is one of those really silly scenes.
This movie is not a sweet or clean comedy by any stretch – but it is uproariously funny; arguably one of the funniest films of recent times. Gritty, identifiable, adult, real, disgusting in parts… this is an iconic film and it dared to have songs such as this one. The of course there are the Munnabhai films and 3 Idiots, but you're likely to have seen those. If you haven’t seen any from the above list, I urge you to do this PDQ --- laughing is good for health.
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