Fun with bloopers

Readers of a Filmfare would remember a column called Readers Donrsquot Digest in which people would write in with gaffes they spotted while watching movies Mostly continuity errors like the heroinersquos hair style changing during the course of one scene or the make and number plate of a car changing in midscene Made you wonder whether people were watching the film or looking for blunders Now of course there are websites that serve this functionScreenwriter and film buff Kiran Kotrial used to see films multiple times and after the first time look around the frame and catch goofs some of them hilariousScreenwriter and film buff Kiran Kotrial used to see films multiple times and after the first time look around the frame and catch goofs some of them hilarious Once when he saw a particularly bad film and almost fell off his chair laughing he thought that this experience should be a communal one He hired a hall put in about 60 chairs and invited friends to watch the film with him by the time it ended word had gone around the audience had doubledOver the next decade Kotrial started having private shows of his collection of funny scenes and gaffes from films the audience growing by word of mouthmdashfriends telling friends about the show and his fan following grew Film people started chipping for the venue and snacks some like a very sporting Sachin Pilgaonkar turned to make fun of their own lsquohamrsquo scenesAdmirers of the show urged Kotrial to have a ticketed public show and thatrsquos how Timepass Talkies reached a Bandra stage Even though it is a random collection of scenes the show is screamingly funny and has potential to grow into a really enjoyable comedy show Kotrial keeps it simple and though he is making fun of Bollywood it is not insulting or nastySome scenes are obviously due to carelessness of the continuity people mdash like the scene from Department in which Sanjay Dutt starts getting into a building with his hair in a crew cut and with every floor he climbs his hair grows a little and by the time he reaches the terrace he has a full head of hair But to catch some mistakes needs a really keen eye like the one from Manzil in which Amitabh Bachchan is singing on stage with a man sitting behind him nodding his head the camera cuts to the audience and therersquos the same man in the audience wearing a suit and trying to look appreciative The camera cuts to the entrance of the hall to get a shot of people entering and therersquos the man who Kotrial jovially called ldquoproducer ka rishtedarrdquo amidst the audience on the other side of the aisle It would take a very careful viewer to catch a face in the crowd And the film was directed by Basu Chatterjee who let it slip or didnrsquot notice how the junior artistes were seatedKotrial has another very funny clip to do with junior artistes from the film Holiday in which he says a bunch of girls must have been instructed to look casual and do something with their hair which results in a comical background when dozens of girls are frantically stroking their hairGoofs slip past the undoubtedly vigilant eyes of the best directors mdashlike the last scene in Yash Choprarsquos masterpiece Deewar in which Shashi Kapoor calls his mother on stage where he is receiving an award for bravery Nirupa Roy was sitting in the audience with Neetu Singh she walks up to the stage turns around to look at the audience and there she is sitting in the same place And therersquos the scene from Ramesh Sippyrsquos Saagar in which Rishi Kapoor is singing with a band behind him without anybody noticing that half of them are just standing holding their musical instruments not playing them or the scene of a baraat in which the drummer in the band is beating on the drum with great enthusiasm when the stick flies out of his hand he looks non plussed for a second and carries on hitting the drum with his hand There is a funny lapse in Sholay when Amitabh Bachchan lies dying before a distraught Dharmendra a man doing his business behind the bushes in the distance starts to get up sees the scene on and quickly sits down Therersquos a scene from Don in which Amitabh Bachchan binds gags and locks Arpana Chaudhary in the bathroom and goes out to sing the lsquoMain hoon Donrsquo number The actress is seen frantically trying to open the latch inside and as Kotrial points out if the bathroom is locked from the inside did Amitabh get out Or the one from Baby where Anupam Kher watches a news clip in which the camera shooting the anchor is visibleThere are several such scenes that Kotrial has collected along with bad dance moves see Dharmendra dance to lsquoYehi hai tamannarsquo from Aap Ki Parchhaiyan to have a giggling fit or hammy acting which Rajendra Kumar aces And therersquos a truly priceless one of Shammi Kapoor dancing to lsquoBaar baar dekhorsquo in China Town with a bunch of chorus dancers mdash every time he is in the vicinity of a particular dancer she lets out a cussword that can easily be lipreadTimepass Talkies ends with clips from a film called Shaitani Dracula which has reached cult status as arguably the worst film of all time but thatrsquos another story Kotrial has a hit on his hands a show which he says is the only one of its kind in the world That may well be so mdash it is a show by a Bollywood fan for Bollywood fansDeepa Gahlot is an awardwinning film and theatre critic and an arts administrator She tweets at deepagahlot