Who knew Kumars could entertain
Unable to live with the knowledge that there is a sitcom based on the "Merv Griffin Show" (Seinfeld, final season) that I haven't seen, I rented the DVD with 6 episodes of "The Kumars at No. 42" and found it startlingly interesting. Particularly, in concept! It is indeed a Punjabi family with a minor reversal of roles, a racy grandmother and typical parents. The son is basically one embarassed man very proud of his talk show hosting skills. Now, can a Punjabi family look beyond bhangra and samosas, one wonders. Turns out there's a bit of a formula in doing so. The father tells long-winded immigrant stories (the kind you hear if you go to, what I call, "green card parties" in the bay area/NJ), the son constantly nurses his ego, while not promoting it and the grandmother tells sex jokes! Of the lot, the mother is the most predictable with her constant questioning about family-oriented subjects.
Now, here's the clinching aspect that kept me engrossed for 6 episodes: the celebrities (very very prominent Brit personalitiesincluding Stephen Fry, Richard and Judy, Michael Parkinson and MinnieDriver) are not a part of the script! From the moment they enter the house, the show is a single-take extemporaneous sketch comedy. Of course, the actors do have a plan which they often execute to surprisingly good results. This has the appeal of a show like "who's line is it anyway". Of course, the humour is better since it is semi-scripted (according to one of the DVD extras, the actors conjureup different outcomes during rehearsal and have lines ready). Sometimes the humour in impromptu situations gets a trifle predictable. Amongst the actors, two of the four protagonists (son and grandmother) are writers with very sharp wit.
By and large, I'm impressed that a desi sitcom is extending the envelope using its strengths rather than blindly imitate a Western counterpart. In fact, an American imitation with a Latino family "TheOrtegas" failed miserably. I'm currently interested in a DVD of "Goodness Gracious Me", the previous creation by the same team, which was an attempt to be 'Shanivaar night live'.
posted by yangry star @ 1:56 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Inspired by Chaprajilla's pointer to Maureen Ryan's article in the Chicago Tribune, "'The Kumars': Loopy homage, smart satire".
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0408270043aug27,1,5979554.story?coll=chi-leisure-hed
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well in response to CREEPS comment. I am not entirely sure what "high culture " he is referring to here. whether it is european / american on not ? please read authors like vikram seth , arundhati roy (booker prize winners )or listen to a.r. rahman ( called the mozart of the east ) or see the movies by satyajit ray ( oscar winner ) all have made thier achievements in the last 2 decades at most ( i consider it contemporary ) . And well , india is a subcontinent in itself and our culture is in a sense alien to the one you live in , it would be difficult for someone outside the subcontinent to gauge the diversity of our culture remotely. :-) pay us a visit .
I appreciate and share your sentiments (in case you haven't figured it out yet I am a desi and proud to be one). The people you mention are indeed representatives of high culture. But I hope you'll agree with me that we are still clutching at a few straws. There ought to be a greater presence given our richness and diversity.
On a somewhat related note, I also believe Indians should make a greater attempt to understand western culture.
Oops. Minor error in my post. I forgot that you mentioned A.R. Rahman in your list. Mozart of the east, my foot. Or rather my left foot's little finger's nail.
The refulgent star in Goodness Gracious Me!'s firmament of hillarious takes on expat Indian existence is this one song called "I'm a Punjabi Girl" roughly along the lines of "I'm a Barbie world". Does anyone have an Mp3 of the same? It would be right up there next to the ubiquitious "Welcome to India where the cows eat grass".
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