JOIN USLampooning their way to fame
Our reviews didn’t go viral, they went bacterial.” This is what Biswa Kalyan Rath had to say about his latest YouTube segment ‘Pretentious Movie Reviews’, which is a scathing attack on Bollywood movies but a sensation among the youth.
Kalyan and his friend Kanan Gill, who are based in Bangalore, have lampooned five Hindi movies until now with the latest being Abra Ka Dabra. This has brought them a fandom that neither had ever imagined.
Be it the hilarious parallels they draw between Harry Potter and Abra Ka Dabra, the attack on the Himesh Reshammiya-centric movie Aap Ka Suroor, the witty punchlines for Main Prem Ki Diwaani Hoon, the pitiful plot and Sonu Nigam’s acting debut in Jaani Dushman and the illogical script of Gunda; the viewership
has only expanded with every review.
About his latest review, Kanan says, “Someone tweeted a link about this movie and it was obvious that it was a rip-off from Harry Potter. The bunch of bad child actors and ‘unimpressed Sardar kid’ in the movie impressed us.”
The two stand-up comedians lounge in front of a DSLR camera, which stares at them from the back of a cupboard, in Kanan’s room.
“Kalyan and I watch these movies and take notes together. We choose the best ones out of them and come up with a structure. The shooting takes about two hours and editing takes two to three days.
My room is actually better than how it looks on the video,” Kanan chuckles. “We are trying to bring out one video a week but it is a little hard as I keep travelling.”
Kalyan adds,“The movies have to be old, bad and funny and we try
to take movies from the comments section too.
”The idea cropped up when Kanan was watching an old Dharmendra movie and Kalyan was giving him a review of ‘Ship of Thesus’. “Kanan thought about the idea and we didn’t take it forward for six months. We didn’t realise that our reviews would be so popular until Jaani Dushman came out.”
Kanan left his job last year and is now a full-time stand-up comedian while Kalyan, an IIT graduate, is currently working with an IT firm. What’s worked best is Kanan’s lively persona and charming presence and Kalyan’s straight-faced, intelligent humour that lasts longer than his smile.
Their light-hearted conversations are something youngsters are talking about, as are the reviews through which they are bonding over.
Looks like the boys don’t mind sitting through these torturous movies. “No way!.” Kanan quips. “It’s fun to watch these movies with your friend.” The duo first thought that the concept wouldn’t become popular but now, the irony strikes hard.