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Selling dull sequels
Sequels seldom live up to the standards set by their originals. This maxim has held true in case of Hindi sitcoms. The original Hum Paanch had proved to be one long guffaw. Contemporary topics, crisp dialogues and perfect timing lent extra edge to the humour. One loved Sweety’s silliness, Kajal Bhai’s tapori dialogues and Chchoti’s gossip-mongering leading to hilarious situations. One empathised with Anand Mathur’s helplessness even as you were amused at the situation he was in — a much younger second wife Bina and five daughters with godawful personality quirks. The sequel had all these elements too, but it failed to tickle our funny bone. The reason was simple. There were far too many repetitions of earlier plots thus diluting the novelty factor. Secondly, the script failed to take into account the changing times. What was funny in 1980s or 1990s leaves one cold. Stereotypes like henpecked husbands, a funny sardar professor and the young-at-heart Pooja aunty (Mujhe auntie matt kaho na), not to mention the assorted street toughies and small time dons, failed to enthuse the audience. A comic serial’s ability to evoke laughter depends upon the surprise factor. Either it should come up with a new situation, a delightfully fresh character, a zany plot or at least an innovative narrative style. In fact content and style form the bedrock of a successful storyline. This holds true in case of comedies too. Hum Paanch’s second coming failed to take these factors into account. In this respect Office Office held much promise when it started its second innings on Star Plus, after shifting from SAB. The black humour in its very first episode hit our guts like a prizefighter’s punch. The penchant of news channels for converting human tragedy into ballast for their TRP graphline was brought into sharp relief. But the second episode involving the municipality (Mahanarak Palika) reminds one of the original that one had seen on the SAB TV. Will the serial come up with fresh situations in the subsequent episodes or will it end up recycling old ideas? Only time will tell. Instant Khichdi, on the other hand, is showing all signs of going the Hum Paanch way. The short-tempered Babuji, silly Hansa, dunderhead Prafull and crafty Jayshree remain true to type. There are some new situations and characters too, but the khichdi tastes rather stale and half-cooked to boot. You can almost adlib the dialogues and predict the sequence of events — reminding one of the original in so many ways. Thus, with the novelty factor compromised, spontaneous laughter becomes a casualty. Although Sarabhai V/s Sarabhai is continuing from where it had left earlier, it is included here to make a point. The la-di-dah Maya continues to turn her Malabar Hill nose at her middle-class daughter-in-law, Roshesh remains firmly tied to his mother’s apron-strings, Indravadan’s capers continue to raise mirth and the sitcom remains as entertaining as ever. So, what makes it so? Is it Satish Shah and Ratna Pathak-Shah’s seasoned acting, great production values, imaginative plots or is it that intangible something called chemistry?
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