GANGSTER COMEDIES;seriously humerous

Gangsters should be no laughing matter. Movies like The Godfather,Scarface, and L.A. Confidential revel in crime's capacity for destruction and moral corruption. But spend any time reading news of the weird and you'll see that, with the correct perspective and distance, illegal activities can be hilarious—desperate people doing desperate things, and with awful results. Thus, the Gangster-comedy.

Gangster comedy movies are a sub genre hybrid of comedy films and crime/gangster films.It revolves around a mafia along with comedy plot lines.Many crime/ganster movies involves a lot of comedy moments in between the witty conversations of the gang members.In these type of movies the viewers feel humorous when the gang members in the villian squad dies.

A lot of humour in these types of movies is based on the portrayal of gangsters as ordinary people.The perception towards gangster is that they are tough,violent,mysterious,evil mind characters.Humorous effects in these type of genres comes when some sort of normalities are assigned to those characters.Americans already uses irony,pathos etc as a source for humor in contemporary culture.So much of plays and television series made us laugh at the absurdities inherent in catastrophic situations.In these type of movies comedy can be seen as a younger brother of mighty tragedy.These gangster comedies can be related to black/dark comedies.

Quentin Tarantino

These type of genres came to the industry by 1930s with movies like Trouble in paradise which was released in1932 directed by Ernst Lubitsch.But these types of genres became highly popular with entry of director Quentin tarantino.His films included non linear story lines,satirical subject, high amount of violence and features of neonoir..His films like Reservoir dogs,Pulp fiction showcased a new dimension to modern cinema.So many regional film makers adapted his style of film making in their industry.Some of the critics called Pulp fiction as the greatest film of modern cinema.

In addittion to Tarantino makers like Guy Ritchie,Coen brothers also done notable films of this genre.Ritchie's Lock,stock and two smoking barrels and Snatch was also highly praised by critics as well as audiences.Many regional films took influence from these movies.These movies also made an entry to actors like Jason statham and gave a new dimension for Brad pitt.Coen's  The big lebowski was also very successful.Movies like kiss kiss bang bang,seven psychopaths,catch me if you can,The sting and many more made this genre popular.

Gangster comedies in India

 Not much of experiments were done with gangster comedies in India.Movies like Ishqiya, Dedh Ishqiya, Delhi belly were some of the movies which became critically and commercially successful.

Tamil movie makers have done a commendable job in experimenting these genres recently. Movies like sathuranga vetteai, soodhu kaavum, Jigarthanda, Naanum Rowdy dhaan were very much successful.These type of movies created waves in tamil cinema.Tamil superstar Ajith kumar's Mankatha can also be included as a gangster comedy which became a box office blockbuster.

 Malayalam film maker  Lijo jose pellissery  made a brave attempt with his film Double  barrel, but was panned by critics and was a boxoffice disaster. Movies like Neram, Aadu oru bheekara jeevi were also some of  the movies made in malayalam, in which the former was a boxoffice success and the latter became popular in miniscreen.

 Most of the movies that were released in these categories were widely regarded well both critically and commercially.Very less directors experimented these genre in their industries.It might be because of the toughness in mixing the fun and fear elements in a specific way.There are a lot of scopes in this genre to explore that can contribute much to the modern cinema.