wacky filmi titles

Bollywood movie titles are moving away from the sundry dil, pyaar, ishq, rishta or mohabbat mode to wacky arena. While working for The Times Of India, Nagpur few months back, I happened to write this piece and titled it as Title kay peechhe Kya hai. With another movie with a wacky title Ajab Prem ki ghajab Kahani releasing recently, I thought of posting this article of mine.

William Shakespeare might have dismissed the momentousness of a name, but Bollywood begs to differ. And this is evident from the way the titles of the movies are picked up. A lot does depend on the name of a film, that’s why in tinseltown the film's title does matter. Since experimentation is the flavour of the season, Hindi movie titles are also moving away from the sundry dil, pyaar, ishq, rishta, mohabbat mode to wacky arena. No wonder, you have titles like DilKabaddi, Aaloo Chaat, Horn 'Ok' Pleassss, Oye Lucky!Lucky Oye! and Jack N Jhol to name a few. Besides the above mentioned upcoming films, we have also seen zanily-titled flicks like Bheja Fry, Ugly Aur Pagli, Mixed Doubles, Khosla ka Ghosla, Maan gaye Mughall-E-Azam, Cheeni Kum, Pyaar Ke/Side Effects-Watch Love crash in this season, God Tussi Great Ho, etc. in the recent past. NT explores Bollywood’s fetish for unusual names. Encapsulating movie's theme With a title like Bheja Fry, the movie and the protagonist Vinay Pathak (who is a simpleton) did successfully manage to wrack one's brain in a humorous manner. No wonder the small budget film did wonders at the BO and garnered huge profits. Director of the movie Sagar Ballary says that the thumb rule for choosing a title is that it should describe the content of the film. "We were looking for a short, crisp title, which would hint at the content of the film. My writer came up with this title while our film was on the verge of completion. Initially, I didn't like it and was quite apprehensive about this 'out of the box' name. But, it instantly brought smiles on everyone's face, and my producer Sunil Doshi immediately approved of the wacky title; and asked us to get it registered," says he. Unusual generates interest Along with being descriptive about the content of the film, the title should also arouse the interest of the viewer initially and drag him to movie theatres, says Robby Grewal, the director of forthcoming film Aaloo Chaat. "We have had enough of those clichéd, monotonous names beginning with dil, pyar and most of them have been exhausted. If I had named my movie 'Mera Pyaar', people would think that it is just another romantic film and wouldn't bother to watch it. Today, a film title is a part of film’s packaging and it is important to generate curiosity amongst the audience with the title," says he. Ask him why did he choose such a title, and he says, "It is not the right time to divulge details about my film, but it has nothing to do with the literal meaning. Once you see the movie, you will come to know." Good title with good content Dibakar Banerjee, the director of Khosla ka Ghosla, who is coming up with yet another hatketitled film, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye, says that it is not just the bizarre title that makes a film's fortunes, but the content that ultimately works in its favour. "There are many flicks with unusual titles, but not all of them have been hits as they were poor in content," says he. Narrating the title tale of Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, he says, "The film revolves around a lovable thief called Lucky operating in Delhi, and in Delhi one does not address others merely by their names, but adds an oye to it. So, those who know this philosophy, will understand that the movie has something to do with Delhi. But, I was not happy with just Oye Lucky. The shooting of the film was complete, but we still didn't have a substantive name for our film. And one day, I started crooning the title song of the movie and Eureka! I got the title from the title song." All about comic genre DilKabaddi is yet another flick, which appears odd and funny at first glance, but director Anil Senior justifies the choice. "The story tells how the characters of the movie flirt with each other, and how their flirting creates a series of mini-disasters. In a nutshell, it is all about how one's dil plays kabaddi with other dils. Initially, we came up with a title like Bubblegum, but when my lyricist suggested DilKabaddi, it was okayed unanimously and we zeroed in on it," says he. The director goes on to add that movies with weird titles generally fall into the slapstick comedy league. "Serious movies generally do not have weird titles," says he.