Comedies down the decades
I have seen many publications come out with list of comedies down the decades , in Bollywood. And some of these lists were made up of downright bad movies. So I decided to come out with my own list of Bollywood comedies. So here goes my list -
1) Chalti ka naam gaadi – a hilariously funny movie where the three Ganguly brothers , Kishore, Dadamoni and Anup had us in splits with silly antics. The songs are still sung today with my eternal favourite, “ek ladki bhigi bhagi si” being the best. Listen to the unabondoned laughter of the ethereal beauty, Madhubala, before the lilting song, “ haal kaisa hai janab ka”. You will fall in love with that laughter itself. “Paach rupaiya baara aana” was mad. And the scene where Anup Kumar goes through the contents of a ladies purse and screams, “kartoos” on seeing a lipstick, is one of the many defining moments of the movie. Surely no. 1
2) Half ticket – another Kishore Kumar gem of a movie. A totally hilarious movie which was Kishore Kumar through and through. Non stop laughter from start to finish. And the songs with “Aake seedhi lagi dil pe” sung by Kishore Kumar and…Kishore Kumar in drag!. No one can touch him when he sings like this .
3) Pyaar kiye jaa – it was a comedy Jugalbandi between Mehmood and Om Prakash, with the iconic hilarious scene where the character played by Mehmood narrates a ghost story to Om Prakash with all the sound effects given by Mehmood. Great reactions given by Om Prakash. This scene was later enacted in that iconic comedy Marathi movie, “Dhoomdhadaka” where Laxmikant Berde and Sharad Talwalkar did it equally effectively.
4) Humjoli – Starring Jeetendra along with Mehmood, this was another film where Mehmood overshadowed the main hero. The highlight of this movie was Mehmood playing three generations of a son , his father and grandfather and enacting all the quirky characteristics of the Kapoor khandaan. Sooper!
5) Bombay to Goa – Amitabh Bachchan! and Mehmood, what a combination. Super road trip made memorable by their antics. “Dekha na hai re socha na…” , a great trip song
6) Padosan- a truly evergreen comedy and it was a great team of Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Sunil Dutt and very well supported by Saira Banu, which made the movie a memorable experience. And the songs were whackily humorous too. “Ek chatur naar…” , what can one say about this song, the mad lyrics, the energy of the actors, the picturisation, one can go on and on. R. D. Burman at his best in “Mere samne wali khidki mein” , just listen to the music piece at the starting of the song. “Meri pyari Bindu” , Kishore at his naughtiest…Great movie, superb music…
7) Chupke Chupke – “T O to hota hai..toh G O gu kyun nahi hota” and many such shudh Hindi dialogues made this movie a craze for comedy lovers. Great acting by Dharmendra, Amitabh, Om Prakash and ably supported by Sharmila Tagore and Jaya, this one was a laugh riot.
8) Amar Akbar Anthony – This movie of Manmohan Desai was not really a comedy but then there was Anthony bhai, who was hurt and drunk and watching himself in the mirror, he treats himself and treats us to guffaws. Tremendous acting by Amitabh…
9) Golmaal – The original Golmaal with Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt in pivotal roles was a laugh riot which can be enjoyed even today. Ram Prasad and Laxman Prasad were a treat to watch, Amol Palekar excelling in this role. The songs, “Golmaal hai bhai sab Golmaal hai” and “ane wala pal jaane wala hai” were gems.
10) Choti si baat- Again great acting by the common man, Amol Palekar who plays a shy accountant trying to impress Vidya Sinha and he gets love lessons from Dadamoni, unique. Do note those lessons if you want to impress someone
11) Baawarchi- Rajesh Khanna at his best in this movie which was a real life lesson. He enters a joint family with ulterior motive but gets involved with the small joys and griefs in the family and brings them together.
12) Namak Halal – “ke pag ghungru bandh Meera nachi thi”, “aaj rapat jaye toh hamen na uthaiyo”, great singing by Kishore Kumar and Amitabh in great form. Listen to his live commentary to Ranjeet…
13) Chasme Baddoor- a laugh riot with three totally different room partners, the sane and shy Faroukh Sheikh, the mad Ravi Baswani and the funny Rakesh Bedi and Deepti Naval in an endearing role. The scene where the three friends brag about flirting with her when all three are funnily rejected is one of the highlights.
14) Angoor- Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma in double roles, double the confusion and double the fun. A very cute Moushmi Chatterjee played the role of the suspicious wife to the tee.
15) Do aur do paanch – goofy antics by the team of Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor as they try to fool the other. Superbly funny movie.
