Brave Black Comedies That Steered Clear of Cliches
May 09, 2021, 11:38 IST
Black comedy is not a preferred genre in Hindi cinema where slapstick humour is usually chosen over a funny take on dark realities. Our pick of five films made the audience squirm in their seats, think, and laugh out aloud.
Kaalakaandi: This 2018 black comedy by Akshat Verma stars Saif Ali Khan in his element, Akshay Oberoi, Deepak Dobriyal, Vijay Raaz, Isha Talwar and Sobhita Dhulipala. At the core of the convoluted story are random events that change the course of many lives. The protagonist Rileen (Saif) is an oddball who has been diagnosed with stomach cancer, and is now hell bent upon living his repressed dreams. He gets high on LSD and wants to check all the boxes of his strange bucket list. There are multiple characters on their own trajectory and driven by greed, lust and mindlessness, they collide, are caught in accidents, raids, shootouts and improbable encounters. The mind-bending narrative ends with a final scene where Rileen shoots himself in the foot. In a way, this moment describes what the theme of this quirky, comedy of blunders is all about.