The magic of unscripted 90s comedies
Before she transformed into Rita Brown – the no-makeup, chain-smoking, emotionally shattered detective in her upcoming ZEE5 crime thriller – Karisma Kapoor was the queen of 90s comedy. And back then, she reveals, scripts were often optional.
In a candid chat, the actress opened up about the chaotic yet wildly productive era when she, Govinda, Paresh Rawal, Kader Khan, and Shakti Kapoor operated less like a film cast and more like a travelling theatre troupe.
“In a way, it’s really good that things are streamlined. Back then we worked on gut instinct, passion, and belief,” Kapoor shared, reflecting on how different the industry is today with its bound scripts and legal contracts.
She added, “There are so many films I’ve done that had no script or written scenes. You would go to the set and it would all get developed on set within minutes. These are big, hit films I am talking about. A director like David Dhawan would just tell me, in Hindi, ‘Faad do’ (kill it) and I’d understand exactly what he wanted.”
When the cast was like a gang
Kapoor specifically recalled the 1999 comedy ‘Haseena Maan Jaayegi’ as a prime example of this improvisational magic. “A lot of scenes in ‘Haseena Maan Jaayegi’, for instance, were entirely improvised. We were like a crew or a gang — Chi Chi (Govinda), Paresh ji, Kader bhai, Shakti ji. We’d be working together on a different film every day. So there was a great comic synergy between us, almost like a theatre troupe.”
The actress, who started her career at just 16 or 17, also opened up about the insane work ethic of that era. “There are times where I’ve done four shifts a day; three shifts in Bombay and one in Hyderabad at night. So I’ve grown up in this industry, I’ve been working since I was 16 or 17 years old. It’s been about taking each step at a time and learning while climbing the ladder,” she said.
From comedy queen to gritty detective
Now, Kapoor is gearing up for a very different kind of role. In ‘Brown’, streaming on ZEE5 from June 5, she plays Rita Brown, an alcoholic, emotionally unstable Anglo-Indian cop in Kolkata. The crime thriller is directed by Abhinay Deo (‘Delhi Belly’) and adapted from Abheek Barau’s novel ‘City of Death’.
It’s a far cry from the vibrant, unscripted comedies of her youth, but Kapoor seems ready to bring the same instinct and passion to this gritty character. After all, if you can kill it with just two words from David Dhawan, you can handle anything.