He-man Dharmendra (Kaatilon ke Kaatil) and the suave Shashi Kapoor (Haseena Maan Jaayegi) made the gender switch too. Which actor hasn’t? Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna is simpler to track actually. Tell us, if we are wrong.
We are not passing moral judgement on the drag act being used as laughter-for-laughter’s sake. Some can do it, some can’t. Some gain brownie points for amusing the audience. Some don’t like Biswajeet who virtually signed off his career after the chhamak chhalo song-and dance in Manmohan Desai’s Kismat, to the tune and lyrics of Kajra mohabbatwala. Super song, actually, playbacked by Asha Bhosle-Shamshad Begum.
All we are lamenting is that there must be some other ways also of raising laughter. Resorting to the age-old woman impersonation bit is a cliché, isn’t it? And when it descends into the desperate measure category of Humshakals, it’s impossible to lie back and enjoy it. Get the act right, guys.
