All That Glitters Is Not ‘Gundu’!

Can a cleanly- shaven head(‘gundu’) be comical? Not always. Along with comedians on screen, heroes, villians and heroines at times make their heads shine.
Of course, the impact could be varying: heroes cranium surprises, villians’s scull scares, where as a pretty gal’s soft noddle beckons. The outcome is totally different, when a comedian sporting glittering pumpkin –shaped dome, makes his appearance.

In Tamil, Cho S.Ramaswamy, a comedian-turned- journalist, always bears his ‘gundu’ glitter. He has a funny reason to shave his head every day. He suffered from dandruff for many years. He tried every available medicine. ‘I tried Allopathy, Naturopathy and Homeopathy. They were of no use. Finally, I tried ‘Tirupathi’( Devotees return from Tirupathi with cleanly-shaven heads) and it miraculously worked’ In his inimitable sarcastic style he explains.
AVS, a journalist-turned-comedian, followed this ‘gundu’ tradition to look funny. But he has never been on record that he had dandruff.
There is a small time comedian, who has made his surname ‘gundu’. His name is ‘Gundu’ sudarshan. He is short in size too. He had given up lecturing in a college, when joined films. He would frequently appear in the films of the most revered directors, Bapu and Viswanath. Today he seldom finds takers. ‘After all , what I’ve earned all these years is ‘gundui”, he complains. So, ‘Gundu’ makes one sad too.

Satish Chandar