There's something about the loser

Clothes, personality, job... he gets it all wrong. How then does the loser manage to take it all in our movies?

At first sight, Prem isn't really the kind of guy you'd want to date. He doesn't have a job, he can barely speak English, he runs a Happy Club for heaven's sake! But that doesn't stop Jenny from running into his arms, and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani from doing a victory dance at the box office. Nor has it stopped new releases from proudly proclaiming their respective protagonists as 'geeks' (Pyaar Impossible), lovable losers (Karthik Calling Karthik), one of them even singing "I am a loser" (Housefull).u00a0

Uday Chopra, who plays the tongue-tied-in-love protagonist of Pyaar Impossible, feels that the underdog winning is a universally loved theme. "But you probably notice it now because it's being used more," says Uday.
About Pyaar Impossible, which he has also written, Uday says, "I play the quintessential geek who's socially inept and madly in love with this unattainable beauty. He can't even bear to go in front of her." He feels such a story will work because "everyone at some point or the other has felt that they're not good enough for someone they've liked."

What is it about the goofy guy with no job, no style quotient and zero ideas to woo a girl, that woos the audience? According to film critic Deepa Gahlot, it's the ultimate fairytale that the 'mass' audience is transported to, via the hero-heroine. "The guy who's just like you and me attains wealth or the hand of the beautiful princess, so to speak," she says, citing the example of Akshay Kumar's blundering acid-green-turbaned Singh who ultimately won over Katrina Kaif in Sinngh Is King.

But Ranbir Kapoor doesn't credit Ajab Prem's success entirely to its main character. "A film is a final product, a package of characters, its music, its look. Its success can't be attributed to one sole character," he says. Ajab Prem... director Rajkumar Santoshi seconds Ranbir, saying that the audience was obviously drawn to the film as a whole and not any one aspect. As for the losers taking all, he asks, "Wasn't my Ghayal a hit? Was Sunny Deol a loser in it?"

Gahlot reminds us of Ranbir's launchpad, Saawariya, in which too, he played an aspiring singer. But well, he didn't win the heroine in the end. Sonam Kapoor chose a brooding Salman Khan instead. And the movie tanked.

Director Priyadarshan mentions south superstar MGR as having started the trend. "MGR was always the poor guy but the rich girl always fell for him and he was never interestedu2026 until the end," he says with a laugh.

Losers work because they're a clichu00e9 and most clichu00e9s work. "Like Manmohan Desai is still saleable," he states.

Priyadarshan would know, considering almost all his films are about the bungling hero who has the last laugh.

Take Hera Pheri, Hungama, Malamaal Weekly and the recent De Dana Dan for instance. "I do it because it's easy," he says. He adds that for him, the story is a bigger player than the characters and the comedy of poverty is his pet theme.

The loser-taking-it-all trend isn't new. As Gahlot points out, Raj Kapoor played it to perfection in Shree 420: "Most Navketan productions have had protagonists who are underdogs. Amitabh Bachchan at the height of his career, played a coolie and a mill worker. Aamir Khan's done it in Raja Hindustani and Ghulam."

Priyadarshan, who was a psychology student, says that the whole 'girl falling for the loser' cuts into real life too. His friend's sister ran away with the driver. "It mostly happens to girls who don't have a strong father figure. They find that 'something' in the man we'd all label as a loser," he says.u00a0

Gahlot believes that the masses, usually relate better to such themes. If you pick a multiplex movie, she says, "The characters will have defined professions and last names. They are all different kinds of film."

In fact, in recent times, the only successful film with a businessman as protagonist that was a smash hit was Aamir Khan's manic act in Ghajini. Then again, Asin's Kalpana didn't know that. She fell in love with 'Sachin', who she thought was a wannabe ad model.