So much of Bollywood comedy is farce, and it's so great

 This evening we were watching Phir Hera Pheri at our place, ND had come over and we wanted to see something outrageous and fun. She put on the film it was riproaringly funny, I kept asking why they were acting that way, how come the villains stopped chasing our guy when he'd just stop in the middle of the road, stare at the sky and tell them to look, wonder at the beauty of the clouds, the birds flying etcetera. The music stops as they look into the sky, to see nothing exciting. Our hero's made a run for it, the music begins playing and the villains resume the chase, on cue.

Nothing makes sense, it's all a comedy of errors, all farcical, which is in part why it's so funny. These are not heady, one doesn't need to worry about or consider the implications doesn't need to be thinking two steps ahead, it's not a requirement to get each and every part of the joke. It's not one of those movies where somebody might go, ooh did you get the joke, and you ask wait what joke, and they tell you that so and so character was played by so and so actor, who's father was also an actor whose popular character was so and so, and the whole scene was a parody of that actor, an homage of sorta. And you go aaaa but it kinda' pisses you off because you shouldn't have to have those variables being juggled to be entertained. It should be simple verbal or physical comedy.

That's exactly what the film is, a total goof-fest, filled with very obvious visual and physical jokes.

The characters don't matter, besides the main cast of four, the plotlines are all contrived, and ohh there's so many of them, all quite contrived. They're all setups to the final confusion where the comedy of error collapses, where the house of card build upon layers and layers of lies falls flat, in a clean manner like that animation from the card came from the late nineties and you get to watch the amazing animation of cards falling around. The point of the win in the game is the animation, the point of watching these movies is to view the final chasing scene, and always always, it's a riot, a rip-roaring ending to what is often quite an alright movie.

The logic doesn't matter, throw it through the window. The song and dance is a sideshow. Look at the chase, look at the faces of the actors, their physical actions. How much fun they're having in performing, in making you laugh. They're not being hammy, there's no pretension of any deeper meaning or lesson. You need to laugh, and they'll get it out of you, no matter what.

The word 'masala' has often been used to describe a certain kind of bollywood/hindi movie, I sort of take offense to that, the implication being that the substance is not strong enough that they need to pimp it up with the spices that will often overwhelm the flavor. But that's not the point. It's not really a valid criticism. That's like arguing Doritos have to many spices and not enough...vegetables. You're not being sold a vegetable. It's a snack, it'll fill you up real good.

And your tummy's going to be hurting the next morning.

Mine still is, from all the laughter. Hope I didn't burst my pancreas.