4 low-brow comedies that surprised box office

Now's the time to look back - with a stoic spirit - at the most crowd-pleasing comedy franchises belted out by Bollywood in the last 12 years. So, what's my motivation to do that? Golmaal Again has totted up mega bucks at the cash counters.
Absolutely immune to any kind of criticism, the knockabout misadventures of a caboodle of characters, who have to deal with spooky situations in a haunted house, has clicked.
In fact, whenever an unabashedly low-brow, A-list stars-fuelled film works, the knee-jerk response is that the three hours at the neighbourhood multiplex provides "paisa vasool" (worth the price of a ticket) or "time-pass" entertainment. Never mind the fact that "time" could be a precious commodity for most urban moviegoers hit by the pressures (inflation, for one) of everyday living.
Negative reviews in the media hardly matter, debunking the theory that Bollywood audiences have become more discerning and are influenced by the opinions of critics. In any case, several reviews seem to fall in line with the goodwill generated by the PR machinery during the pre-release publicity campaigns... but that's another long story altogether.
In deference then to populist tastes, here's a scan of the four comedy franchises that have connected with the masses (two of them have packed up - temporarily at least; in terms of gags, double entendres, chauvinistic jokes, indigestible storylines and ear-deafening music scores, they had become so slapdash that they were thumbed down even by die-hard devotees of the leave-your-brains-behind-at-home genre).
KYAA KOOL HAI HUM
The Ekta Kapoor-produced adult comedy, inspired by Hollywood's Revenge of the Nerds and the Porky's series, sparked the trend of quickly-assembled laugh-raisers about young men confronted with the multiple dilemmas of finding ideal girlfriends and job opportunities. Unwittingly, the bumbling male protagonists slide into trouble with police officers and criminals.
Ekta's brother Tusshar Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh toplined this hit released in 2005; the sequel Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum followed seven years later. It sold tickets. However, the third installment, Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3, eventually proved to be a dud. Evidently, viewers were in no mood for the same, old, barely-cool routines. Incidentally, Deshmukh had chosen to nix this project, and was replaced by Aftab Shivdasani. Not that the change of casting made much of a difference.

MASTI
Director Indra Kumar and co-producer Ashok Thakeria sought to reinvent themselves - not in a laudable way though - after the immensely successful dramedies Dil (1990), Beta (1992) and Raja (1995). Bereft of the frontline stars - Aamir Khan, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit - they went the ha-ha way with Masti (2004), featuring Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh (he's specialised in this field, by the way) and the always ready-to-gag Aftab Shivdasani. The ploy had them chortling all the way to the bank. The sequels Grand Masti (2013) and Great Grand Masti (2016) weren't in the same league at all, signalling the end of the Masti malarkey.

The lesser recalled about Kumar-Thakeria's other jab at a franchise - Dhamaal (2007) with Sanjay Dutt, and its sequel four years later - the better.

GOLMAAL: FUN UNLIMITED
Initiated by Rohit Shetty in 2006, the franchise's title and sporadic story twists and turns were inspired by Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic comedy of errors Gol Maal (1979) that starred Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt. Ajay Devgn, Shreyas Talpade, Arshad Warsi and Tusshar Kapoor have been the stayers in Shetty's relatively high-cost guffaw fests.
The heroines appear to be dispensable since they have altered from Rimi Sen and Kareena Kapoor Khan to Parineeti Chopra. In the new edition, Tabu was added perhaps to add a modicum of method to the madness.

With Golmaal Again, the fourth installment, Shetty has gone one-up on the other series which screeched to a halt after three. For sure, after its whopper collections, a fifth part could already be in the works.

HOUSEFULL
Comic actor-cum-TV personality Sajid Khan helmed two of the three virtually plotless farces that kicked off in 2010, about brothers and friends, who are perennially trying to get out of assorted lies, personality changes and hot waters. Extensively filmed on international locations, Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh have been the two permanent fixtures.

The third dude has shifted from Arjun Rampal to John Abraham to Abhishek Bachchan. There have been incessant reports about a fourth Housefull; however, with Akshay Kumar opting for more slice-of-life roles, the prospect is iffy.
That's the way it is, then, with these exercises in comedy which boast of "no logic, no sense, no nothing". I guess there's no point fighting that. Like it or not, far too often in Bollywood, quality is just another 'high-funda' word in a cobwebbed dictionary.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com