There are artists that make you laugh, and there are artists who influence your sense of humor - the former are for instant gratification (taking nothing away from them for that), but the latter can impact the way you think, the way you respond, your taste, and eventually your sense of humor itself. Crazy Mohan is one of those rare comedy writers and playwrights. A lot of tributes are pouring in and opine that the right way to respond to his demise is celebrate his work and revisit his amazing puns/one-liners and remember him fondly for that. I did try to reminisce like that, but it hurts to laugh for those, knowing that Crazy Mohan is not around anymore.
He leaves behind a vacuum that is impossible to fill, mostly because it is impossible to even realize the magnitude of it. When someone of such stature leaves, you wonder if there’s someone like him- let alone replacing him. It is impossible to find a playwright and writer with such a varied background. An Engineering graduate, with an impeccable fluency in Thamizh(that came from an almost formal training from his friend in college), a sketch artist, an unabashed believer(in God), and a grateful & humble human being who happened to live in a joint family all his life. The essence of his writing and thought process are brewed from this eclectic background and the rich experiences along the way. You could see traces of his building blocks peeping through a lot of his jokes/writing. Anything that Crazy Mohan features in, there is a wealth of puns and wordplay. Earlier in the day, while talking about Panchathanthiram(the movie), one of my friends misspelled it as Panchamirtham- was that really a mistake? It is no wonder that wordplay and puns are Crazy Mohan’s trademarks; he himself is was a living pun when you called Crazy Mohan an artist who can draw your attention.
The Engineer:
He breaks down a sentence phrase by phrase and word by word like an engineer would breakdown a problem module by module. He then concentrates on one detail that has the best scope for humor and and picks that to evoke a burst of laughter. For example, in the opening act of Madhil Mel Madhu:
Madhu’s father: Ena padika vechadhe Cheenu oda Appa dhan. Adhu mattum illa da, adhe school la padikra unga Amma va enaku kalyanam panni vechadhum avaru dhan
Madhu: Adhu epdi pa padikara appove ava dhan enga Amma nu unaku therium ?
There is also a reversal/reciprocity technique he uses to solve a problem or in this case use a diametrically contradicting element for humor. For example in Satellite Saamiyaar:
Sivaraman(to his wife): Kadavul Nambikkai mattum irundha porum, indha poojai, puraskaaram, sagunam,saamiyaar, namboodhri - idhellam mooda nambikkai
(A door bell rings in the BG )
Sivaraman: Paathiya sonna madhri mani adikkudhu.
The Thamizh Pundit:
His strong knowledge of the language was his biggest asset. The fertile wordplay that he is celebrated for is because of his rich vocabulary and expertise in the language. He was also an avid reader and Thamizh classics enter his writing one way or the other. His well documented habit of writing a Venba everyday just kept sharpening his prowess on a daily basis. In Vasool Raja MBBS, Vishwanathan (Prakash Raj) is peeved that Raja (Kamal) cracks the exam time and again and asks Margabandhu(Crazy Mohan) to set a difficult question paper to fail Raja and send him out.
Vishwanathan: Nalla kashtama question paper onnu set pannu
Margabandhu: Seri sir, naa vena kashtama oru paper set panidren from Kundalakesi, Seevaka Sinthamani, and Silapathigaaram
In another part in the movie
Margabandhu: Raja Kattapanjayaathu kaaran sir. Adhuvum saadhaarna Katta Panjaayathu illa- Veerapaandia Katta Panjayathu
In Satellite Saamiyaar:
Namboodri(to Sivaraman): Indha chinna karpooratha(handing a huge piece of camphor) Sivaraman: Yov! idhu chinna karpoorama ? Innoru dadava Madurai-ye erikalam idha vechu.
In Panchathanthiram Nirmala(Devayani), tries to kill herself by OD-ing on sleeping pills. Ram(Kamal Hassan) goes there for her rescue and says “Thamizh ini mella(meaning both slowly and by swallowing) saagum nu seria dhan sonnanga.”
The Sketch Artist:
A lot of his jokes exaggerate for effect. This exaggeration needs a definite element of visual thinking. He uses this to sometimes express the scale or enormity of something or as a samalification (weak justification).
In one of his plays Alavudeenum 100 Watts Bulbum, Madhu’s neighbor Bheema Rao(a body builder) offers to lend his pair of shoes to Madhu for his interview
Madhu: Bheema Rao, venam pa! Podhuva namma shoe potundu nadakkanum, adhan murai. Un shoe potundu pona, shoe kullaye nadakkanum.
Later Bheema Rao offers his pen
Madhu: Enadhu Ivalo Gunda iruke ? Aaru otai pota flute-aave use panlam polarke!
In Sirithidu Seasame - Veetai Maatri Katti Paar:
Achappan: Enga oorula oru Subramani nu oru aalu. Ega patta dhosham. Avana parigaarama oru mandalam veetu vaasalaye thongavutten. Adicha mazhai kum puyalukkum surungi subramani koppara(dried coconut) mani aaitaan.
In Panchanthanthiram, Ram(Kamal Hassan) tries to talk to Maggie(Ramya Krishnan) without Janaki(Simran) noticing.
