A lot of us believe that Bollywood’s can’t take a joke on themselves. Well, here’s proof to the contrary. In an outstanding new spoof video titled Bhaag Jeetu Bhaag: The Jodi Awakens, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol not only allow fun at the expense of their long-standing popularity, the duo also show up in the video to join the fun in a sporting display of self-deprecatory humour.
The video imagines the Shah Rukh-Kajol fan club as a sinister secret society whose fanatical members can go to any lengths if their duo of deities are mocked. So we see a bunch of squealing girls and actor Varun Sharma packed together in a movie theatre waiting for Dilwale to start, when suddenly the guy next to Varun - Jeetu, our unfortunate hero - wonders aloud what it is that is so special about the jodi.
What follows is an incredibly funny little horror-chase film edited by Apurva Asrani and directed by Sameer Saxena.
The satirical centre of the film is when Jeetu, now held captive by members of the SRK-Kajol fan club is cross-examined by, ahem, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol as to why the poor cornered Jeetu doesn’t think the jodi to be the best.
“There are other good jodis…like John-Bipasha,” suggests Jeetu feebly. “We’re talking about acting, not picking up dumbbells,” chortles SRK. “Hrithik-Kareena?” Jeetu pushes on bravely. “Oh ya, Yaadein and Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon,” sing SRK and Kajol in unison (for the record both the films were flops). And when poor Jeetu squeakily suggests Ranveer-Deepika as a likable jodi SRK and Kajol squabble over which ‘Ran’ Jeetu means, the one with the ‘b’ or the ‘v’. B or V, it was all done in a spirit of sporting satire. No offence meant. More ‘Dost’ than ‘Roast’.
Through the spoof, Kajol and Shah Rukh are great with their comic timing, specially when Kajol’s caller tune starts singing Mr Lova Lova, a song from the Kajol-Ajay Devgn starrer Ishq. What follows is a giggly conversation between Kajol and Ajay Devgn as SRK squirms, with Kajol confessing she wants to….errr… bite her husband’s bum because it’s so cute. Okay then.
If the truth be told, this spoof is funnier than all of Dilwale, and Shah Rukh and Kajol give a better account of their magical togetherness here than they do in the feature film.
Sameer reveals how he managed to convince Shah Rukh and Kajol to spoof themselves for this video. He says, “Well, everyone strongly believes in the content of TVF, so does SRK. We did a hugely popular episode of ‘Barely Speaking with Arnub’ with him last year. So he knew when we come up with something for him and approached him for it, it would be exciting.”
To get the two superstars to joke about themselves seems like a Herculean task. But Saxena says it was a cakewalk. “ SRK and Kajol are mature and sporting enough to take a joke on themselves. So there wasn’t any convincing required. They were on board the moment they heard the script. And they also knew this was going to be the Biggest Qtiyapa Ever in terms of scale, so there was not a shadow of doubt in their minds.”
