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Sunday, July 14, 2013

Comedy of Errors


I can't remember myself laughing out loud watching any movies from the recent past. After all laughing out loud has reduced to ‘lol’ and lasts even lesser than that. And I cringe by the supposed comedy which exists in movies these days.Cast a fat person, a dark person, a frail person, another with a peculiar accent and you have a whole movie under the humor genre.

The Asylum
In many futile attempts, portrayals of an asylum or people who have mental illness are used as objects of humor. To be honest, miserable people who live like animals are not to be laughed at. I've never found that funny, ever. 

The overweight friend of the protagonist.
Many a times, the hero’s friend is a guy who is overweight and his weight actually forms the base of many jokes in this movie. Whatever he says, be it a joke or not, gets people laughing.

An exotic animal.
Parrot, orangutan, dog, cat, chimpanzee, you get the idea. Illegal possession of an animal or making one the protagonist forms the basis of humor (or so they think). It gives an insight into the absence of creativity of the script writer. 

Physique and appearance.
A dark skinned person, a person with a cleft lip, one with bunny teeth, and another with some physical disability or dwarfism aspiring to be in show business or the like becomes the premise for two plus hours. 

I wonder why the good old situational and observational comedy does not feature in scripts of these times. I can say that people are more light headed today as compared to our serious and confused ancestors . But I must say that good comedy existed in the 80's and 90’s after which it has somehow deteriorated. Sex comedies and sarcasm are on the rise, punch lines with double meanings are in and a humor movie hardly gives us a laugh or two, not more. For an average movie loving Keralite, the classic Mohanlal-Srinivasan comedy from the 90’s, will top their list of favorite humor. Even though there were traces of black comedy in those, the evergreen classics guarantee many laughs even if we watch it for the umpteenth time. The dialogues are popular among the kids who weren't even born during at that era. 

It is easy to make you cry, but it is difficult to make you laugh. And in the process when movies try too hard to get a laugh out of the audience it shows. They end up being unintentionally funny.

So to sum it up, I am going to just cuddle on my couch and watch one of my most favorite movies, ‘Godfather’ (Malayalam), over a cup of tea and biscuits. And laugh like I am watching it for the first time. That is my idea of light, genuine comedy and the most inexpensive form of stress relief.

24 comments:

  1. Enjoy your day!! Thats one movie which you can watch umpteen times and yet feel like watching it for the first time.. Those good old movies of 90s still caters as stress busters.. :)

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  2. I still have the whole Nadodikattu trilogy, Boeing Boeing, Kilukkam, Godfather... simply brilliant. You cant stop laughing

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  3. Comedy is difficult, I agree but tragedy is something that is overrated, I think - the serials, movies, stories are examples. What say?
    Hope you had a good session laughing out loud!

    Have a great week ahead.

    Joy always,
    Susan

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    1. Agree. Even the most trivial tragedy can make me cry...so I never choose to watch such movies ! Why pay to cry !

      Thanks...U have a great week too.

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  4. Right on note Ani... U get sometimes angry and frustrated by the supposed to be comedy these days..:(

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  5. Andaz apna apna, Chupke Chupke(old one), Golmaal, these were real comedies, where the situation is comical and not phsyical appreances of people. They dont make them like that anymore!

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    1. Yes ! Andaz apna apna was so much fun! And the key here was situational comedy. Mannerisms. Even imitating another person can be counted. And then these people got fed up with good comedy and came up with crappy ones.

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  6. Old is Gold. I love all of the Siddique/Lal comedies and Satyan anthikkad ones like God Father , Sanmansullavarkku samadhanam , Sandesham etc. But a recent one which I laughed a lot was Romans. That one doesn't have any of the bad things that you mentioned and is very situational.

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    1. Unfortunately I do not remember Romans that much, mainly because the jokes were not memorable. The recent one I liked was Pranchiyettan and the Saint and till today I can recall many jokes and the names of the characters too. Thats the one which struck a chord. It was funny too.

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    2. Yes. Pranchiyettan was awesome. But Romans is from last year and among a lot of movies that are dished out in recent times , this was better fare.

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  7. Hi

    nice post. you are very right..the standards of comedy are deteriorating each passing day. the ribald humor that comes in the name of comedy shows on TV these days is appalling. making fun of helpless animals and other people (with special problems) is the height of cheapness....

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    1. Exactly. I agree with you. Not just cheap, it is also lack of humor sense, and in general, common sense !

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  8. Nice post...enjoyed a lot :) Technology News

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  9. A few shows like Modern Family are still funny without demeaning anyone or making sexual jokes. Even Big Bang Theory is decent at times.
    I actually have another worry. I remember laughing hard in college. And super hard in school. With friends that is. Maybe age/maturity has something to do with what we find funny. Thats why I just hateeee growing up!!

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    1. I still laugh out loud. Like crazy. That I get breathless. But it doesnt happen with movies these days. It happens only when I watch the movies from 90's. :-) So not age, may be maturity. I guess that is not catching up with me :D

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  10. You have to check this, Anita!
    http://www.indiantopblogs.com/2013/07/greatest-indian-blogs-today-platinum.html

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    1. Yes, I saw! Still cant believe my eyes or feel my feet !!!

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  11. That's true.. Nowa days comedy exists like this only.. Even I have never found it funny to laugh at anyone's physical appearance.. Ppl watch it in movies and then they start making fun of such ppl in reality too.. I had a friend who met an accident and since then she had some psychological problems.. Instead of accepting her behaviour ppl started making fun of her whenever she entered the class.. I found it really disgusting.. And I simply hate it when someone comments on someone's physical appearance..

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    1. Me too. Passing comments and laughing at this in movies, inspires people to do it in real life. Because they think it is funny. I cannot begin to imagine the mental trauma it must be giving that person.

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