{"id":239723,"date":"2025-02-15T19:09:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T19:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/15\/comedy-is-not-central-is-india-still-not-ready-for-edgy-comedy\/"},"modified":"2025-02-15T19:09:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T19:09:03","slug":"comedy-is-not-central-is-india-still-not-ready-for-edgy-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/15\/comedy-is-not-central-is-india-still-not-ready-for-edgy-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedy (is not) Central: Is India still not ready for \u2018edgy\u2019 comedy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Comedy<\/div>\n
It was on January 28, 2015, that the infamous roast of actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor was uploaded on AIB Knockout. A decade later, we are back to cancelling comedy and content creators, again proving the point that maybe India<\/a> is not ready to be edgy, just yet.A tweet by beleaguered comedian Samay Raina, from July 5, 2022, is doing the rounds where the self anointed king of Indian dark comedy says: \u201cFear of cancellation from the left is why we don\u2019t have comics like Andrew Schulz, Jimmy Carr, Dave Chapelle and Ricky Gervais in the Indian comedy scene. Don\u2019t worry. I\u2019m here to change that. Jab tak Jantha saath hai, yeh log kuchh nahin ukhaad sakte.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cut to 2025, and Raina realises that \u201cJantha\u201d is indeed fickle. On February 12, he posted: \u201cEverything that is happening has been too much for me to handle. I have removed all India\u2019s Got Latent videos from my channel….\u201d <\/p>\n

If you have accessed your social media or watched primetime news in the last few days, you are familiar with what made Raina do an about-turn. For the lucky ones who haven\u2019t, here\u2019s what happened: popular podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia<\/a> , famously known as BeerBiceps<\/a>, decided to throw his carefully cultivated \u201cgood-boy\u201d image into the burner on Raina\u2019s show India\u2019s Got Latent. And his medium of choice? The classic \u201cwould you rather\u201d question: \u201cWould you rather watch your parents have sex every day for the rest of your life, or join in once and stop it forever?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Latent felt the heat. The episode was aired on February 9, and the backlash started the day after. FIRs were filed against Raina, Allahbadia and another panellist, Apoorva Mukhija. Nearly 40 people, from episode 1 to 6, have been booked by the Mumbai Cyber Cell<\/a>. News panels debated on programmes \u201ccorrupting youth\u201d and stronger social media rules. Mukesh Khanna aka Shaktimaan wanted an Ashleel Control Board<\/a>.<\/p>\n


On Valentine\u2019s Day, Allahbadia approached the Supreme Court<\/a>, seeking the clubbing of multiple FIRs filed against him.<\/p>\n

