No laughing matter
I recently had the misfortune of watching Grand Masti, a Hindi movie touted as India’s first adult comedy. Having suffered through the film, I was not amused to learn that it has entered the hallowed Rs100-crore club (a crore works out to 10 million) in terms of its performance at the box office. Clearly, this movie was made for the single-screen theatre era, where the frontbenchers (the cheapest seats) trooped in to get some cheap thrills. That a film like this should do so well in the multiplex era where the audience -- I would like to believe -- is educated and discerning, came as a shock to me. But then there are still plenty of single-screen theatres in India and perhaps it made its money there. Let’s be clear, Grand Masti is not funny unless fantasizing about skimpily-clad women every waking moment is your idea of comedy. To me, this film was made for lechers, who enjoyed it so much that they catapulted it to box office stardom. Yes, I realize a little bit of my money cont...