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Comedy flicks rule in Bollywood
Priyanka Khanna, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) The spate of calamities besieging people across the world and the Indian sub-continent in particular have found an antidote in comic capers.

Spurred by the box-office success of romantic comedies, the dream merchants of Bollywood are churning out a dime-a-dozen wannabes. And people who are already emotionally and mentally exhausted by real life tragedies, cannot get enough of this mindless fare.

Even as a mindless mayhem like "No Entry" runs to packed houses, two films by funniest man of the moment Priyadarshan and one by the master of senseless comedy David Dhawan are set to release.

Though the year started out with the promise of re-writing Bollywood's script with offbeat films like "Page 3" and "Black" making money at the box-office, the bigger commercial success of typical escapist masala movies and remakes of Hollywood films has erased all the gains.

This has been an exceptionally good year for comedies. After a series of failures, producer Boney Kapoor's latest venture-"No Entry," based on marital promiscuousness-is being declared a blockbuster

It is estimated that "Bunty Aur Babli" starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee and Abhishek Bachchan had made a profit of Rs.500 million and "Salaam Namaste" from Yash Raj Films is making money even after three weeks. Even lesser hyped films like "Maine Pyaar Kyon Kiya" and "Kya Kool Hai Hum" made Rs.250 million and Rs.150 million respectively.

"Bollywood continues to follow the herd mentality. If a film of a particular genre is a hit, a dozen more in the same genre will follow. Last year the flavour of the season were skin flicks, this year it is the turn of comedies," trade observer Taran Adarsh says.

"People want entertainment. Whether it is a comedy, love story, action flick or even an offbeat venture, it must entertain," say observers. And comedies by their very nature are the most entertaining of all genres. In fact it scores over sex and skin films on account of their wider appeal.

Even as Rani Mukherjee and Abhishek Bachchan have emerged as the newest entrants into the charmed circle of actors with good comic timing, others are sending out feelers about their desire to do a comedy. They include the likes of John Abraham, Urmila Matondkar, Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan and Aftab Shivdasani.

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Even the new wave of Hinglish cinema has tried its hand at humour. Films like "Jhankaar Beats," "Bollywood/Hollywood" and "Mumbai Matinee" did succeed to some extent to break the notion that niche movies are dull and boring.

The poster boy of thinking women, Rahul Bose, is now set to take a plunge into romantic comedy with none other than Mallika Sherawat. The film, being produced by Pritish Nandy Productions, will be directed by debutant Saket Chowdhary.

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Undoubtedly, comedy is the most preferred genre in Bollywood and the rush to climb on to the bandwagon has only just begun. After making money out of a film for the first time, Balaji Telefilms has announced a sequel to comedy "Kya Kool Hai Hum".

Bollywood's very own showman Subhash Ghai will soon unveil not one but two comedies: "36, China Town" and "Shaadi Se Pehle".

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Bollywood comedies have an exceptionally good run abroad. Whether it is "Salaam Namaste," the Bollywood version of "Nine Months," or the feather light Anees Bazmi's "No Entry." 

Reports say "No Entry" starring Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan and Fardeen Khan has raked in over £300,000 in Britain. In the US, its cumulative earning is approximating $561,144. In fact, "Ramji Londonwale" which was the first Hindi film co-produced by a British company was also a comic caper.

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Interestingly, a major Hollywood studio has decided to use a love story instead of a comedy as their first Indian production. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Pictures Releasing of India, Ltd., have joined hands with Sanjay Leela Bhansali to co-produce Sony's first Hindi film, "Saawariya" (Beloved). Knowing Sanjay, there is bound to be at least a few light moments in the love fable.