''When directors like me started out in the 70s, we made serious films which were successful. After some time, the audience got bored of them. They didn't want to watch a film which made them feel bad about life. So, now we use creative strategies like black comedy and satire to connect with the audience,'' Benegal told PTI.
This is why the ace director of 'Ankur' and 'Nishant' has now turned towards satire in his recent films 'Welcome To Sajjanpur' and 'Well Done Abba', which deal with the issue of corruption in society.
"When the film pokes fun at a serious issue, it engages the audience more easily. If there is humour in the film, more people will watch it. The elements of farce and satire has been used by Peepli Live as well," said Benegal.
Recently released films like 'Peepli Live' and 'Tere Bin Laden', which deal with farmer's suicide and America's war on terror respectively, have presented the issues in a humorous mode and have earned rave reviews as well.
The Anusha Rizvi-directed 'Peepli Live' deals with farmers' suicide and lampoons the role of the media, politicians and the government. The film was lauded by critics as well as audience.
It is the same with 'Tere Bin Laden', whose director Abhishek Sharma deliberately wove over-the-top farcical situations into the script as he wanted his audience to have a good time watching the film.
"The USP of my film was that it was a comedy, which is an audience friendly genre. I didn't want to get preachy. There are so many serious films on 9/11 and America's war on terror but the concept of presenting Osama Bin Laden in a funny light was a hit," said Sharma.
Sharma says that there is lesser risk of hurting people's sentiments when you are making a statement in jest.
"You can get away with a lot of things if you use humour; it doesn't hurt people's sentiments as it is not taken seriously," said Sharma.
While a section of the film fraternity has adopted humour as the strategy to sell their films, others are worried that serious films are losing out on viewers.
"Socially relevant films barely find distributors. My film 'Chal Chalein'(2009) was on the same topic as '3 Idiots', but it was not even released widely," said veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty.
'3 Idiots', is a social comedy which dealt with academic pressure on students, while 'Chal Chalein' is a serious film on the same subject. The former was a resounding success whereas the latter sank without a trace.