Bollywood spoofs itself

“Kuch bolo!” Priyanka Chopra screams at Ranbir Kapoor, in a scene in the trailer for their new film Anjaana Anjaani. Kapoor, who is trying to get a car to start, suddenly starts shrieking “All is well! All is well!” and the car starts.

It may seem odd, but the line is taken straight out of Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots, where the phrase is used for everything from getting out of difficult situations to getting a newborn baby to cry.

Bollywood’s penchant for referencing itself has become more marked as of late, but it isn’t anything new. In the 1994 film Andaz Apna Apna, Aamir Khan asks Salman Khan during a witty exchange: “Kyun, Sholay tumhare baap ne likhi thee?” While Salman Khan says no, in real life, his father Salim Khan co-wrote the Sholay script with Javed Akhtar.

The recent film I Hate Luv Storys makes fun of every romantic film produced in Bollywood - even though the production house behind Storys is responsible for some of the biggest romance films to have been made in recent years, such as Kal Ho Naa Ho and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

The 2008 film Bachna Ae Haseeno, which also starred Ranbir Kapoor, used the storyline and the characters from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayeinge (DDLJ) as references. Kapoor decides to woo Minissha Lamba in Switzerland by aping the tactics employed by Shah Rukh Khan in DDLJ.

With a treasure trove of films to pick and choose from, it has not been difficult for Bollywood to use itself as an inspiration.

The 2008 film Luck By Chance showcased how an ‘outsider’ breaks into the Indian film industry, while Om Shanti Om (like Andaz Apna Apna) made fun of every cliche employed by Indian films.

While these jokes help the audience connect to the film, and invoke a sense of familiarity, relying on other films too heavily doesn’t always work.

I Hate Luv Storys, for example, had a weak and patchy script that relied on the lead character hating Bollywood romances and too many in-jokes.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2010.