Kids laugh 300 times a day. Adults laugh only 5 times a day!
There is no scientific data to prove it, but everyone seems
to believe the above numbers. Kids indeed laugh a lot, are happier and seem to
have more fun than us adults. Thanks to the pressures
of growing up, we often end up losing the kid inside us.
The reason I speak about kids and adults in this post is
because I find it very amusing to see the extreme reactions to the latest Farah
Khan movie Happy New Year.
Happy New Year seems to invoke a strange phenomenon - a battle between the kid and the adult within us.
By now, I am assuming you already know who you are –
the one who laughed out loud while enjoying the movie, or the one who laughed
reading the spoofs and reviews of critics who trashed this movie. One is the
kid inside you reacting, and the other is the adult.
Through this post I would like to explore this phenomenon
further. It will probably help explain why I like this film and why you might
not necessarily be on the same plane as me. So here it goes, let me know what
you think…
I have made no bones about it and have been tweeting constantly about how much fun I had while watching Happy New Year. In fact I
wasn't the only one; the entire auditorium was in splits. The colors, the stars,
the dance, the music, everything on screen was larger than life, vibrant,
happy and joyful - Happy New Year invoked the kid inside me.
The primary reason why I felt that way is linked to a
phenomenon called suspension of
disbelief.
This is a concept where no matter how unreal the happenings on screen are; for the sake of
entertainment the viewer tends to believe what he sees on screen is real. Magic tricks, works
of fiction and movies are a part of the same process. This is what makes us
believe that Batman and Superman exist when we see them on screen.
Suspension of disbelief helps us become kids once again - bringing in innocence, wonder, joy and gay abandon out of seemingly illogical and stupid things!
When it comes to the universe of movies, there are certain
limits we set for this suspension of disbelief based on what we already know
about the movie or the filmmaker. That is where the adult in us kicks in.
What we expect from a Farah Khan movie is very different
from what we expect from a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie or a Ram Gopal Varma
movie. They are all set in different kinds of realities and hence our
yardsticks to judge those movies change accordingly. That also explains our
inherent positive bias towards some dumb Hollywood blockbusters.
And true to form Farah Khan delivered what she promised in
Happy New Year - a mad cap, fun, nonsense entertainer - nothing less, nothing
more, all within her range of disbelief.
It is not her fault if some people went in expecting to see
an Ocean’s Eleven which belongs to an entirely different genre. It is a
flawed assumption by the viewers and a problem entirely created by their own
will; making them feel like baboons and idiots.
Most film critics seem to have fallen into this trap. Their
levels of suspension of disbelief are in stark contrast to what a majority of
the audience seems to be willing to give this movie.
To be fair, one of the most complex genres to handle is
comedy. And the way Farah Khan manages to exploit the audio visual medium
to maximum extent is quite commendable. Be it the way she infuses the character
of Abhishek Bachchan in a setup inspired by the movie Don, or the subtitles ‘Aa
Dekhe Zara Kisme Hai Kitna Dum’ when the Korean team starts their dance
routine, the seven minute speech, or the opening notes of the song Kung Ku Fighting that
begin much before the rooftop fight picks up steam – everything is
laced with a terrific undercurrent of humor.
One needs to connect the dots to make sense of what’s
happening on screen. I have said this in my earlier post about Chennai Express
too - one needs to use their brains to enjoy such madcap movies and not leave
them at home. Happy New Year belongs to the same category.
The ones complaining the most are sadly the lazy ones who
refused to use their grey cells.
Leaving suspension of disbelief
aside. I think there is another factor at play here.
- Those who watched the movie, laughed their guts out, but are unwilling to accept and acknowledge that fact
- Those who watched the movie, stubbornly refused to laugh, like grumpy kids in the park
- Those who haven’t watched the movie at all and are going by what the above two people are saying, be it online or offline
Case 1 and 2 are purely people who are kids at heart
pretending to act like adults with a capacity for only 5 laughs, and the third
category, well..what can I say about them...I just pity them for blindly
believing what 1 and 2 are saying.
Anyways, give it a serious thought once again and try to
figure out which category you belong to. When it concerns this movie, I for sure am a kid who would like to
suspend all sorts of disbelief for a few hours of terrific rib tickling
entertainment.
I don’t care if the movie hits 300 crores at
the box office or not, but I sure had my share of 300 laughs while watching the
movie.
Rest I leave to your good senses.
Cheers!!!
Kartik Dayanand Boddapati
Follow @KartikDayanand
