- Charlie Chaplin
Mr.Chaplin might have said it philosophically…But I’d rather interpret it from a film-maker’s point of view. I’ll put it this way… the Content is same; but the execution is what makes it funny. The same life which most of us grumble about all the time when described by an Observational Comedian seems hilarious. ‘Comedy is in execution’.
The sooner you understand it, the better it is because, Like it or not, animation is largely a comedy driven industry. Don’t take my word, check it out yourself with a small activity. First take a paper, return when done. So you have a pen and paper now… Ready? Ok, then… Quick! Jot down first five animation movies the come to your mind. See the list, either you’ve got an out and out comedy movie (Shrek 1,2 and 3, Ice Age 1&2, etc.,) or humor played a major role in it (Up, The Incredibles, Toy Story,etc.,). Reason enough for us to learn a thing or thing or two about comedy.
Now I’m not a comedian and I don’t know any killer trade secrets either (but if you do, be my guest). But what I am going to do is share with you things, which I found quite enlightening about nature of Comedy. Here’s one for starters:
Recently TV broadcasted ‘Golmal Returns’, Record-Breaking Movie, One of the biggest grosser of the year. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who's interested in study of comedy as this movie is an encyclopedia of ‘Bad humor decisions’ (some of which I too am guilty of).
I had the opportunity to see the movie earlier, but couldn’t bear it more than five minutes; as the time passed I was using it as a synonym for shitty-comedy movies. Months later, in one conversation my friend revealed that she found the movie absolutely hilarious, so much so that she had repeated viewings. When she asked me why I didn’t find it funny, I didn’t have even one convincing explanation. That’s it! armed with a pen and Note pad; I was going to watch this movie in its entirety. Just to give her a fitting reply may be end it up with “You are such an incredulous moron to be taken in by their deceptive tricks HA! HA! HA!… I know what’s best… worship me, I am your God”.
On hindsight that was sheer stupid of me, as it turns out when you tell a woman she’s stupid…she isn’t impressed (Who could’ve seen that one coming?). It wouldn’t make any sense that you tell her what she just laughed hard at, wasn’t funny. And don’t even think that if you deconstruct the whole humor mechanism in front of her, then point out some psychological loopholes where you laugh regardless it’s funny or not, she’ll be impressed… BAD IDEA, because then she isn’t stupid, she’s normal, its YOU who are a NERD…. You are Nerd… You are Nerd… You are a Nerd (that will echo in your ears for a long time). It’s a lost battle.
But all’s not lost; this event had an interesting by-product. There was a scene in GR where Tusshar Kapoor punctures Shreyas Talpade’s but with two scissors. There’s a similar scene Andaz Apna Apna, where Salman Khan stabs Aamir Khan’s butt with a really big injection. Both were same events, more or less, they also employed the pretty much same comedic devices (Zany Soundfx, slapstick,etc.,). But I found the latter hilarious (ROFLMAO!!) and the first one almost offending, that they thought I would fall for such cheap humor.
Fig A: Acting
Fig B: Over-acting
How come, the same act in one movie is ‘Funny’ and in other is ‘Not-so-funny’? What was the difference in their execution?
To be Continued...
