Comedian-turned-heroes fail to tickle funny bone

With comedian-turned-hero Suhas’s film ‘Prasanna Vadhanam also failing to set cash registers ringing, while another comedian Getup Sreenu is trying to make his mark as hero with his upcoming film ‘Raju Yadav’ but Telugu audience are in no mood to encourage this new trend of comedian-turned-heros. Earlier, Viva Harsha’s much-hyped comic-caper ‘Sundaram Master’ crashed without a trace. “The comedian's dream to turn heroes has definitely taken a beating due to numerous flops,” says director Teja, who claims that even the general audience are not inclined towards comic-capers these days. “We have enough comedy shows like ‘Jabardasth’ on the small screen besides social media clips and trolls to entertain youngsters. Besides, a few comedians are coming out of Jabardasth but there is no space for all of them as heroes,” he adds.

Earlier, comedian-turned-actor Suhas scored a hit with ‘Colour Photo’ but couldn’t spin box office magic with his latest film ‘Ambajipeta Marriage Band’, although he played an underdog in both the movies. “I don’t think there is a set rule that a comedian should play an underdog to score at the box office because it all depends on good script and relatable characters. I do agree that they can't play larger-than-life roles like big stars either,” he points out.

He admits that the trend of comedians playing lead roles is not new, the present wave of comedians appear keen to showcase their acting chops. “Legendary comedians like Nagesh, and Brahmanandam and Vadivelu in Kollywood and to some extent even Sunil became heroes after being hailed as star comedians, so these young comedians have to prove their mettle in their own domain before venturing into author-backed roles. With few big stars also doing comedies these days, it is taking the sting out of comedian-turned-heroes' efforts since audiences prefer to pay for stars over others,” he points out.

Of course, comedians like Sunil delivered hits like “Maryadaramana’ and ‘Poolarangadu’. Similarly, Priyadarshi drew crowds for his family drama ‘Balagam’ and is now awaiting the release of his next film ‘Darling’. In between, noted rib-tickler Vennela Kishore failed to impress with 'Chari 111'. “I do agree that every actor worth his salt would like to play a protagonist in the film after playing sidekick to a hero in many films. No doubt, they draw whistles for their jokes in star films, but when doing a solo hero film, they are unable to get a similar response. In fact, many comedians would be surprised about not drawing crowds without realising that the original crowd puller for star films was a big hero but now he has to pull in crowds and that is becoming a difficult task with the comedy genre on the downslide. I wish they become numero uno comedians before moving to take up bigger roles,” Teja concludes.