EENA MEENA DEEKA THE STORY OF HINDI FILM COMEDY

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Item Code: IDF124
Publisher: Rupa Publication Pvt. Ltd.
Author: Sanjit Narwekar
Language: hindi
Edition: 2005
ISBN: 9788129108593
Pages: 310(Colour Illus: 12, B & W Illus: 220)
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.4" X 5.3"
Weight 400 gm
Fully insured
Fully insured
Shipped to 153 countries
Shipped to 153 countries
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More than 1M+ customers worldwide
100% Made in India
100% Made in India
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23 years in business
Book Description
About the Book:

EENA MEENA DEEKA is a fascinating glimpse into the world of Indian screen comedy, peopled by known, as well as once-important but now-forgotten comedians, who helped evolve the genre from its first slapstick beginnings to the 'polite' comedies of manners aimed at the urban middle-class. The comedian or vidusbak has always been an indispensable aspect of the Indian dramatic tradition. Comedy or hasya is one of the nine 'rasas' as defined in Bharatmuni's Natyashastra. It was, therefore, natural for Indian cinema to readily imbibe this aspect of the dramatic tradition, with the first Indian comedy, a single-reeler directed by Dadasaheb Phalke, making it's appearance as early as 1913.

The book traces the evolution of the genre from Dhirendranath Ganguly, the first recognised 'filmmaker-comedian' who made comedies on regular basis to the true 'godfather' of the Indian comic art Noor Mohammed 'Charlie', who, along with his contemporaries Dixit, Ghory and Kesari, set the comic pace through much of the 1930s and '40s and much of what was to follow.

The 1950s and '60s were truly the golden era of Indian film comedy - with Johnny Walker's antics, Jagdeep's rolling eyes, Johar's sardonic wit, Om Prakash's miserlinnes, Radhakrishnen's shrill high - pitched comebacks, Mukri's playing-to-the-gallery…… the list is endless! The icing on the comic cake was, of course, Kishore Kumar who sacrificed his comic talent to emerge as a star-singer and the inimitable Mehmood whose penchant for the bitter-sweet has made him an unforgettable icon.

Through the 1970s and '80s had its comic stars in Asrani and Painatal, these were the decades when the director reigned supreme. The book takes a close look at the urban middle-class comedies of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterji as also those of the New Wave comedies by directors like Kundan Shah and Pradip Krishan. This was also when the comedian took a backseat to the leading man who was romancer-villain-comedian all rolled into once!

The hero-playing-comedian is a trend as old as cinema: Motilal, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and finally, Amitabh Bachchan. The fading years of the century saw the emergence of the star as comedian when the hero- from Salma Khan to Sunjay Dutt to Govinda - preferred to play the fool under the direction of David Dhawan. Nonetheless, as original talent like Johnny Lever emerged as a top comedian in spite of such stiff competition.

ENNA MEENA DEEKA takes a panoramic look at all these players, the films and their directors who made it possible for us to hold on it our sanity in this world on the brink of extinction.

From the Back of theBook:

Mehmood uses language to great effect. In Pyar Kiye Jaa he uses a whole range of strange onomatopoeic sounds like "Toning toning … wao wao … kud kud kach kach kach …" to recreate the frightening mood of the cemetery. In both Gumman and Padason he comes up with a hilarious, if somewhat politically incorrect, caricature of the lungi-clad "South Indian" using the right Hyderabadi and Tamilian dictions and mannerisms. For a north Indian to make such a fine separation is an achievement in itself.

About the Author:

SANJIT NARWEKAR is a National Award winning author and documentary filmmaker who has written and lectured an Indian cinema since 1970. He has served on several juries and several committees and has been a member of the Film Advisory Board. He has also delivered talks and hosted interviews and magazine programmes an All India Radio and Doordarshan. He has written and edited more than two dozen books on Indian cinema, including V.Shantaram: The Legacy of the Royal Lotus and Dilip Kumar: The Last Emperor.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements VII
Prologue VIII
Chapter One
The Salad Years 1
Chapter Two
The Ranjit Comedians 11
Chapter Three
The Indian Charlie 21
Chapter Four
Lost In The Shadows 31
Chapter Five
The Puppet Masters 47
Chapter Six
The Winayak Magic 61
Chapter Seven
The Reluctant Comedian 73
Chapter Eight
Play It Again, Johnny! 85
Chapter Nine
Cameos From The Past 95
Chapter Ten
Typecast In The Role 113
Chapter Eleven
The Chaplin Mystique 131
Chapter Twelve
The King of Comedy 143
Chapter Thirteen
The Image Manipulators 157
Chapter Fourteen
The Female Of The Spices 169
Chapter Fifteen
The Hero As Comedian 183
Chapter Sixteen
The Intelligent Man's Guide To Comedy 201
Chapter Seventeen
A Touch Of The Middle Class 215
Chapter Eighteen
Comedies Of The New Wave 231
Chapter Nineteen
The World Of Govinda 241
Chapter Twenty
The Comic Universe Of The Nineties 261
Chapter Twenty-One
The Last Emperor 277
The Awards 286
Appendix 1: Top 12 Comedy Films 289
Appendix 2: 10 Mad Characters 296
Appendix 3: Men In Drag 298
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