Cambridge defines satire as a way of criticizing people or ideas in a humorous way, especially in order to make a political point or a piece of writing that uses this style. Image source: Austin Kleon/Flickr
By right these guys at Sage Hero aka Heroes Entertainment should be raking millions of views for their satires considering how they managed to adapt serious scenes from Tamil movies and manages to infuse comedy and lessons learned from the current situation in the country.
Their satires are simply funny, original and serious at the same time.
Read These First:-
- Tamil Movie Review: Funny, Spoof Rich Thamizh Padam 2010
- Indian Cinema 101: Seriously Funny Tamil Court Drama Scenes
- Satire 101: 8 Funny Things I Noticed in Tesco Hypermarket
- Satire 101: How to talk like a lawyer/law student without being one?
Satire No 1: The People vs The Government
.
This was brilliantly adapted from Mani Ratnam’s 1987 Nayakan’s scene where Kamal Haasan. The dialogues in the satire are brilliant covering from funny proverbs to the mention of Toto & Magnum to double standards and finally, his wife sneaking out to do shopping. The effect is even funnier with the original soundtrack being played in the background. The dialogues fits the common man who abides by the SOP and sits at home to reduce the spread of COVID19 but the government and the politicians go and do the opposite,
.
Nayakan is a well written and directed movie with great background music by maestro Ilaiyaraaja, satire with our situation, fits in well indeed. In this scene, the aged Sakthivel Naicker (brilliantly acted by Kamal Haasan) explains why he had to do for the society to his daughter who had found out that her father is actually a big don and he has gotten his men to beat up someone. The daughter eventually leaves him, marries a policeman and tries to forget the past.
Satire No 2: Caught at MCO Roadblock
.
This is adapted from Kamal Haasan’s 2002 comedy movie, Panchathanthiram which was written by Kamal Haasan and late funny Crazy Mohan. You need to listen to the satire dialogues very closely which itself is funny, tongue-twisting and fits the situational comedy scene perfectly. The dialogues basically mimic the same tongue-twisting, funny dialogues from the original scene, very brilliantly written by the late Crazy Mohan.
.
In this scene, the issue of the front and back (considering Kamal sitting at the “back” and facing the “back” of the MPV) is comically referenced in the dialogues between the police officer and those men in the MPV (who thinks they have just murdered a woman that they arranged for a depressed Kamal Haasan). The “body” was at the back and they threw it down a bridge before they were stopped at this roadblock. The way these guys try to confuse the police officer is very funny with reference to only “front” and “back”. A very classic comedy scene from the Kamal-Crazy Mohan duo.
Satire No 3: Malaysian Registering for Astrazeneca Vaccine
.
This scene is brilliantly adapted from Rajinikanth’s 1992 Mannan scene where he and Goundamani go AWOL from their workplace to go and see a premier show. The part where they show the two changing browsers, using a friend’s PC, changing webpage language, etc – nails the things I have done previously to get my first vaccination done, only to have the next step frozen and unable to proceed further.
.
In the actual scene from the movie, Goundamani’s main objection is to win a gold chain and gold ring which is presented for the first 2 movie ticket holders. They lied to the factory owner that Goundamani’s relative had passed away and they need to handle the funeral.
They were allowed to go and they go to the cinema and fight their way through to get the first 2 tickets, to a point Rajini loses one of the black specs lense and both drenched in sweat. To their surprise, the factory owner comes over as the VIP to present the gold chain and gold ring and all hell break loose. Goundamani is at his usual class of comedy and sync with Rajinikanth nicely in the scene.
Satire No 4: Warning From The Old Man
.
One would always find a social-political lesson from Shankar’s movies – well except the remake of the 3 Idiots. This scene is from his 1996 Indian starring Kamal Haasan who plays a double role as the father who kills those involved in corruption and a reckless son who indulge in corruption to get a better job.
.
In the actual scene, the elderly father, Senathipathy who is also an ex-freedom fighter turned vigilante bent on rooting out corruption kidnaps a corrupt doctor who asked a bribe to treat his daughter who was dying from severe burns. Senathipathy asks the corrupt doctor if there is corruption in other developed countries and the doctor replies no for which he gets a slap from Senathipathy.
Senathipathy then explains that corruption happens in other countries for not doing their job and not like India where corruption happens to do their job.
Final Say
I hope these guys behind Sage Hero will continue with their witty, funny satires – nailing the current situations into a comical but precise message for all. I can’t wait for their next release using a famous scene from an Indian movie.