Gulzar’s Angoor, the original Cirkus, is the ‘comedy of errors’ that drags a one-line premise for over two hours

Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma in Angoor. (Photo: Express Archives)

Angoor is one of the only comedy films made by Gulzar and the filmmaker’s distinct style is evident here. He presents his comedy much like he presents his drama – relying more on actions than actual words, and while you expect to chuckle every once in a while, watching the film turns into an arduous task as it moves along.

A big chunk of the film is set during this one night where the wrong Ashok and Bahadur (Sanjeev and Deven) are stuck in the other Ashok and Bahadur’s house (both sets of twins share the same name). As they are stuck with the spouses of their long lost twins, they devise a plan where they would feed ‘bhaang pakodas’ to everyone, wait for them to pass out and sneak out of the house. The plan goes awry and they pass out as well. This entire portion of the film feels so stretched out and unfunny because as an audience member, you know what has been going on for the last hour and have laughed already at the absurd joke that nature has played on them, but how much longer can you laugh at Ashok and Bahadur being in the wrong place?

Gulzar has flexed his directorial muscles with some brilliant films like Aandhi and some popular films like Mere Apne and Achanak. Angoor isn’t one of his best works but is certainly remembered as one of the most popular ones.