Suppose you had to come up with one liners for a living. What would you produce? I thought about this, and figured that comedians and their writers have a tough job. Some favourite subjects that comedians have are politics, imitations of celebrities (Johny Lever was good at this), weight (Bharti, TV comedienne who is fat herself, uses it well in her acts), spouses, bathroom happenings, and current events. This guy called Babban Khan was from Hyderabad and did an act called Adrak Ke Panje in the seventies before TV was a household item.
He kept people ROFLing, to use today's lingo, with a single dilapidated set, and a few characters who acted as a foil for himself. He played a poor clerk with a large family, battling a landlord pursuing his dues, inflation, and many other common problems of a common man. His language in the show was Hyderabadi, a mix of Hindi and Urdu.
Some of his jokes-
A neighbour complains to him that one of his (many) sons spat on him. He replies,
"Bura mat mano, kahin jagah nahin mili isliye thook diya honga," pointing to overpopulation, which left little space to do anything.
A friend comes to him, asking that he should get his son a job somewhere. Jobs were very difficult to get in an economy growing at the Hindu rate of growth then. So Khan interviews this guy to ascertain his skill set. The interview proceeds (in Hyderabadi-translation attempted )
Tereku driving aata? (Can you drive?)
Nahin (no)
Aree, agar driving aaye to main driver ka naukri dila sakta tha. (I'd have got you a driver's job if you could drive).
Achcha, tereku fighting aata? (Can you fight?)
Nahi. (no)
Are, fighting aata to main fightmaster bana deta (I could have made you a fight master)
Achcha, Acting aata? (Can you act?)
Nahi.
Are, acting aaye to main actor ka kaam dilata tha.. (I could have made you an actor, if only..)
and finally,
Thhek hai, tereku dimag hai? (Do you have brains?)
Hai (yes)
Arre, agar tereku dimag nahin rehta to police mein naukri dila sakta tha na.
(If you didn't have brains, I could have got you a policeman's job).
And many more topical, brilliant one-liners, that keep you rolling on the floor.
I have one of my own to end this-
Do you 'facebook' because it is so hard to face a book?
He kept people ROFLing, to use today's lingo, with a single dilapidated set, and a few characters who acted as a foil for himself. He played a poor clerk with a large family, battling a landlord pursuing his dues, inflation, and many other common problems of a common man. His language in the show was Hyderabadi, a mix of Hindi and Urdu.
Some of his jokes-
A neighbour complains to him that one of his (many) sons spat on him. He replies,
"Bura mat mano, kahin jagah nahin mili isliye thook diya honga," pointing to overpopulation, which left little space to do anything.
A friend comes to him, asking that he should get his son a job somewhere. Jobs were very difficult to get in an economy growing at the Hindu rate of growth then. So Khan interviews this guy to ascertain his skill set. The interview proceeds (in Hyderabadi-translation attempted )
Tereku driving aata? (Can you drive?)
Nahin (no)
Aree, agar driving aaye to main driver ka naukri dila sakta tha. (I'd have got you a driver's job if you could drive).
Achcha, tereku fighting aata? (Can you fight?)
Nahi. (no)
Are, fighting aata to main fightmaster bana deta (I could have made you a fight master)
Achcha, Acting aata? (Can you act?)
Nahi.
Are, acting aaye to main actor ka kaam dilata tha.. (I could have made you an actor, if only..)
and finally,
Thhek hai, tereku dimag hai? (Do you have brains?)
Hai (yes)
Arre, agar tereku dimag nahin rehta to police mein naukri dila sakta tha na.
(If you didn't have brains, I could have got you a policeman's job).
And many more topical, brilliant one-liners, that keep you rolling on the floor.
I have one of my own to end this-
Do you 'facebook' because it is so hard to face a book?
2 comments:
Excellent!
Adrak ke panje holds the record for the longest playing drama. Several thousand shows more the Mousetrap.
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