Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors in Hindi Cinema

Hrishikesh Mukherjee brilliantly adapted the comedy of errors plot to create his own brand of humor, replacing the traditional use of identical twins with a masterfully crafted deception. Instead of relying on a chance occurrence, his films’ mistaken identities are the result of a deliberate, elaborate prank.

The Foundation of Deception

Mukherjee’s comedies are built on a central masquerade where a character assumes a different persona to achieve a specific goal. This provides a structured framework for the comedy, unlike the accidental chaos of twin-based plots. The humor doesn’t come from the audience’s confusion but from their privileged position of knowing the truth. The comedy is in watching the protagonists desperately maintain their lies while others, unknowingly, react to the false identity.

Movie: Chupke Chupke

In Chupke Chupke, the “error” is not a mix-up of identical people but a deliberate act of substitution. Professor Parimal Tripathi (Dharmendra) feigns being a driver named Pyaremohan to prank his wife’s brother-in-law. The comedy escalates as a series of carefully planned deceptions are layered on top of each other. The audience knows Parimal is a professor and watches in delight as he hilariously pretends to be a simple driver. A key part of the genius is the inclusion of another character, Professor Sukumar (Amitabh Bachchan), who must now pretend to be Parimal. This second layer of deception creates more opportunities for comedic chaos.

The Comedy of Nuance

Mukherjee’s approach elevates the comedy of errors by making it a comedy of nuance and wit. The humor is derived from:

Verbal comedy: The clever use of language, like the exaggerated “literal Hindi” of Pyaremohan, becomes a central source of humor.
Character-driven humor: The comedy emerges from the clash of different personalities and their attempts to navigate the web of lies.
The anticipation of being caught: The suspense of whether the character’s lie will be exposed creates a delightful tension that fuels the comedy.

By replacing identical twins with intentional masquerades, Mukherjee transformed the comedy of errors from a plot based on physical resemblance into a sophisticated, character-driven comedy of wit and lies. He proved that the laughs can be even greater when the audience is in on the secret and can watch the elaborate charade unfold.

Movie: Gol Maal

Gol Maal is perhaps the most iconic example of Mukherjee’s use of this plot device. . The protagonist, Ramprasad (Amol Palekar), creates a fictional twin brother, Laxman, to save his job. The comedy of errors here is self-inflicted and driven by the character’s desperate need to keep the two worlds separate. The laughs come from Ramprasad’s frantic attempts to switch between his honest, simple self and the “modern,” mustachioed Laxman. The plot isn’t propelled by twins being mistaken for each other but by a single person’s struggle to embody two different personalities and the subsequent farcical situations that arise from that attempt.

Other attempts.

While Hindi cinema boldly adapted and recreated the genius of Shakespeare many times, Hollywood did tried a couple of times but not successfully. Only “Big Business” (1988) starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin made a genuine attempt.

“Identical twins are hard to cast.” Modern CGI makes this argument laughable. Studios routinely create entire armies of digital characters. Two matching actors should pose no challenge.

“The plot feels dated for modern audiences.” Hindi cinema disproves this completely. “Do Dooni Chaar” (1968) with Kishore Kumar delivered perfect comedic timing. Audiences loved the mechanical precision of mistaken identity farce.

“Angoor” (1982) under Gulzar’s masterful direction became a beloved classic. The plot worked brilliantly when filmmakers had courage and understood comedy timing.

Even “Cirkus” (2022) attempted the premise recently. While not entirely successful, it proved contemporary audiences still hunger for this type of entertainment. The makers understood the surface elements without capturing the genuine comedic spirit that made the original work. The film’s struggles came from execution problems, not concept rejection.

Let’s hope to see more creative experiments to entertain us in future.