What do I mean by the above topic except the fact that it is a name of an Indian comedian’s standup-special? The recent curious case of Agrima Joshua shows that the framing of structure of a joke being a little too intricate or on the plot of historical figures can lead to a major misunderstanding of the underlying meaning of what she was trying to say. But that isn’t an isolated event it led to sparks around the whole comedy industry where Rohan Joshi’s number were leaked , Aadar Malik’s family was threatened because of his stand-up clip released years ago on Ganpati Visarjan.
Source: ABC
Comedy history of India:- Standup comedy in its form as it is today is not very old. The veterans like Mr. Raju Srivastav, Mr. Sunil Pal and Mr. Ahsaan Qureshi did a great jobs as founders and they did jokes and punchline on frivolous things of life and general observsation of things around them, but things evolve right? And so did the new age comedians and took a stand on doing satire as their form. Satire on its own mean the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Here is where the people with internet connection and lot’s of free time of Aggressive People come into picture. Dark comedy is also a way of discuss very heavy and obscene topics with a pinch of cynicism and humour. The whole point of having such a form of art is for everyone to sit down and laugh about their differences more actually know about the different norms of social cultures and having epiphanic realizations that there are much more similarities between them then they knew before.
A healthy comedy atmosphere leads upliftment of society and bonding between people more than anything. Now comes the problem of us getting offended by little things, believe it or not we Indians are emotional people that get attached or hyper-reactive too fast, which in itself is absolutely not a bad thing but with our emotions is a dissolved potion of inhibitions and insecurities which makes us angry or furious while hearing jokes about the things we are insecure about. But when we will start to embrace our insecurities and will be able to laugh it off, For example, I may be of different sexual preference but if I start to report jokes made on gays then there will be no end it and so in turn people will not be wired to thinks that it is okay or “normal” to be gay then being of different sexual preference, because if one is stopped to make harmless jokes of it then till that time and in future it would still be a Taboo to talk about. This new trend of getting offended at every little thing is the only reason why Steve Carell said that his best show “The office” would not have worked in this environment.
So, is there no difference in comedy and clear insulting?
Yes, there is and that very thin line is called intent. There is no meaning of joke if it is to insult the person you respect or to call out the small stupid or funny things we do around them. Also, this line is most of the times well respected by the comedian and I request to listen to each joke twice before reacting and think about “Is this joke about my idol/god or is it about me the devotee or the small detailed changes observed by the comedian”
UNEXPERT’S OPINION
It was said by Ricky Gervais that “You found it offensive, I found it funny and that’s why I am happier”. And if after all this uprising against the comedians I hear that why all comedians in India are not good then I would be staring in invisible camera and doing the JIM stare. It would be same as complaining about Indian athletes not winning gold medals while only seeing cricket on T.V.
BY – DEVANSH GANDHI
Reference:
https://scroll.in/article/967694/why-are-hindutva-online-armies-so-angry-with-indias-stand-up-comedians