16) Jaane bhi do yaaron- a fun fest from start to finish, Ravi Baswani again, this time teaming up with Naseeruddin Shah, it was one funny scene followed by another. Nobody played a dead man and was so endearing as Satish Shah, right from the time when his body is found in a coffin to the encounter with a very drunk Om Puri, who mistakes the coffin for a car, to the scene where everyone is running in all directions with Satish Shah on skates, one could go on and on. “Thoda khao thoda pheko” is a funny episode but the climax is truly and fully paisa vasool with Satish Shah standing motion less and with a blank expression wearing a saree and Om Puri as Gada dhari Bheem is wickedly funny blanking out Yudhishthir with a swing of the mace. A cult movie like this can be made only once…
17) Govinda – the movies of Govinda were funny with Govinda brand of expressions, Govinda brand of dancing sometimes supported by Kader Khan, sometimes Shakti Kapoor, sometimes both and sometimes Jonny Lever. Hero no. 1, Coolie no. 1, Aunty no. 1, Jamai babu, Dulhe raja, one could go on and on
18) Badshah- a hilariously funny movie with Shahrukh Khan and Johnny Lever at their best. It's almost always on some channel or the other and has become a repeat value movie
19) Andaz apna apna- Another cult movie starring Aamir Khan and Salman Khan and Crime master Goga, Shakti Kapoor. Paresh Rawal in a pivotal role made this movie a must watch then and is a must watch now.
20) Isha- Though this was not a comedy movie but the first half was hilarious due to the antics of Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Deven Varma and Razak Khan. See the scene where Aamir Khan walks on pipes on top of the building and his prayer goes from “Ram Ram…” to “Mara Mara…” when he looks down from the great height. Another memorable scene is the one in the mall involving Deven Verma and Razak Khan
21) Judwa- total paisa vasool from the team of Salman Khan and David Dhawan with great support from Karishma Kapoor
22) Hera pheri- this movie belonged to Baburao, Paresh Rawal and one of the first comedies of Akshay Kumar, the old telephone instrument played a pivotal role on which wrong numbers were common. Great acting by bad man, Gulshan Kumar too and again Om Puri had a great role here. Again the climax of the movie is madly funny where a team of Sardars come to the rescue of the protagonists. First comedy hit by Priyadarshan.
23) Phir Hera pheri – Another laugh riot by the team of Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Sunil Shetty though helmed by another director, Neeraj Vora. Great performances from main cast as well as Rajpal Yadav, Ravi Kishan, Johnny Lever, etc. made it memorable.
24) Priyadarshan- The Director went on a comedy making spree, and almost all his movies like Malamaal weekly, De dana Dan, Bhagambhag, Bhoolbhulaiya, etc. were very enjoyable
25) Chup chup ke- you cannot control yourself from laughing, especially the first half is too humorous, with Rajpal Yadav, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri and Shakti Kapoor in great form. The entire sequence of events when Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav and Shahid Kapoor make an entry into the wrestling Gujarati joint family of Om Puri, the various tasks given to Rajpal Yadav and Rajpal Yadav trying to break a fortified roti, the events generate non-stop laughs.
26) Dhamaal – A silly story of 4 friends , it was laughter a minute with an endearing cameo by Marathi actor, Vinay Apte as a South Indian. Another' highlight is the aircraft scene with Asrani and Vijay Raaz excelling.
27) Golmaal (Rohit Shetty) – the part 1 was the best of the franchise. Again a story of 4 friends where the mute Tushar Kapoor excelled with his dialogue delivery , ahem…
28) Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai – What a great conceptualisation by Rajkumar Hirani and lovable roles of a benevolent bhai played by the goofy Sanjay Dutt and the endearing sidekick Circuit, played by Arshad Warsi. This was Hirani’s way of giving a social message in a palatable bottle. Great roles played by Boman Irani in both.
29) Welcome- Superbly funny movie with Nana Patekar, Munna Anil Kapoor , Feroz Khan’s last movie was extremely funny. One of the best movies of Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal.
30) 3 idiots- wholesome entertainer, Chaturlingam’s speech was one of the highlights and the movie was out and out funny experience. Repeat watch will never diminish the entertainment quotient of this movie. Great acting by the entire cast. Tohfa kubool Kari Jahampanah
31) Chennai Express- though this was a Shahrukh Khan movie, helmed by Rohit Shetty, it belonged to Meenamma, Deepika Padukone. One of my favourites and a visual delight.
32) PK – That man, Raju Hirani again teaming up with Aamir Khan, this movie tried to give message to the viewers, that not all Godmen are men of God. It had typical Hirani brand of humour and became a big hit.
33) OMG – the film belonged to Paresh Rawal and again this movie too, was about so-called God men and their shenanigans to keep the crowd in their fold by hoodwinking them.
34) Piku – A totally different motion filled movie. As Amitabh said, “Emotion se hi motion Banta hai”. A very beautiful movie about a cranky father and his equally cranky daughter, played by Amitabh and Deepika and ably supported by Irfan Khan.