LAST LAUGH<\/h2>\n

Comedian Azeem Banatwalla<\/a> took to Instagram stories on Friday to announce his decision to cancel his Sunday show \u201cFake News\u201d at The Habitat in Mumbai to avoid audiences having to deal with troublemakers around the venue.\u201cWe are usually just soft targets in a slow news cycle. Edgy humour survives in India on the fringes,\u201d he told ET. \u201cIt is only when it is brought into the mainstream like India\u2019s Got Latent or AIB Knockout\u2014and reaches people who don\u2019t understand the concept around it \u2014 that these problems occur.\u201d Banatwalla, like all comedians, is no stranger to controversies, mean comments and even sinister threats. He adds, \u201cThe issue with India\u2019s Got Latent has nothing to do with sentiments of people getting hurt. It\u2019s just diversion tactics of news media sensationalising minor offences to draw attention away from the fact that our economy is tanking, our air is toxic and people who actually say incendiary things are being given a free pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comedians are taking it as just another day. Daniel Fernandes, again familiar with outrage, says, \u201cOffence in Indian comedy is like seasonal flu. Every six months, a certain section of folks online (who aren\u2019t even the target audience of most of our work) will stir up the outrage pot. All of us have just accepted it as occupational hazard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Indian stand-up comedy scene owes much of its initial momentum to the digital revolution. In his 2022 Netflix special Landing, Vir Das slammed the American newspapers that came up with headlines like, \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t Indian comedy push the envelope?\u201d To this, Das said, \u201cBecause we looked inside the envelope…. There are court dates in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comedian Punit Pania tells ET, \u201cIndia wasn\u2019t ready 10 years back either, so it is up to the artist to push the proverbial envelope. Of course, in this particular case, people will argue\u2014is it even art? I would argue\u2014is it even comedy?\u201d He says such content is enabled by two factors: one, the algorithm (that pushes such content), and second, the censorship. He adds, \u201cThe censorship leaves nothing of relevance to talk about. Even if you question social issues\u2014the very basic ones\u2014you are labelled antinational, anti-establishment, whatever is the new term in town. So all that is left is that you can insult each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cartoonist Rachita Taneja (@ SanitaryPanelson on Instagram) tells ET: \u201cI think we as a country need to be able to tell the difference between a crass joke and a harmful one. While Allahbadia\u2019s attempt at a joke was terribly unfunny, and offensive to some, who is it materially harming? Instead, we need to focus on how hate speeches against minorities jumped 74% in India in 2024, peaking during the elections, according to a recent report by India Hate Lab<\/a>.\u201d Taneja, who won the 2024 Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award<\/a>, adds, \u201cAction against inconsequential jokes is a way to continue to create an environment where the government can go after you, even if you haven\u2019t done anything illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the backlash is expected, Instagram satirist known as Dr Medusa says taking offence at something is a power move. \u201cPower in our society is maintained by various means\u2014the patriarchal family structure, the caste system and the religious majority are the top three power groups. A roast format is simply not possible here because of the extreme inequality between each one of us. I recently came across the term \u2018uncle-ocracy\u2019. We are an uncleocracy. Fun is prohibited . \u201d Says Pania: \u201cWe are too dependent on our identity, which we draw from culture or religion. We are not individualistic and hence anything that is even slightly biting is taken to heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

SENSE & CENSORSHIP<\/h2>\n

Brands, personal or otherwise, have to be careful (even paranoid) in the hyperconnected world, says brand-strategy expert Harish Bijoor. He says, \u201cYour consumers and even non-consumers are waiting to catch you off guard. There is vicarious pleasure in that pursuit. Being cautious is a brand imperative.\u201d Embracing western formats like roasts can backfire and the only comfort, he says, is that public memory is proverbially short.<\/p>\n

For comedians, self-censorship is par for the course, says Pania. \u201cAll comedians censor themselves. One censorship is on the page. But the other censorship, which is bigger, is in your mind. And that censorship is growing by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banatwalla views the restrictions as a challenge. He says, \u201cIt\u2019s a test of my skill to dance around the boundaries while being able to make the point I want to.\u201d <\/p>\n

Fernandes says, \u201cThere is an incredibly large market outside of these flagbearers of morality who love a wide range of comedy genres. What is needed is for every citizen in this country to be allowed to exercise their agency. If it is not for you, don\u2019t watch it!\u201d <\/p>\n

That the audience was lapping up India\u2019s Got Latent is proven by the viewership numbers, which touched 4 0 million views. Banatwalla says, \u201cThe fact that a show like India\u2019s Got Latent got the numbers that it did suggests that a lot of the Indian audience is ready to watch roasts, sex jokes and general \u2018crass\u2019 humour than, say, when the AIB Knockout happened.\u201d What can be debated, he says, is whether people with a large following and those who become role models should be more responsible with their content. \u201cThe larger worry is that freedom of speech in general will be muzzled using \u2018sanskaar\u2019 as an excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

What this means for standup scene, says Pania, is hard to predict. \u201cWith the AIB Roast, the immediate fallout was very dire. But, eventually, comedy in general has got more attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2022, comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted: \u201cEveryone is allowed to offend and everyone is allowed to be offended. It\u2019s a good system.\u201d So: \u201cWould you rather listen to unfiltered comedy every day for the rest of your life, or agitate over a nonjoke once and stop it forever?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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It was on January 28, 2015, that the infamous roast of actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor was uploaded on AIB Knockout. A decade later, we are back to cancelling comedy and content creators, again proving the point that maybe India is not ready to be edgy, just yet.A tweet by beleaguered comedian Samay Raina, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-118280972,imgsize-8868.cms","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[184319,186576,186572,113905,186575,3905,3654,140912,273,186573,186574,3161,1617,181207],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239725,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239723\/revisions\/239725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}