Interesting article on Govinda by Bollywood.celebden Understanding Govinda’s Comeback: The Binary Life Of Dulhe Raja When the trailer of Kill Dil and Happy Ending came, legions of Govinda fans were ecstatic. He was back and that too with a bang – or so they hoped. However, after the movies released it left a strange aftertaste and there was these niggling questions: ‘Was it another comeback?’ ‘Is he going to stay?’ This was Govinda’s second-coming or so we assumed. He took a brief hiatus somewhere between the years 2003 to 2005. Once he came back, he started hobnobbing with the elites again (read: Salman Khan and Co) with movies like Partner, Bhagam Bhag and Raavan along with a few more but his output lessened considerably. We had lost him to the wilderness of politics but he retired from it to concentrate more on films. However, somehow this decision failed to have any impact as far as his career was concerned. There was also a minor technical error. His comeback was unlike that of Dilip Kumar or Amitabh Bachchan or some of his peers like Anil Kapoor or Sanjay Dutt. Both Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan came back stronger after transitioning to character roles. Anil Kapoor or Sanjay Dutt played safe and took the plunge when time demanded. Look at Dutt’s Munnabhai series. He is not your regular hero, not the dhishum dhishum variety of course. More than himself his character demanded attention. No more Khalnayakgiri. The hero didn’t overwhelm the character and now he is comfortable playing a character role in PK. We are used to it. With Kill Dil and Happy Ending, Govinda finally decided to cross over. The decision was both smart and strategic. In Kill Dil his character Bhaiyaji is a sadistic yet has a certain charm with the ebullience that only Govinda could’ve offered to the role. But Happy Ending gives him the role that is closer to his persona – a single-screen superhit hero trying to woo the multiplex crowd with Saif’s help, who plays a writer here. This contrast is extremely funny but also bittersweet. Tracking Saif’s career, we will notice how he re-invented himself becoming a darling of the multiplex-going crowd where Govinda lagged behind. This self-parody, if we observe closely, also has much to do with this above-mentioned transition. He has finally accepted defeat. His character Armaan wants Saif’s character to help him woo that audience which is indifferent so that he can also become a multiplex star. This is a sort of a patch up between reel and real-life Govinda. Here we do see shades of Partner. It was with Salman Khan he teamed up to make another attempt of coming back. The attempt worked but minutely. In Kill Dil he has teamed up with the young turks (Ranveer Singh and Ali Zafar.) Is it desperation? No. Rather, it is an effort to assimilate. Yet, Kill Dil and Happy Ending douse everything that Govinda is doing to seek acceptance from the new generation. His roles were short, more like extended cameos that made his fans angry and the could-have been fans were left high and dry. Govinda created his brand with director David Dhawan. When he started, Govinda’s roles reflected the ones played by the more established stars of his era. Be it Mithun’s dancing superstar, Dutt’s agony or Sunny Deol’s brooding, Govinda qualified for all of it but boosted them with a dose of comedy. He was yet to establish his own identity. It was Dhawan who gave him that. But it took time. There were hints in movies like Shola aur Shabnam and Aankhen where Govinda’s comedy skills were tested but it was Raja Babu that finally established Govinda as the Indian Jackie Chan (Trivia: Jaan Seh Pyaara was a copy of Jackie Chan’s Heart of Dragon). A slew of movies followed and Govinda had finally found his calling. But the slump started somewhere in the late 90s and early 2000. Bollywood was changing. Not Govinda. He was after all the king of comedy. Yet the audience started rejecting his brand of humour. Humour was being sanitized. They were no more comfortable with the nonsense, the oddball buffoonery offered by him. Not only him but also his co-actors like Shakti Kapoor as well as Kader Khan started losing their grounds. David Dhawan too had to retreat and recently had to fall back on a remake of Chashme Baddoor to claim his throne again. Movies like Partner, Bhagam Bhag as well as Raavan tell a different story. A story of compromise. A story that signals the end of an era. The critical acclaim and the commercial success of these movies did not guarantee Govinda the comeback he was looking for. His place in the hierarchy was no more secure. Maybe that’s why we see him again in movies like Kill Dil and Happy Ending, his past exploits a distant dream. No more can we think of seeing the on screen conflicts that he had with Kader Khan or the camaraderie with Shakti Kapoor. It is now relegated to Cds and Dvds or youtube videos and to our memories. The comedic value of Govinda’s movies had a tremendous attachment to Indian tradition and they also made an attempt to subvert it. For example, Saajan Chale Sasural can be studied as a satire on polygamy while Dulhe Raja itself was a statement on dowry and the patriarchal mindset that offered the groom or the bride a little say regarding their choices. A box office flop Beti No 1. questions female infanticide. But not that Govinda limited himself only to comedic roles during this successful run. His Khuddar saw him give one of his most intense performances ever. The role of an upright police officer in Khuddar (in sharp contrast to that of The Gambler) is somewhat lost to the public because it was a phase where his comedy was much more in demand. Andolan as well as Muqabla also demands honourable mentions when it came to roles that were more dramatic during this phase. Kill Dil and Happy Ending predict a different future now. A future where we will see him in more character roles (hopefully). He is going to act opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Jagga Jasoos. He might play the titular role in Mira Nair’s The Bengali Detective if the movie is made and if it is not another rumour. There are also talks of a few more projects. Whatever it is, whatever the future has to offer, the fans of Govinda will only hope for the best and yes, no more comebacks. I guess we are all tired of this word by now.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 13:39:15 +0000
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