They Rule My Heart. Review on Five Best Bollywood Comedians

Comedy as een a very integral part of Hindi movies. From the early days of Hindi films, we had comedians, who made the audience feel relieved from all tensions. The nature of comedy and comedians have slowly evolved in the industry and its no more an ancilliary part of the movies.

Wholesome comedy movies come once in a while and when they come, mostly the other popular stars with a nack of good comedy get the lead roles. Still comedians are indispensable. In thrillers, they act as a diversion and sometimes as key clue to the mystery (Gumnam, Khiladi). In romantic movies, very often they are instrumental in bringing hero and heroine together (Arzoo, Maine Pyar Kiya). In action movies, apart from working as sidekicks, they also help in getting the mind off violence at times (Sholay & Co.).

In this write-up, I have tried to pick up just five comedians, who have taught us the art of laughing and ultimately the art of living. They are arranged in alphabetic order.

Johnny Walker

There are two kinds of comedians, one who make themselves the center of the joke and others who make comedy through their dialogues or action. Johnny Walker belonged to the second category. He was a very sophisticated and reserved comedian, who won?t give you pangs of belly aching laughter, rather he will make you smile, giggle and feel good in the end. His long career saw several memorable performances, especially in movies like CID, Pyasa, Madhumati, Anand,Shaan and very recently Chachi 420. Theough he has acted with almost all stars and directors, he is remembered more for his association with Guru Dutt.

Mehmood

Undoubtedly, the king of comedy in Hindi movies. The man, who was instrumental in initiation of the best comedian award. His range of comedy was immense, as seen in movies like Gumnaam, Arzoo, Padosan, Bombay to Goa etc. He was a star of his times and was a big crowd puller, like any other lead actor. When we look at this handsome and serious person, who came as a hero in one of the early movies and then a villain in CID, settled down to distribute his gift of laughter. His speciality was his uncanny ability to bring all kinds of accents in his roles.

Paresh Rawal

In my opinion the best contemporary comedian. He started as a villain (Naam) and wisely mixed comedy with his negative roles (Daud). Before we realized, he was a full scale comedian bringing wholesome family entertainment. With movies like Herapheri, Hungama, Chachi 420 and more recently Hulchul, he has proved that he is here to stay, to laugh and make everyone laugh. His witty dilogue delivery is a class apart and the ease at which he fits into roles of all ages makes him memorable.

Rajendra Nath

The Poppat Lal. This wonderful joker dominated the entire sixties through his fancy clothing and behaviour. He belonged to the other spectrum of commdians, where his action and activities brought pangs of laughter, whether you understand the language or not. A big credit for popularity of Shammi Kapoor movies goes to this man. Dil Deke Dekho has been a masterpiece and so have been Rafoo Chakkar, Teesri Manzil, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon etc. Short or long, he was every man?s comedian and has remained close to everyone?s heart.

Tuntun

The best female comedian by a huge margin. Many may not know the fact that she came to bollywood as a singer and has several memorable hits in her original name: Uma Devi. From early fifties, she got into the role of comedian and carved a niche for herself. She was not ashamed for jokes being cracked at her physique and was there in almost every other movie of fifties and sixties. Immediately I can recollect Rajkumar, Professor, Pyasa as some of her memorable roles.

They deserve to be in this list:

I want to pay my tributes to some of the great comedians, whom I could not include in this list as the list demanded only 5 and I wanted to cover as much diversity as possible. Still three more comedians are there who can be a part of this list any day.

1. Utpal Dutt: The witty uncle/ father figures in Golmaal, Baat Banjaye, Rang Birangi etc.

   
   




2. Asit Sen: The famous Gopichand Jasoos of Bees Saal Baad

   
   




3. Johnny Lever: The man who has been shouldering the mantle of star comedian in the entire nintees and 2000s.

   
   

The Others:

I have not seen comedians like *Gope, *Aga and *Bhagwan in many movies. Hence can not comment on them.

People like Kesto Mukherjee, Mukri, Jaggdeep and Ashrani were quite good, but were not versatile enough to be hugely popular.

Kader Khan and *Sakthi Kapoor transformed themselves well from villain to comedian. But still they have a good distance to go before becoming greats.

Kishore Kumar was a great comedian, but he was left in the category of heroes who could do good comedy.

New breed like *Lakshmikant Berde, *Tinku Talsania, *Rakesh Bedi, satish Shah etc have shown glimmers of promise, but could not carry them forward.

Bomman Irani is quite promising. Hopefully he becomes a great comedian.

Anupam Kher started as a good character actor, villain and comedian? but he could not decide which directin he wants to go in? ultimately we don?t see him anywhere today. Still he has given some great performances in Dil Hai ke Maanta Nahin, Mast Kalandar, Lamhe etc.