Growing up in Kerala, India, my favorite story tellers were Sreenivasan and Sathyan Anthikadu. Sreenivasan is a talented writer and actor. Short statured and dark, he often played the comical side kick. Even when he played the hero in a story he wrote, he was self effacing. His character fitted his appearance- a short, ugly man who marries a beautiful woman to the detriment of his mental stability. Or a spineless man easily influenced by his wife. Or an unattractive goldsmith who exacts revenge upon the pretty girl who betrayed him.
Among my favorite movies is the political satire Sandesam. It is the story of an elderly man who has an unjustified pride in his children, especially his two sons who he believes will become great political leaders. While the audience recognizes this misplaced faith, the meat of the story deals with how the protagonist recognizes his folly and rectifies it.
1. Satire in the dialog
Sreenivasan as a writer is a master at inserting a truth at the most uncomfortable and unexpected moment. He breaks the tense situation by making a character say something true, but inappropriate for the situation.
-in Sandesam: there are many such opportunities. A scene that has gone down in history is the one of the two brothers arguing about international politics and one taking offence at his brother's jibe about Poland.
The audience laughs because a character is taking offence at something no one really cares about. The humor comes from a silly person's obsession with something irrelevant to the average person.
Exercise: create a character with a weird obsession or delusion, giving opportunities for others to inadvertently or purposefully give offence.
Sandesam also provides laughs by portraying human tendency to brag, exaggerate and even lack of language skills leading to misunderstanding.
2. Fear and deception
This appears to be a surefire way to elicit laughs. An authority figure with a dislike of an entity, quality or institution, his subordinates pursuing the same entity and covering up, getting discovered or almost discovered, then digging in to the subterfuge with hilarious outcomes.
3. Interaction between individuals
- this can be friends playing a prank on each other, or going against each other's wishes in front of a third party who is oblivious to the charade one of them is pulling. Friends can support their friend in the deception or completely blow apart the cover
-individuals in opposing camps going at each other verbally with subtle or not so subtle jabs
-Selfish individuals advocating for their needs at inappropriate moments when someone is in dire straits
-individuals on the same side of a tense situation going at each other. A play of words including misunderstanding a language, using or misunderstanding slang out of context.
4. Blackmail
Another hilarious Malayalam comedy was called "Odarathu Ammava Njangalkku aalariyam".
The premise was a flirty elderly man who got away with such behavior because women did not suspect he was being flirty given his age. Three young men befriend him in the hope of learning his "technique". However, when they lay their eyes on his daughter, the friendship shatters. The three men gain access to the elderly man's house under various pretexts, threatening to expose his one night at a cabaret. How he manages to get rid of the three men and the back and forth between them sets up a laugh riot.
