Both Asrani and Satish Shah were synonymous with good comedy
Hasya rasa or humour is one of the nine Navarasas which are nine fundamental emotions outlined in ancient Indian theatrical texts like the ‘Natyashastra’. These emotions are the foundation of classical Indian performing arts and are used to evoke a response from the audience of any performance, may be a play, a circus, a movie or any other medium. It’s a major challenge for a performer to make the audience laugh because humour is subjective and depends on many aspects from body language to speech to timing. Therefore, when comedians like Asrani and Satish Shah depart after eliciting collective laughter from the audience, during their decades-long career, there is bound to be tears in the eyes of the public.
Govardhan Asrani – professionally known as Asrani – who hailed from Rajasthan, established the foundation of his career as a film comedian at the newly opened Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), in Pune during the 1960s. He was lucky enough to find his footing in the Hindi film industry through movies of legendary filmmakers like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar and Basu Chatterjee. A small but impressive role of a jailor in the iconic film ‘Sholay’ cemented his position in Bollywood. After that Asrani neither looked back nor failed to make the audience laugh. From South Indian potboilers to present-day movies made by new generation filmmakers like Priyadarshan and David Dhawan he continued entertaining people virtually till his last breath. Although he also acted in some television serials, Asrani excelled on the silver screen.
Satish Shah was also a highly admired comic actor, who created genuine bouts of laughter. However, television gave him more prominence than films, even though he acted in a sizeable number of movies, some of them offering him memorable roles. Shah will be always remembered for his multiple roles in the television sitcom, ‘Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’ aired during the 1980s, ‘Ghar Jamai’ in the 1990s or ‘Sarabhai vs Sarabhai’ in the new century. Shah, like Asrani was a FTII alumnus and graduated in 1976.
Both Asrani and Satish Shah were synonymous with good comedy, so much so that even a mention of their names brought a smile to the lips. At one time, films had special place for comedians. However, this slot slowly disappeared once lead actors or heroes became ‘superheroes’ and themselves began to handle the comedy track in the films. This led to the decline of dedicated comedians in the movies. Today, comedy in films has come down to the level of impure and badly-written crass humour.
Once the illustrious cartoonist R K Laxman had stated that his relevance as a cartoonist was gradually diminishing since the politicians whose cartoons he sketched themselves began to resemble the cartoons he created. Today it can be safely said that the farcical situations which the comedians brought to life in the movies have straightway come out from the reel life into the real life, thus making the existence of a common man absurd. In fact, the humour in films as also in life has turned bland. The humourists who would ensure hasya rasa in our existence are also departing.
The golden age of Hindi film comedy which was nurtured by filmmakers like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee, Sai Paranjpye, Kundan Shah and others has become a distant memory. Fortunately, one can revisit their creations and borrow few moments of genuine laughter. However, losing comedians like Asrani and Shah, who were the surviving links to that era, definitely brings a sad smile to the face.
