With the finest comic talent, Buddha Mar Gaya promises to keep the audiences in splits Bollywood has been bitten by the laughter bug. Leading filmmakers have rolled out a string of comedies in the last couple of years. With most of the movies striking gold at the box office, both audiences and producers have plenty to smile about. Action director Rahul Rawail also jumps on the bandwagon with Buddha Mar Gaya.
Humour is in fact raking in the big bucks. Take the instance of David Dhawan's latest laugh riot Partner. The film has emerged as the biggest money-spinner this year. Before that there was Bheja Fry, Golmaal, Apna Sapna Money Money, and, of course, Lage Raho Munnabhai.
One can understand why Rawail has chosen to experiment with humour, despite burning his fingers with the action-comedy Jo Bole So Nihal, which starred Sunny Deol.
Casting ouch
Rawail's lucky mascot Deol does not find a place in this black comedy, probably because goon-bashing is far from funny. "The story did not have a role suiting Sunny's personality," is all Rawail says.
Buddha Mar Gaya, however, stars some of the finest comic talent in the business. The impressive cast comprises Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak and Rakhi Sawant.
Rawail says, "I wanted to make a complete comedy with very good actors. The humour lies in the film's sequences. It does not have a conventional hero and heroine, or a typical Bollywood romantic angle. I am confident that the performances of my actors will appeal to the audience."
Comedy of errors
According to Rawail, the film is about a dead man (played by Kher), who has left behind a fortune. His unexpected death leads to complications, with his family members not wanting the world to know about his demise till they get their share of the riches left behind. This creates a number of funny and crazy situations, brimming with satire.
Hot item
Sultry siren Sawant evokes different emotions in different people, but Rawail hopes she can provoke some laughter as well. Sawant‘s character in the movie is glamorous with a funny side to it.
"I play a sexy girl who gets caught in a money-making racket. Rawail told me to just be myself. He liked my character in Big Boss," says the item girl, whose tantrums in Big Boss certainly tickled a lot of funny bones.
Veteran trio
Bringing the film alive are Kher, Rawal and Puri, all of whom started their careers doing serious art cinema. Thereafter, they played villains and did character roles in mainstream movies. Many years and National Awards later, they have successfully made the transition to comedy.
Kher, who has hits such as Kya Kool Hai Hum and Apna Sapna Money Money under his belt, says, "I play Lakshmikant Kabadiya or LK, a rich industrialist. It is his death that causes all the mayhem." Kher's portrayal of a dead body should remind the older audience of Satish Shah's similar classic performance in Kundan Shah's satirical Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron.
Rawal can pull off any role with ease, but his superb performance as Baburao in Hera Pheri catapulted him to fame. He stole the thunder from Akshay Kumar and Suneil Shetty in that film.
Puri's comic timing was recognised with the cult British hit East Is East. He then had the audience in splits with his performances in Nagesh Kukonoor's Bollywood Calling and Kamal Hassan's Chachi 420.
Since then, Puri has successfully teamed up with Rawal in comedies such as Hera Pheri and Chup Chup Ke.
"In Buddha Mar Gaya, I play the character of Vidyut Baba, the family guru of LK. It is he who a dvises the family members to hide the body of LK. It is a totally chaotic situation," he says.
Mad duo
In full flow, one-time VJs Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak can bring the house down. The latest Bollywood comedians have appeared as a
package deal in hits such as Khosla Ka Ghosla and Bheja Fry. Shorey also did a brilliant job in Pyar Ke Side Effects and Honeymoon Travels Ltd.
Pathak was fabulous in this year's super hit comedy Bheja Fry. Shorey and Pathak's stocks have risen tremendously in the last one year and Buddha Mar Gaya could be the beginning of a long innings.
With so many interesting characters, Buddha Mar Gaya promises to be a total laugh riot.