Ram(gives an awkward gesture with his mouth for stealthiness): Maggie, un kita konjam thania pesnaum.
Ammini Iyappan(Urvashi): Idhu enna kona vai.
Ram: Adhu dhaadi ozhunga shave panla, optical illusion.
The Believer:
As a self confessed believer, he derived a lot of inspiration from Ramayanam and Mahabharatham. Even in his interviews and candid conversations it comes out. In his own words, karthala ezhundha udane Velukudi, aprama dhan Coffee kudi. Often invokes Krishna and related references in his plays. He even has plays titled as Chocolate Krishna, Crazy Kishkintha. The presence of a supreme power from above or God has been underlined a lot of times in his plays. It tries to convey do your best and leave the rest in a non-preachy way. In an old interview he unleashed this wordplay of Harikatha exponent T. S. Balakrishna Sastrigal. Hurricane velakku paathutu avaru Hari-ku en velakku(why does the lord need lamp, when he himself is a source of light). Doesn’t matter if it a religious discourse or a concept from his engineering course, the way he assimilated it was through puns, wordplay, and the creativity that came along. Beyond the piety angle, it served as another practice ground for him to hone his skills. One of my most favorite Crazy dialogues comes from this building block(I guess). In Sathi Leelavathi, Arun(Ramesh Arvind) tries to talk about his family to Priya(Heera).
Arun: Family na, Enaku Appa irukaru
Priya(surprised): Appa va ?
Arun: Appa illaama naa epdi ? Avathaarama ?
The Joint Family Influence:
Most of his plays and movies have an ensemble cast. He doesn’t try to balance lines or humor content among his characters; it just organically happens. I think this self regulated fair share for everyone comes from his joint family upbringing. Next to his Thamizh fluency, this was his second strongest pillar. Every character has its own well defined salient characteristics and there is so much detail packing even in the background. The best example for this is Michael Madana Kama Rajan. Every time you watch the movie, you notice a new joke that you didn’t in the previous sitting; and this movie just keeps giving. In my humble opinion, this was his best. No dialogues seem force fitted , nothing out of context. There are a lot of highlight ones that are everyone’s favorite(like the naeka ?, noaka ?, naekum nokuma ?). But the amazingly funny lines delivered by tertiary characters at an unexpected juncture and some running gags were the best parts for me - and this I guess was rooted from his joint family upbringing. I can’t write enough about this movie but some rare gems I enjoyed:
In the climax, the kleptomaniac Paati(SN Lakshmi) has an unexpected gem of a line. Ramgopal(Nasser) and Nandagopal (R.N Jayagopal) have everyone at gun point in the hanging cabin.
Paati: Karunaaku thukri, endha udai-la hands up sonnalo, enga ponaalum ezhavu hands up. Referencing and connecting to an earlier scene where Shalini (Khusbhoo) points the gun at everyone thinking she was cheated by Kamal(as Rajan or Kameshwaran or Madan)
Avinashi(Nagesh) tries to convince Kameshwaran to impersonate Madan to get some money in exchange for a small cut. He gets this access through Paati, who allows Avinashi into the room where Kameshwaran and Thiripurasundari(Urvashi) are to spend their wedding night.
Nagesh: Sauryama okkarugo"
Kameshwaran: Ena sauryam? moonu peru 1st night la.. kelvi pattadhe illa"
Crazy Venkatesh and Ponnambalam introduce RS Shivaji to Ramgopal and Nandagopal as someone who can help them get rid of Madhan.
Ramgopal(pointing to Shivaji): Ivanaada nee sonna aalu?
Crazy Venkatesh: Illa boss, Indha aaluku oru aalu irukan boss. Andha aalta namba aala (Madhan)kaatnaaka, boss namba aala andha all vera oru aaloda sendhu theethi kattiduvaan boss.
Nandagopal(hopelessly): En da aal kootreenga (and whispers to Ramgopal) ivana nambalama ?
R.S Shivaji: Idhu yaaru(pointing to Ramgopal), “naan petha magane nu nee sonniye” adhan naanga nambala? Adhe madhri dhan!
Raju is poor in English. And this running gag appears at various points in the movie. Shalini keeps addressing Shivaram(Venniradai Moorthy) as daddy because it is her dad. Raju assumes daddy is his name and keeps calling him daddy. In one scene, Shivaram clarifies that saying “daddy nradhu en peru illa!”.
While it is practical for everyone to leave Earth when their time’s up, it just feels like Crazy Mohan had to leave a lot earlier than anyone anticipated. It hurts to digest that an integral part of my childhood, a humorous Dhrona for a million Ekalavyans isn’t with us anymore. Was listening to Alavudeenum 100 Watts Bulbum for the 10000th time and Alavudeen in the end says “Madhu, naa varen. Bulb fuse aidthu, naa poga vendia neramum vandhachu. Inimelaadhu sondha kaalula nikka try pannunga”. Millions like me, have lost a crutch. Will definitely watch his movies and enjoy his puns and dialogues, but with a bitter feeling of missing him. Crazy about you sir! Forever!
-Madras Mokka
