INDIAN CINEMA AND HUMOUR ON EPICS

In the year 1983 on August 12, we all know that Kundan Shah made one of the best cult classic ever and it was his debut 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro- जाने भी दो यारों- Just Let It Go, Friends' - a dark satire, on the rampant corruption in Indian politics, bureaucracy, business and news media. And now I am talking about the Mahabharat scene, where the epic comes with a funny twist. The climax is set upon a stage dramatization of the Mahabharata, particularly the enactment of the 'Draupadi's Cheer-Haran' episode, which is turned on its head with the duo and the group following them inserting themselves into the scene. The corpse plays Draupadi and the vile Duryodhana, who orders the disrobing in the original version, ends up pledging to save Draupadi's honor at any cost. To make things even more hilarious, a new act - that of the ill-fated romance of Salim and Anarkali - is introduced, with the corpse playing Anarkali.

Interestingly in March 31, 1961 Ritwik Ghatak made such dramatization much before his student Kundan Shah. The film was 'Kōmal Gāndhār-কোমল গান্ধার-A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale', was a Bengali film written and directed by Ritwik Ghatak. We all have seen a stage scene adapted from Abhijñānaśākuntalam/अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तलम्-The Sign of Śākuntalā, dramatizing the story of Shakuntala told in the epic Mahabharata.

In the film the scene was so far- Shakuntala was taking leave from her father & going to her husband's place. So her father sage Viswamitra was asking for consent from everyone for his lovely daughter, 'এই মধুর কোকিল কুজনের দ্বারা তারা অনুমোদন করিলেন/they gave your consent through the beautiful songs of the cuckoos...' now the actor who was playing role of Viswamitra had to deliver his dialogue after hearing cuckoo bird's song but there was no cuckoo's song actually ! The fun is-the record player behind the stage was producing some other sound & it was nothing but a deep hoarse sound made by a frog.

Maybe Kundan Shah & Satish Kaushik inspired from this epic scene idea from Ghatak - the icon of World Cinema, who knows! but both did a fantastic job. On the other side actor Satish Kaushik wrote this for first time as a dialogue writer & it was really a superb satirical depiction of our society. Satish who also played a role Ashok Namboodirippad, the assistant of builder Tarneja (Pankaj Kapur) in the film; he introduced us a very fresh genre of comedy in Indian Cinema. Thanks to his sense of humour.

Now I am sharing with you some classic dialogues that made us crazy till the date. Here are some hilarious peaks:

“Cheer haran ka idea drop kar diya hai”

Commissioner D'Mello ki yaad main ek din ke liye sheher ke saare gatar band kiye jaayenge, aap log peene ka paani pahle se bhar lein'.

“Draupadi sirf tumhari nahi hai. Hum Sab Shareholder Hai”

'Kisi desh ki unati ki pehchan agar kisi cheez se hoti hai toh woh hai gutter. Woh gutter ke liye jiye. Aur gutter ke liye mare. Marte hue unke aakhri shabd the gutter.

“Nalayak, adharmi, durachari, vamachari, bhrashtachari, bol sorry!”

“Shant gadaa-dhari Bheem, shant” (personally it is my favorite)

“This is too much. Yeh Akbar kahan se aa gaya?”

Mahabharat mein samrat Akbar!!

You know what? After the film's screening at Delhi, they ate together at a dhaba(road side restaurant), walked up to Charni Road station, and took the local train back home--unaware that their film would become a cult classic.

Amit Bose

(images courtesy: google)