Real echoes Reel!
iView Author:
Medha Dutt
(Kolkata, India)
E-mail:
primidutt [at] gmail [dot] com
Jane Bhi Do Yaron
I was maybe 10 or 12 years old, when I watched Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro for the first time. I definitely liked the film, but let me confess, that to my young eyes, it was a good comedy – nothing more, nothing less. Naseer and Ravi trying to play the roles of investigative reporters, the climax with the corpse of Satish Shah, and Om Puri and Pankaj Kapur’s rivalry provided for some great comic relief.
A good many years later, when I started differentiating between good and bad cinema (it was a bit difficult as unfortunately there is no dearth of bad cinema but where good cinema is concerned, you are bound to hit the wall), I watched the film again. And was I impressed! This is one film that is very close to my heart. A very intelligent movie, with some of the greatest actors of the time.
The satirical tone of the movie was at a perfect pitch. Had the note been even a scale higher, the movie would have been reduced to a mockery, and had the scale been a grade lower, it would have indeed turned very depressing. Definitely Kundan Shah and Sudhir Mishra need to be applauded for this.
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, though not that well received at the time of its release, is regarded as a cult classic now. Who can forget Satish Shah’s Draupadi act? Very seldom have I come across such a wonderfully hilarious scene! Duryodhan hell bent on saving Draupadi’s honor at any cost, Dhritashastra going on with his “Beta Duryodhan ye kya ho raha hai?”, and to top it all Mahabharta morphing into Salim and Anarkali’s love story!!! Amazing!
Not to forget the scene where a drunken Om comes across Satish Shah’s body in a coffin, and takes him home, thinking that Satish Shah’s car (coffin) has punctured tires! Whoa, it takes a brilliant mind (in this case two) to come up with such wonderfully crafted scenes. Imagine running around with a corpse with the help of roller skates! Every scene is outstanding – the scene where Pankaj Kapur and his team is cunningly locked into the bathroom, the scene where Naseer is talking on the phone with one of the villains’ in the same room, and of course the cake scene, “Thoda khao, thoda bahar pheko“. You can just go on and on about this movie, and still feel as if you haven’t said enough.
But beneath the comic veil, the film deals with serious subjects. It shows how politics and corruption go hand in hand at the cost of the common man. At every corner there is corruption lurking, and the common man has to jump around so that he does not trip over.
A couple of years back; I found how very relevant this movie was even today. Naah, not talking about politics and corruption here – that will always remain, I guess. I was actually reminded of this movie with the expose` carried out by Tehelka, then just a website.
Like in the movie, after digging up all the dirt about the deals of the businessmen and the politicians, when Naseer and Ravi decide to go to the police, they find that ultimately these crooks are getting away due to money power, and the last shot of the movie has Ravi and Naseer walking down the streets in jail uniforms.
In much the same way, Tehelka after exposing top Ministers, ironically finds not the Ministers but the website slammed with charges of violation of privacy, framing and what not!
What a hearty laugh I had when I read that report. Right after, I spent the night watching Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, saluting Kundan Shah and Sudhir Mishra in every scene! Many a times have I seen reel following real, but this was one instance where real followed reel! It was as if Shah and Mishra had eerily been able to forecast all this and wove it into their narrative!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
@Karmanyevadhi karaste ma phaleshu kadachin
…….
Bhagwat Geeta’s prophecy is true so much in case of “Jane Bhee Do Yaron”.
Neither Kundan Shah and party might have thought to make a film which would appeal audience so much nor they could have known later why people liked the film and what they liked and if there was a formula in the film. If there was then anybody associated with film could have repeated that formula but none could do that in later years.
They did not expect any bumper result but they got it. and it can be a bad thing also for Kundan Shah as his every effort is seen by putting stake of Jane bhee do yaron. as Ramesh Sippy is always judged on the basis of Sholay only.
Kundan Shah has never been able to replicate the brilliance of Jaane bhi Do Yaaron. All his susequent films were awful. The magic was in the script which Sudhir Mishra co-wrote with him. He needs to get together the same calibre of people around him to make a film which is as good. I recently saw a film made by him called “Three Sisters.” It was so maudlin and depressing! Made me sad for what he has come to.
One of the greatest films of Indian cinema.
Look at the superstar crew that worked on that film.
Vinod Chopra, Renu Saluja, Sudhir Mishra and Binod Pradhan. Almost impossible to replicate today.
“Kundan Shah has never been able to replicate the brilliance of Jaane bhi Do Yaaron. All his susequent films were awful.”
Are you kidding me? Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa was brilliant. Great replay value, Shahrukh’s greatest performance as an actor, really good songs, and a feel good quality that pervaded the whole movie. That is one film I watch again and again and again, whenever it’s on.
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’s Mahabharata scene was possibly the funniest I’ve seen in Hindi films.
@Medha
nice post. I also must have been 9-10 when I watched it for the first time. Loved the comedy but man! was I disappointed by the end! Was too young to understand it.
I second doremi on ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’. Don’t know how many times I have watched both of these movies.
Kabhi haan kabhi na was wonderful … but JBDY was more wonderful
Since JBDY I’ve wondered whether i have seen any other black humor hindi film which is not depressing and not a mockery either …
Unfortunately not …
Kundan shah tried with Ek se Badhkar ek …. but …. :-(
JBDY represents the best of Hindi cinema for me. A fusion of satire, excellent slapstick, homage (Antonioni park!), and spoof (Albert Pinto?) it is eminently rewatchable. The Mahabharata performance is unparalleled comedy, starts out silly and gets sillier and sillier as Jahanpanah shows up on stage. Of course Dhritrashtra saying over and over again “Yeh sab kya ho raha hai” as he blinks his eyes is precious.
BUT Kundan Shah did repeat the magic with Kabhi Haan kabhi Naa – it is a simple heartwarming tale that is also eminently watchable for the shiftless Sunil (played excellently by Shahrukh), his band of brothers who turn on him, an excellent ensemble cast, and beautiful music.
These are his two best and they are fine films indeed.
A film that approaches JBDY in content and mingling of satire and slapstick is the recent Khosla ka Ghosla. But it does not have the same repeat value.
True, KHKN was another piece of great movie making from Kundan Shah, bt at d same tym JBDY remains unbeatably the best. No use blaming Mr. Shah – to do a replay of JBDY is near impossible. Somethin lyk Sudhir Mishra’s Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi – impossible to repeat.
I realize this film has a cult status, but
Jaane bhi do yaaron never lived up to its promise. It bordered on slapstic about half the time and sometimes the humor was embarassingly crass. It’s the kind of movie a bunch of guys drinking bagpiper and eating burjias in an all male dorm would find funny after three or four patiala pegs.
As comedies of the era go, I liked Chasm – e – Baddoor better.
not to trash the talent involved in Jaane bhi do yaaron or anything.