THE PUNCHES WE THROW

The word “Punch Dialogue” is a terminology that is coined and commonly used only in the Tamil movie parlance. You will find no reference to this phrase in any other context other than in Tamil Movies. This got me musing. What exactly does it mean?. Where does it get its origin? How far has it spread?

These punch dialogues are hot one liners uttered by the hero or the heroine of a movie, to exhibit the macho and power of the character. These are commonly accompanied with stylish gestures such as snapping of fingers, crossing and re-crossing your legs while seated and so on. These gestures are further enhanced with loud and trendy background scores. The advertisement for the film is focused on these one-liners. These punch dialogues are mostly bravado words bragging one’s abilities like “when I say something once, it’s almost like it’s said a hundred times”, “when I decide on something I will not go back, even on my own advice” and so on. They are widely, hollow words and do not convey any significance and are meant solely for the front benchers and the nostalgic  NRI intellects. It is quite possible to deduce  that this phrase has its genesis from the idiom “pack a punch” which means “to have a powerful effect or influence”.  

In truth the Hollywood movies are not completely bereft of these punch lines. Take for instance the western movies where John Wayne shooting from his hip, killing the wicked villain will utter great quotes such as “Life is hard; it’s harder if you’re stupid” , or “Courage is being scared to death , but saddling up anyway”  or even “A man ought to do what he thinks is right”. These are etched in the minds of every movie lover of ester years.

It must be recorded here that the Tamil language is famous for its short and sometimes brusque phrases, poems which carry tonnes of useful messages. Take for instance the “Thirukurral” which is essentially a collection of couplets or aphorism which touches upon almost all aspects of life as varied as from ploughing the field to ruling a country. Or listen to the laconic blessings of the Tamil savant Avaiyar,  to a  king on his birthday as just “Varappuyara”. This is the title of a poem which translates as “ Varappu Uyara” meaning let the dams and bunds be raised. The area is a predominantly agricultural area with rice being the main produce. Paddy fields require stocking of plenty of water and more the water more the yield.  As the paddy crops require abundant standing water for their proper cultivation, the farmer builds high and strong bunds around his field to grow the crop. Only if there are good rains will the farmer take the effort to build the bunds higher to prevent the rainwater from running off. This water storing will go a long way in replenishing the ground water level. Your modern day “rain-water harvesting”,  indeed.  Well the poem goes like this

varappu uyara neer uyarum;
neer uyara nel uyarum;
nel uyara kudi uyarum;
kudi uyara kol  uyarvan

When translated means if the bunds are raised, more water can be held to yield more paddy which will lead to the prosperity of the general public and thereby the well being of the monarch himself is ensured. What a good advice on Irrigation system and proper governance.  

If Tamil literature has its fair share of punch lines, will Greek and Rome be far behind? Hippocrates, the Greek physician in his “Aphorism” has introduced the famous thought of “life is short…” which is greatly used in maxims of physical science.  Rome has made its punch mark with the famous “You too, Brutus?” (“Et tu, Brute?”- Latin)   to convey surprise at betrayal and any form of back stabbing.

When Armstrong stepped off the Eagle's footpad he etched his name in history as the first human to set foot on another astronomical body. The words  he uttered then  "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"  has further immortalized his name and added his to the long list of “World Punch liners”.

Back home we use the punch line “ closing the back door ” to indicate a situation where you set out to do a job which however leads  into an array of activity prolonging the completion of the  original job that you set out to do. I think we read it in the Reader’s digest, where the man of the family sets out to have a peaceful siesta on a Saturday. Just as he walks to his room he notices that the back door is open. He goes to close it and sees that the light in the basement is glowing.  He climbs down to switch it off only to find that the switch is loose. He searches out his screw driver and fixes the switch. In the process he niches his finger. He goes to fetch some toilet paper to wipe the blood and ends up refilling the tissue papers in the toilet. While washing his blood stained hand he sees the dripping tap and has to change the washer and ultimately he closes the back door and comes to the hall. His wife asks him “where were you this whole afternoon?”. Our man replies “will you believe me, I was closing the back door”.

So let’s conclude, if huge information could be packed in a short sentence it becomes a punch line. While our lines don’t come with back ground sounds and stylish looks, we do pepper our conversations with them for better impact.