Opinion Laughing gas

If you make a list of top 10 film-makers of the Indian film industry,there is a high probability that Rohit Shetty’s name won’t be on it. Yet,going by his track record,he is currently the most successful director around. The brain behind the mindless comedy series,Golmaal,Shetty has patented a formula: loud gags,characters with speech problems,a VIBGYOR colour palette,that Goan setting and thrills disguised as a car-and-bike show. He must be doing something right because all three Golmaal movies have made money. The latest,Golmaal 3,which released with much fanfare on Diwali,is on its way to becoming a major money-spinner. Shetty’s big rival in the genre of mindless comedies is Sajid Khan,of Heyy Babyy and Housefull. Khan’s idea of movie smarts is to have a parrot being sucked into a vacuum cleaner,and his idea of a killer climax is to have a scene where laughter gas is unleashed in the Buckingham Palace. Lame is not the word. I’m convinced this bit was not even in the script. It sounds more like an on-set joke that Khan must have cracked — “Let’s have everyone laughing in the film,even the characters who are upset and angry with each other. We don’t have to resolve anything. Let’s just release laughter gas so that everyone starts laughing. That’ll be so entertaining.” Just so you know,Housefull made money at the box office too.Critics hardly ever get the jokes that Shetty,Khan and Co. crack but the audience certainly does. Trade gurus lead us to believe that these films are happily lapped up by the same audience who watches Comedy Circus religiously on primetime television. The hit ratio of these critic-proof comedies explains why Anees Bazmee of No Entry and Singh Is Kinng fame is currently helming three projects: while Anil Kapoor produces No Problem,Akshay Kumar stars in Thank You and Ready will be Salman Khan’s post-Dabangg release. Once again,if you make a list of the top 10 film-makers,chances are you’ll miss out on Bazmee.Then there is the prolific Priyadarshan. He is always shooting a movie. When he’s not making national award-winning dramas in Malayalam and Tamil,he’s directing something which invariably has a climax in which everybody is running after everybody else till the end credits roll. Those who watch his films know that Priyan (as he is fondly called) likes to end all his films with note saying “filmed by Priyadarshan.” Does this mean he doesn’t want to assume the responsibility of a director? Is he acknowledging that he’s no longer a film-maker,but just an executive? Just for the record,Subhash Ghai has roped him to direct a comedy for his banner,Mukta Arts.The founding father of the mindless comedy club is of course,David Dhawan. Hailed as Director No. 1 in the good ol’ days of khatiyas and Raja Babu,Dhawan might have lost out on awards,but not on commercial success. His Govinda-Karishma Kapoor brand of movie madness started the loud-gag trend. Dhawan’s comedies filled the space left vacant by the heartwarming,feel-good comedies of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Dhawan’s were the 90s version: OTT,crass and pedestrian. To be fair,Govinda made most of them watchable — but saturation was inevitable. As Dhawan slowed down (2007’s Partner was his last hit),Bazmee,Shetty and Khan took over. They are at full speed right now.Here’s something to look forward to. Apparently the biggest gag in Bazmee’s No Problem is a farting gorilla.So who’s going to laugh?

harneet.singh@expressindia.com