{"id":844,"date":"2016-05-16T13:17:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T13:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=844"},"modified":"2016-05-16T13:17:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T13:17:00","slug":"govinda-aa-gaya-hero-bollywood-india-happy-ending-coolie-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=844","title":{"rendered":"The Many Comebacks of Govinda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

W<\/span><\/p><\/div>

hen I was 12, I came down with a terrible bout of chicken pox. Besides being in a lot of pain, I was also extremely bummed about missing the school picnic, an event I looked forward to with as much enthusiasm as the team of <\/span>La La Land<\/span><\/i><\/a> at the Oscars this year. Confined to the four walls of my room, I took to spending my time in bed watching Bollywood comedies in order to feel better about my predicament. <\/span>\n\nIt was during that period that I entered the club of Govinda Worship (Unconditional). I laughed until my stomach hurt while watching <\/span>Saajan Chale Sasural<\/span><\/i>, memorised the lyrics to \u201cTujhko Mirchi Lagi Toh…\u201d from <\/span>Coolie No 1<\/span><\/i>, tried imitating his trademark pelvic thrusts (in vain) and begged my parents to buy me a pair of orange pants. <\/span>\n\nThrough those 22 days, Govinda\u2019s brand of slapstick comedy was my staple diet. His films made me laugh and helped me overlook the scabs on my arms. Even later, I would be screaming my love for him to anyone and everyone willing to listen. But by the time I entered college, I had unknowingly started the process of distancing myself from the films of the man I once adored. <\/span>\n\nApart from finding the objectification of women in his films problematic, I also started getting tired of the OTT acting. The clothes that I thought were really cool at 12, began to appear tacky to me and his crass humour which earlier made me guffaw suddenly wasn\u2019t funny anymore. From devouring Govinda movies like they were my favourite snack, I found myself struggling to take more than five minutes of his films seriously. Sure, now and then I\u2019d hum \u201cWhat is mobile number?\u201d or shake a leg to one of his songs at a party, but one thing was certain: I had irrevocably and completely moved on. <\/span>\n\nJust like Bollywood. <\/span>\n\nIn Saif Ali Khan\u2019s 2014 comedy, <\/span>Happy Ending<\/span><\/i>, Govinda played Armaan, a former superstar stubbornly clinging to the days of his glorious past. As I sat through Govinda\u2019s latest comeback vehicle, <\/span>Aa Gaya Hero<\/span><\/i>, I realised the actor had become a real-life parody of his own character Armaan.<\/span>\n\n

As I watched, I felt an immense sadness, not only for my former idol, but also for that 12-year-old girl who wanted orange pants<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nAa Gaya Hero<\/span><\/i> \u2013 in which the actor shares the credit for story, dialogue, screenplay, lyrics, and production \u2013 is essentially a two-hour-long time-travel trip back to Govinda\u2019s favourite destination: the 1990s. Back to when Govinda became one of Bollywood\u2019s biggest stars, riding on the familiar trope of a North Indian simpleton with a heart of gold. A time when his mastery of both comic-timing and funky dance moves ensured he became the very definition of \u201cdesi\u201d. <\/span>\n\nIn the film<\/span>,<\/span><\/i> the actor plays ACP Ravindra Verma, a fearlessly honest cop chasing a terrorist, who is only identifiable by his weird laugh. It is evident from the get-go that Govinda is desperate to relive his days as Bollywood\u2019s Hero No 1: He indulges in the overt objectification of women, performs stunts that completely ignore physics, unnecessarily breaks into dance sequences in garish costume, and delivers cringe-worthy dialogues like <\/span>\u201cNaam puchhne se pehle diaper toh pehen le. Saaf kya tera baap karega?\u201d<\/span><\/i>\n\nAs I watched, I felt an immense sadness, not only for my former idol, but also for that 12-year-old girl who wanted orange pants. The world had changed, her hero was gone, and in his place was a man who hadn\u2019t gotten the memo. A man who believes that Bollywood should emulate the Southern film industry, which knows \u201chow to create heroes and maintain them\u201d (as if great acting just happens magically without any effort involved). <\/span>\n\nBecause in Govinda\u2019s world, he is still worthy of being the leading man. The fact that audiences have matured and long replaced his brand of mindless ridiculousness with intelligent comedy, is just a minor inconvenience to his obsession. Gone are the days when we couldn\u2019t tell camp and humour apart, because camp was all we had. Today, catering to people like us is an inevitable part of consolidating one\u2019s place as a leading star in Bollywood. But people like us now roll our eyes at Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller \u2013 what hope does Govinda have? <\/span>\n\nAll three of his comeback attempts look nothing more than an overgrown man, throwing a tantrum, adamantly yelling \u201cMeri marzi\u201d to a world that now favours <\/span>Khosla Ka Ghosla <\/span><\/i>over <\/span>Coolie No 1.<\/span><\/i> In a way, Govinda is like that ex who still thinks that he\u2019s the one for you even though you\u2019ve graduated to woke AF baes. You may have shared a great time with him, but deep down, you always knew that it was never going to last.<\/span>\n\nTwelve-year-old me would have been immensely disappointed with my current indifference toward Govinda. I wish I could tell her that some actors are meant to exist only in our memories \u2013 and the occasional rerun on the telly.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aa Gaya Hero is a two-hour-long trip back to Govinda\u2019s favourite destination: The 1990s, when we couldn\u2019t tell the difference between camp and humour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[1518,141,1519,1107,1520,19],"class_list":["post-844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-aa-gaya-hero","tag-bollywood","tag-coolie-no-1","tag-govinda","tag-happy-ending","tag-india"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Many Comebacks of Govinda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aa Gaya Hero is a two-hour-long trip back to Govinda\u2019s favourite destination: The 1990s, when we couldn\u2019t tell the difference between camp and humour.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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