Hum Honge Kamyaab....and they did with Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro! JBDY is one of those rare Indian comedies where you don't have to wait for a funny situation to crop up from under the weight of suspense, action, romance, and tragedy. The most recognizable genres of the film world, practically all of them, have been realized, exploited and stretched to such an extent in this film that they almost border on the edge of not just satire but surrealism and you are left wondering – How in the world did they ever find humor in this one? Who could ever come up with the idea of a male corpse dressed as a woman, on roller skates, "standing" as a prop in a stage production of Mahabharata? It's bizarre but it works because of the stellar performances of the lead cast and some bitingly clever writing by Kundan Shah.
The film takes its central idea from Antonioni's Blow Up and explores the investigation of two struggling photographers Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir (Vinod Baswani) who in their desperation accept the offer of a local self-serving tabloid editor Shobha Sen (Bhakti Barve) to photograph a clandestine meeting between the corrupt Municipal Commissioner D'Mello (Satish Shah) and the real estate developers who intend on bribing him to get the best deal in town. As the rivalry between the builders, the smooth and vile Tarneja (Pankaj Kapur) and the alcoholic Ahuja (Om Puri) escalates, the threat of murder looms large. The two knuckle-headed photographers, caught in a web of deceit and double crosses, to their horror, inadvertently capture murder on camera that further leads them into the dark recesses of corruption that plagues news media, business, politicians, bureaucracy, and police. We along with our heroes later learn about the extent to which the guilty parties will go to preserve their survival.
It is this very struggle for survival of each character fueled by greed that not just exudes cynicism while adding weight to the story but also acts as a source of non-stop side-splitting fun. Case in point: the scene in which the entire entourage of Tarneja and Ahuja, including the city commissioner, unabashedly usurp the play of Mahabharata because Vinod and Sudhir have hidden the dead body that could serve as the proof of the builder's wrongdoing and our heroes' innocence somewhere in that production. This has to be the most original idea ever to come out of Bollywood. The film clearly hints at the deterioration of the social structure of a society where the entire machinery is immoral and corrupt; breaking allegiances is commonplace, and all we have left to fight for us are two dunderheads who drew inspiration from a monkey and the only weapon that they have is a dead body. And this is where the blackness in this comedy works so wonderfully.
Despite a more somber theme, Kundan Shah and team have done a great job in keeping the tone of the movie light. Even the most intense scenes are so multi-layered and laced with such farce and symbolism that it would be unfair and impossible to reveal all of them here. This movie is an experience and if you want to know why the lines "Thoda Khao, Thoda Phenko" (Eat a little, throw a little) and "Tum commissioner ka bawarchi hai?" (Are you the chef of the commissioner?) still induce a belly laugh among the loyalists, you have to OWN this movie and watch it again and again till your belly hurts.
