The Advent of Comic Timings
Wikipedia has seven subpages to ‘Indian comedy and humour’. Enough to say it’s a trend going strong. Currently we are in a humour Renaissance of sorts. While a Kiku Sharda arrest might brand us as an intolerant nation with no funny bone, the truth is we have always appreciated rib tickling. That’s our mechanism to cope with a societal conundrum. “Yes, I am Chandler and I crack jokes when I am uncomfortable” holds true for a majority of 1.2 billion.
Maybe, it all started with a silent Chaplin. Indians found their equivalent in Mehmood and Kishore Kumar. Much earlier, we could credit it to witty literature comprising Tenali Raman, Birbal and a culture of court jesters.
Inculcating a culture of laughter is promoted by newspapers and magazines too. A one-amongst-us R.K. Laxman’s common man or a clumsy Suppandi or a philosophical Calvin and Hobbes’ subtle comedy can brighten up anybody’s day. A culture that is imbibed in kids is one that stays for long. And is evidently one for all of us to see.
Hitherto, concerts across the world or our very own Riviera included only singers and musical bands. Gravitas 2015 saw VIT have its very first humour fest, RISA. Evidently, this day and age sees a hysteria associated with standup comedy like never before. They are the coolest people in town, widely followed on social media and the nation’s biggest youth icons. It wasn’t surprising when the government suggested adopting Net Neutrality or Free Basics it’s these guys who infused sense among the common populace.
Some take potshots at our pretentious existence, some at the socio economic or generation divide and some at the helpless situation the common man finds himself in. Suddenly comedy encompasses all aspects of life and is making all the right noises. On Air With AIB with the tagline ‘tragedy mein comedy’ re-emphasises the fact that all grave matters can be discussed in a lighter vein. TVF’s earnest videos on a youngster giving his Dad tutorials on how to use the internet is one that strikes a chord with the entire GenX.
As the middle class income increases they have learnt to splurge like never before on an entirely different sort of recreation. Dance, drama and rock shows aren’t just all. We pay to have a guy take digs at us. The Bangalore pub culture has seen Kenny Sebastian become an overnight celebrity. The internet culture has given birth to countless others. Russell Peters videos went viral with YouTube coming in. While Biswa, Kanan and the EIC people have social media to thank for making them such huge sensations, many like Nitin Gupta and Papa CJ have had their gigs in various cities in India and abroad which earned them all the fanfare. Engineering grads are now giving up lucrative careers to pursue an unconventional career in comedy. 40+ CEO Atul Khatri was rated by CNN-IBN as one of India’s top 20 comedians. It’s the infamous roast that’s gotten two mainstream actors more audience and fan following than their movies ever did.
Comedy isn’t limited to the idiot box airing a pompous Great Indian Laughter Challenge or countless others that seem to have followed the trend. Courtesy CNWK, Kapil Sharma has become a household name.
Weekly soap operas like Sarabhai Vs. Sarabhai and Hum Paanch with their brilliant script writing and punchlines have left an indelible mark on Indian audiences. Some of the highest grossing Hindi movies belong to the comic genre. It’s money minting and has given rise to a franchise like Golmaal and actors like Johnny Lever and Rajpal Yadav.
When all has been spoken, it seems fairly unfair to exclude the Rahul Gandhi favourite ‘Women Empowerment.’ So here we go! Aditi Mittal and Neeti Palta are leading the standup scenes. Nidhi Bisth among others heads the YouTube videos stage. The cheerful Bharti on TV sets has proven that there’s more to women than the damned glycerine job. And the raucous Archana Puran Singh has proven that women can do as good a job as their male counterparts in manufacturing squawky laughter.
Satire, roast, dark, insult, deadpan, mockumentary and cringe comedy are all genres being explored. Having said that this is a golden period for the comedy set. The giggles shall only get louder from here!
