Golmaal

A !979 goldie by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Amol Palekar in double role. Supported by Bindiya Goswami. Music by RD Burman. The new Golmaal series owes it’s name from this film. Churning out blockbusters one after the other is no mean feat, but the original retains that authentic value.

Golmaal ( messed up) was written by Rahi Masoom Raza & Sachin Bhowmik. Raza is known for his dialogues & Urdu-Hindi that is simple yet effective. We lost him recently so good writers have lost their mentor.Today there seems to be a drought in skillful writing.

It was the highest grosser film of that year. It was remade in Tamil in 1981, in Kannada in 1990 & in Malayalam in 1995. Filmfare best award for Amol Palekar, Best comedian for Utpal Dutt & Best lyricist award for Gulzar…’ Aane wala pal jaane wala hai…’. Along with nominations for actors Dina Pathak , Deven Varma & for best story Shailesh Dey.

RD Sharma , a qualified CA, is looking for a job. Dr Kedar (David ) his acquaintance tells him to go Bhavani Shankar (Utpal Dutt) for a job in his firm.Bhavani Shankar is a good man but does not like his employees having any hobby. After joining Bhavani Shankar’s firm, Ramprasad gets caught by Bhavani at a hockey match & in his confusion he lies about having a twin. From there ensues a chain of events that are absolute fun to watch. Comedians like Deven Verma were a delight to watch. How much did he earn in his life time I wonder but entertaining people that he did!

Tiny roles by Keshto Mukherjee were always much appreciated. A scene or two was the only length & yet they managed to make you remember. I doubt if there was any one in the audience who did not know him. Low budget, cutting all the frills & pure comedy…a rarity these days… was worth every paisa. We don’t buy tickets & have all the entertainment at a click or button, is that why we don’t worry about the time lost or money spent on a lousy film?

It was full time pass but with a standard of it’s own. The under the belt jokes that came in later or formed a trend is all in bad taste. Appreciation for a work of art is the highest kind in aesthetics. Have we lost it completely? While reading this sentence also so many meanings come to mind…have we made our simple lives really complicated????

Jokes apart, a joke that remains the same & makes you laugh every time has that forever kind of value. Joke made at the expense of hurting someone ceases to be a joke. It is only trying to make fun. ‘Ashi hi Banva banvi’ had many elements to look forward to ,but the wearing sari & making fun of women is a comedy of the lowest level.’ Chala hava yeu Dya’ may bring in as many celebrities but making fun, or what they do is passed of as fun, we need to look in the definitions again.

‘Chikni chachi’ or ‘Chachi 420’ was a good movie but Kamal Hasan is capable of much more. While making a copy of ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ he could have deleted a few scenes not needed. I abhor such caricatures, the humour remains only till it makes people laugh & ends when it crosses the limit of decency.

With that thought signing off today. See you soon!