’’Humor is not a postscript or an incidental afterthought; it is a serious and weighty part of the worlds economy. One feels increasingly the height of the faculty in which it arises, the nobility of things associated with it, and the greatness of services it renders’’.
’’My vital statistics are growing’’.
Before you start getting bizarre ideas about my physical structure, I’ll get it straight by saying that I was hinting at the numbers on my MS profile page (right hand top). We humans are always on a lookout for different agencies to bring about a cheer in our lives. A cheer could come in the form of a simple gracious smile or a short giggle or a roaring whole hearted laugh which many of us MS’ians call ’’LMAO’’ or ’’ROFL’’.
A motion picture is one of the various but an important appliance of har-de-har. A few laugh medicines are Marilyn Monroe’s ’’The seven year itch’’, Chaplin’s ’’Gold Rush’’, Woody Allen’s ’’Love and Death’’, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s ’’Chupke Chupke’’, Santoshi’s ’’Andaaz Apna Apna’’ and Gulzar’s ’’Angoor’’.
Personally I’m true blue to Shakespeare’s writings. He interested me right since my juvenile days. As a kid, I started with those easy-english Shakespeare’s translations and later swapped on to his actual works. I broadly catalogue Shakespeare as a writer of comedies and tragedies.
A very few of his plays fall into a category in between. Being an ardent fan of his, I blow-by-blow enjoy watching movies that are adopted from Shakespeare’s plays. A few of my personal favorites are Kurosawa’s ’’Ran’’ (checkout my review on Ran if you haven’t read it yet), Denzel Washington’s ’’Much ado about nothing’’ and Gulzar’s ’’Angoor’’.
The Movie: Adopted from Shakespeare’s ’’The Comedy of Errors’’, Angoor is a tale of two pairs of separated twins. Master Ashok-1 (Sanjeev Kumar) along with Servant Bahadur-1 (Devan varma) is separated from Master Ashok-2 (Sanjeev Kumar) and Servant Bahadur-2 (Devan Verma) during a ship-wreck. Chaos and bloopers caused by mistaken identities creeps in when Ashok-1 and Bahadur-1 enter the town where Ashok-2 and Bahadur-2 live. By the end of the movie every Tom, Dick and Harry of the town goes berserk due to the hodgepodge caused by Ashok-1/2 and Bahadur-1/2.
In association with Sanjeev Kumar, Gulzar has made some heart-stirring movies such as Aandhi and Namkeen. Instead, Angoor is a 2.5 hour whoopee entertainer. Sanjeev Kumar was probably the most underrated actor in Bollywood. The ease with which he carries the roles of Ashok 1 and 2 is worth accolades.
Gulzar’s witting screenplay and dialogues and Sanjeev Kumar’s dialogue delivery and comic timing are the movie’s focal points. Devan Verma, Moushmi Chatarjee, Deepti Naval and Aruna Irani club along decent performances. Pancham’s music is pleasant to the ear, although he doesn’t create magic with his score.
Gulzar who’s known for his hard hitting films like Maachis, Mere Apne and Hu Tu Tu has attempted only one out-and-out comedy all his life. I’m glad that it was the likes of Gulzar who attempted this tribute to Shakespeare rather than someone like ’’I-Make-Vulgar-Movies-Only’’ David Dhawan.
Its a rarity to see such clean comic flicks today in India. A good movie’s definition has drastically changed. More glossy it is - more people like it. More skin it shows - more people adore it. Thats one of the reasons why film-makers such as Gulzar and Hrishikesh Mukherjee have become extinct despite their physical existence. Let’s not be surprised if they are celebrated as legends once they die.
Thats bound to happen mates... Accept it.
Angoor Rocks........
PS: Just an after thought.... what if Gulzar had got more experimental with this movie and exchanged one of the master with servants in one of the pairs. Master 1-Sanjeev kumar, Master 2-Devan verma, Servant 1-Devan Verma, Servant 2-Sanjeev Kumar. Imagine what a laugh it would have been.
Cheers...