The teaser of Tamizh Padam 2 has already created a lot of buzz. It starts with an emotional Shiva taking an oath to become a police officer in Tamil Nadu and then goes on to mock recent Tamil star vehicles like Ajith-starrer Vivegam and Mankatha, Vijay’s Mersal, last year’s cop thriller Vikram Vedha and Suriya-starrer science-fiction film 24.
While Hollywood has filmmakers like Edgar Wright and the legendary Mel Brooks with films like Hot Fuzz and Airplane have given plenty of laughs without falling back on some sort of dull or tiring plot, Indian mainstream movies are not big on spoofs.
From Tamizh Padam to Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Chirakodinja Kinavukal, Indian cinema, be it Bollywood or other Indian language films, doesn’t make that many spoofs and we have very a few films that can qualify as pure spoofs. For the uninitiated, spoof is a form of satire, one that relies on parody to mock and ridicule the already known and familiar. Here’s our pick of spoof movies for some irreverent fun.
Scary Movie
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Scary Movie is a parody film based on horror movies like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and more. The plot makes fun of every popular horror, slasher, and mystery film, but goes for laughs rather than scares. Fans of slapstick and gags will enjoy this film. Created by the Wayans Brothers, this film follows Cindy Campbell and her friends in high school as they are stalked and killed in over the top ways that mock every horror cliche in the book. The success of the first film led to a series of Scary Movies featuring stars like Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen.
Shaun of The Dead
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This apocalyptic zombie invasion comedy spoofs every zombie movie that was ever made. Some of the tactics used to civilize the walking dead can put Rick and his group to shame. This film was not only appreciated by critics, it even went on to become a commercial hit. The Evil Dead film series and the Walking Dead franchise fell under the feet of Edgar Wright and his team as the victims of the film.
Austin Powers
This was a spoof series on every spy movie. There are three films under this franchise: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Austin Powers in Goldmember. Each movie is funnier than its prequel. There seems to be no other reason to watch the film than consider this as a James Bond movie with Mike Meyers being the worst possible choice of a spy and yes Beyoncé stars in one of them!
Golmaal
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The easiest kind of spoofing is to make random jokes about other, popular films, but Rohit Shetty’s first Golmaal hit a rare pay dirt with its take on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black. The screen turned blue, the music gets so moody and Arshad Warsi, in a sari, wondered if it would suddenly snow. “Are we playing Black-Black here?” he asked. A moment of perfect madness.
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro
Kundan Shah’s dark comic masterpiece naturally tops the list of any Bollywood cinephiles for the list of spoof movies. The final scenes where the characters muddled Mahabharata with Ramayana and Mughal-e-Azam are hilarious. From sunglasses-sporting Bheema casually offing a Yudhishthira, to a determinedly wicked Dushasana, a wailing Arjuna, a slapping Dhrupad, a Prince Salim and the clueless Dhritarashtra, it’s a comedy of errors. The climactic Mahabharata scene is pure comic gold, and never, ever gets old.
Dhilukku Dhuddu
Santhanam-starrer Tamil film Dhilukku Dhuddu is a rib-tickling spoof on the horror genre. But the audience gets their spine-chilling horror elements and occasional thrills to keep them on the edge of their seats. Also starring Saurabh Shukla, Shananya, Karunas and Rajendran, the film is directed by Rambala. As a carrier of the same lineage of films, the recently released Iruttu Arayil Murattu Kuthu also has the same tone in mocking the horror genre altogether.
Thamizh Padam
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When it released in 2010, Thamizh Padam was lauded for its bravery especially because it has never been easy to get away with poking fun or criticising the Tamil film industry and its male stars. The film begins with a scene from Bharathiraja’s female infanticide-themed drama Karuthamma which later progresses into a coming-of-age romantic comedy action thriller. Yes, every possible genre available in the market finds a mention in the film. And the makers don’t spare any of the superstars in the industry.
Chirakodinja Kinavukal
Debutant director Santhosh Viswanath and writer Praveen S film mocks the Malayalam film industry. Chirakodinja Kinavukal, starring Sreenivasan and Kunchacko Boban, doesn’t satirize any superstars or directors, but it does make fun of cliche-ridden movies which were following the same pattern in its making and content.
Chadikkatha Chanthu
Before Chirakodinja Kinavukal, there was this 2004 classic comedy film which established the career of current popular Malayalam star Jayasurya. Though the film was not considered as an exact spoof on films, Chathikkatha Chanthu does mimic the whole horror setup in Malayalam films.