Yatindra Tawde
I have seen many publications come out with list of comedies down the decades , in Bollywood. And some of these lists were made up of downright bad movies. So I decided to come out with my own list of Bollywood comedies. So here goes my list -
1) Chalti ka naam gaadi – a hilariously funny movie where the three Ganguly brothers , Kishore, Dadamoni and Anup had us in splits with silly antics. The songs are still sung today with my eternal favourite, “ek ladki bhigi bhagi si” being the best. Listen to the unabondoned laughter of the ethereal beauty, Madhubala, before the lilting song, “ haal kaisa hai janab ka”. You will fall in love with that laughter itself. “Paach rupaiya baara aana” was mad. And the scene where Anup Kumar goes through the contents of a ladies purse and screams, “kartoos” on seeing a lipstick, is one of the many defining moments of the movie. Surely no. 1
2) Half ticket – another Kishore Kumar gem of a movie. A totally hilarious movie which was Kishore Kumar through and through. Non stop laughter from start to finish. And the songs with “Aake seedhi lagi dil pe” sung by Kishore Kumar and…Kishore Kumar in drag!. No one can touch him when he sings like this .
3) Pyaar kiye jaa – it was a comedy Jugalbandi between Mehmood and Om Prakash, with the iconic hilarious scene where the character played by Mehmood narrates a ghost story to Om Prakash with all the sound effects given by Mehmood. Great reactions given by Om Prakash. This scene was later enacted in that iconic comedy Marathi movie, “Dhoomdhadaka” where Laxmikant Berde and Sharad Talwalkar did it equally effectively.
4) Humjoli – Starring Jeetendra along with Mehmood, this was another film where Mehmood overshadowed the main hero. The highlight of this movie was Mehmood playing three generations of a son , his father and grandfather and enacting all the quirky characteristics of the Kapoor khandaan. Sooper!
5) Bombay to Goa – Amitabh Bachchan! and Mehmood, what a combination. Super road trip made memorable by their antics. “Dekha na hai re socha na…” , a great trip song
6) Padosan- a truly evergreen comedy and it was a great team of Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Sunil Dutt and very well supported by Saira Banu, which made the movie a memorable experience. And the songs were whackily humorous too. “Ek chatur naar…” , what can one say about this song, the mad lyrics, the energy of the actors, the picturisation, one can go on and on. R. D. Burman at his best in “Mere samne wali khidki mein” , just listen to the music piece at the starting of the song. “Meri pyari Bindu” , Kishore at his naughtiest…Great movie, superb music…
7) Chupke Chupke – “T O to hota hai..toh G O gu kyun nahi hota” and many such shudh Hindi dialogues made this movie a craze for comedy lovers. Great acting by Dharmendra, Amitabh, Om Prakash and ably supported by Sharmila Tagore and Jaya, this one was a laugh riot.
8) Amar Akbar Anthony – This movie of Manmohan Desai was not really a comedy but then there was Anthony bhai, who was hurt and drunk and watching himself in the mirror, he treats himself and treats us to guffaws. Tremendous acting by Amitabh…
9) Golmaal – The original Golmaal with Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt in pivotal roles was a laugh riot which can be enjoyed even today. Ram Prasad and Laxman Prasad were a treat to watch, Amol Palekar excelling in this role. The songs, “Golmaal hai bhai sab Golmaal hai” and “ane wala pal jaane wala hai” were gems.
10) Choti si baat- Again great acting by the common man, Amol Palekar who plays a shy accountant trying to impress Vidya Sinha and he gets love lessons from Dadamoni, unique. Do note those lessons if you want to impress someone
11) Baawarchi- Rajesh Khanna at his best in this movie which was a real life lesson. He enters a joint family with ulterior motive but gets involved with the small joys and griefs in the family and brings them together.
12) Namak Halal – “ke pag ghungru bandh Meera nachi thi”, “aaj rapat jaye toh hamen na uthaiyo”, great singing by Kishore Kumar and Amitabh in great form. Listen to his live commentary to Ranjeet…
13) Chasme Baddoor- a laugh riot with three totally different room partners, the sane and shy Faroukh Sheikh, the mad Ravi Baswani and the funny Rakesh Bedi and Deepti Naval in an endearing role. The scene where the three friends brag about flirting with her when all three are funnily rejected is one of the highlights.
14) Angoor- Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma in double roles, double the confusion and double the fun. A very cute Moushmi Chatterjee played the role of the suspicious wife to the tee.
15) Do aur do paanch – goofy antics by the team of Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor as they try to fool the other. Superbly funny movie.
