Comic capers of a common man

With satires taking dig at the normalization of corrupt attitudes of common men, he highlighted the social issues without a smirk on his face for his comic roles. He would effortlessly manage to tickle the funny-bones of his audience while they were being prepared to be slapped on their faces with harsh realities.

Jaspal Bhatti in a still from his famous comic serial Flop Show; Image Source: TRIBUNE

What makes a production Flop Show? Their writers, actors, directors or the camera cuts? His television serial of ten episodes boasted of it all! With the end of every episode crediting its over-actors, misdirection, script piracy, jarring music, camera jerks, audio drops, editing jumps, lyrical mockery, sets and upsets, hair spoilers, make-up patches, graphic defects and unstill photography for real!

The hilarious take of the comic king Jaspal Bhatti on his own television serial Flop show was just the opposite of what it claimed to be. It is a hit till date and rewatched and enjoyed by the generation of late 80s and 90s and youngsters alike. Bhatti’s comedy serial was telecasted in Doordarshan, the common national broadcasting channel of India.

Jaspal Bhatti with the help of his wife Savita Bhatti, who played his wife in the serial as well helped him with the low budget production of the show which was not more than twenty lakhs. The success of this show came as a surprise to the crew members of a handful of actors who would switch their roles from episode to episode with a satirical dig at the system of functioning in various walks of life.

Be it engineering, academia, politics, administration or rampant illegal practices, Bhatti had an eye for the prevalent situation in the society and the ways corrupt minds and common men would join hands to keep it going. With stoic face and an unapologetic tone, he would deliver the dialogues like any common man to get his job done by any means. Be it a Professor in University, a real estate dealer, an employee of government office or a common man with no luck he played all the roles with ease and flamboyance which charmed the audiences for the relatable portrayal of situations and characters which surprisingly stand true even today.

The light hearted comic capers of daily life of Indian people and the depiction of sub-urbs of Chandigarh leads the viewers back to those days. His other famous projects were Ulta Pulta- a short byte sized comic play, Full Tension, Thankyou Jija Ji, Hi Zindagi Bye Zindagi, Dhaba Junction are some of the notable works of him telecasted on Doordarshan which were parodies and satires with comical depiction.

Bhatti ji was a man of great intelligence which made his sarcastic comments hit the right spot without any direct offense. During elections he would often announce floating parties to jeer the political alliances and motives. The Hawala Party in 1995, Suitcase party in 2002 and Recession party in 2009 are some of the famous and widely loved stints to highlight issues of the general public.

His untimely death in a car accident on 25th of October, 2012 was a shock to his family and everyone who had grown up watching his shows. In the year of 2013, he was posthumously honoured with the Padma Shri for his great contributions in the art of direction, acting and undeniably wayward comic renditions in Indian comic history which stays unmatched up until now!

A photograph from archives showing Vivek Shauq(left), Jaspal Bhatti(middle) and Savita Bhatti (right) on the set; Image Source: bollywoodgram