16) Jaane bhi do yaaron- a fun fest from start to finish, Ravi Baswani again, this time teaming up with Naseeruddin Shah, it was one funny scene followed by another. Nobody played a dead man and was so endearing as Satish Shah, right from the time when his body is found in a coffin to the encounter with a very drunk Om Puri, who mistakes the coffin for a car, to the scene where everyone is running in all directions with Satish Shah on skates, one could go on and on. “Thoda khao thoda pheko” is a funny episode but the climax is truly and fully paisa vasool with Satish Shah standing motion less and with a blank expression wearing a saree and Om Puri as Gada dhari Bheem is wickedly funny blanking out Yudhishthir with a swing of the mace. A cult movie like this can be made only once…
17) Govinda – the movies of Govinda were funny with Govinda brand of expressions, Govinda brand of dancing sometimes supported by Kader Khan, sometimes Shakti Kapoor, sometimes both and sometimes Jonny Lever. Hero no. 1, Coolie no. 1, Aunty no. 1, Jamai babu, Dulhe raja, one could go on and on
18) Badshah- a hilariously funny movie with Shahrukh Khan and Johnny Lever at their best. It's almost always on some channel or the other and has become a repeat value movie
19) Andaz apna apna- Another cult movie starring Aamir Khan and Salman Khan and Crime master Goga, Shakti Kapoor. Paresh Rawal in a pivotal role made this movie a must watch then and is a must watch now.
20) Isha- Though this was not a comedy movie but the first half was hilarious due to the antics of Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Deven Varma and Razak Khan. See the scene where Aamir Khan walks on pipes on top of the building and his prayer goes from “Ram Ram…” to “Mara Mara…” when he looks down from the great height. Another memorable scene is the one in the mall involving Deven Verma and Razak Khan
21) Judwa- total paisa vasool from the team of Salman Khan and David Dhawan with great support from Karishma Kapoor
22) Hera pheri- this movie belonged to Baburao, Paresh Rawal and one of the first comedies of Akshay Kumar, the old telephone instrument played a pivotal role on which wrong numbers were common. Great acting by bad man, Gulshan Kumar too and again Om Puri had a great role here. Again the climax of the movie is madly funny where a team of Sardars come to the rescue of the protagonists. First comedy hit by Priyadarshan.
23) Phir Hera pheri – Another laugh riot by the team of Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Sunil Shetty though helmed by another director, Neeraj Vora. Great performances from main cast as well as Rajpal Yadav, Ravi Kishan, Johnny Lever, etc. made it memorable.
24) Priyadarshan- The Director went on a comedy making spree, and almost all his movies like Malamaal weekly, De dana Dan, Bhagambhag, Bhoolbhulaiya, etc. were very enjoyable
25) Chup chup ke- you cannot control yourself from laughing, especially the first half is too humorous, with Rajpal Yadav, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri and Shakti Kapoor in great form. The entire sequence of events when Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav and Shahid Kapoor make an entry into the wrestling Gujarati joint family of Om Puri, the various tasks given to Rajpal Yadav and Rajpal Yadav trying to break a fortified roti, the events generate non-stop laughs.
26) Dhamaal – A silly story of 4 friends , it was laughter a minute with an endearing cameo by Marathi actor, Vinay Apte as a South Indian. Another' highlight is the aircraft scene with Asrani and Vijay Raaz excelling.
27) Golmaal (Rohit Shetty) – the part 1 was the best of the franchise. Again a story of 4 friends where the mute Tushar Kapoor excelled with his dialogue delivery , ahem…
28) Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai – What a great conceptualisation by Rajkumar Hirani and lovable roles of a benevolent bhai played by the goofy Sanjay Dutt and the endearing sidekick Circuit, played by Arshad Warsi. This was Hirani’s way of giving a social message in a palatable bottle. Great roles played by Boman Irani in both.
29) Welcome- Superbly funny movie with Nana Patekar, Munna Anil Kapoor , Feroz Khan’s last movie was extremely funny. One of the best movies of Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal.
30) 3 idiots- wholesome entertainer, Chaturlingam’s speech was one of the highlights and the movie was out and out funny experience. Repeat watch will never diminish the entertainment quotient of this movie. Great acting by the entire cast. Tohfa kubool Kari Jahampanah
31) Chennai Express- though this was a Shahrukh Khan movie, helmed by Rohit Shetty, it belonged to Meenamma, Deepika Padukone. One of my favourites and a visual delight.
32) PK – That man, Raju Hirani again teaming up with Aamir Khan, this movie tried to give message to the viewers, that not all Godmen are men of God. It had typical Hirani brand of humour and became a big hit.
33) OMG – the film belonged to Paresh Rawal and again this movie too, was about so-called God men and their shenanigans to keep the crowd in their fold by hoodwinking them.
34) Piku – A totally different motion filled movie. As Amitabh said, “Emotion se hi motion Banta hai”. A very beautiful movie about a cranky father and his equally cranky daughter, played by Amitabh and Deepika and ably supported by Irfan Khan.
Yatindra Tawde
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