Influence Of The New Era Of Comedy
“If you make them laugh, they open their mind. And when they open their mind, there’s room for change.”
Indian comedy has evolved drastically, to say the least, over the years. Both comedians and their audience have come a long way in terms of the content- both given and received. On the silver screen, we saw the expression of comedy in terms of the tribulations of a common man and movies like Andaz Apna Apna, Mr. India among many others. Indian television did not lag far behind, with some of the most iconic comedic shows like “Office Office”, “Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai”, “Hum Paanch” and “Khichdi”, which remain cult classics.
And then came stand-up comedy, which slowly but steadily made a place of its own in the entertainment industry, with shows like “The Great Indian Laughter Challenge” and “Comedy Circus”, which catered to the masses and became a part of almost every Indian living room in no time.
The internet can pose a tough battle, with baffling content that leaves your fingers itching to type out a retort before you decide you have better things to do. The openness of social media comes with its pros and cons, with both sides of a party having a space to express opinions, regardless of who is right and who is wrong (freedom of speech is a warped concept).
But the new era of comedy puts the internet to good use. Though it comes with its own baggage (a large one) of controversies, it carries a certain air of sophistication. They boldly go where mainstream media has never gone before, and raise issues that Indian society shuns and shies away from. The content is rude and honest, and it’s the slap in the face many of us really need.
With the rise of such comedy, terms like ‘intolerance’, ‘sensitive’ and ‘offensive’ have been used often, whether on our Facebook timelines or on debates televised nationally. But regardless of the increasing pressure to filter content, comedians don’t stop in their quest to deliver what they feel is the right of the audience to know.
Channels like AIB have put out hard hitting content time and time again, with videos like ‘Rape- It’s Your Fault’, ‘Net Neutrality’, ‘The Demonetization Circus’, ‘Times of Boobs’, among many others that often used satire to put the point across. TVF has its own array of videos, from ‘He’s not Chotu’ to the sub-channel ‘Girlyapa’ that leaves powerful messages with the help of comedy, a concept that resonates with the masses. EIC has a series called ‘EIC Outrage’, in which they have discussed homosexuality, feminism, animal abuse, student suicide, war, and islamophobia.
Individual comedians too, use, their personal social media handles to talk about various topics. Tanmay Bhat uses his snapchat (albeit not without controversies) to discuss feminism, harassment in workplaces, the ‘friend zone’, and his twitter to address the Indo-Pak conflict. He also came out with a video on fat-shaming and how it plagues the lives of those who live through the nightmare every day. Female comedians like Mallika Dua, Neeti Palta, Aditi Mittal, Sumukhi Suresh and Kaneez Surka are emerging as contenders in what currently seems to be a male dominated industry.
And with its ups have certainly come the ‘downs’. Comedic videos have resulted in death threats from politicians, FIRs and a wave of hurt sentiments across the country. Recently, Tannishtha Chatterjee walked out on a comedy show after being repeatedly humiliated for her dark skin in the name of comedy. Lisa Haydon was subject to racist remarks on another comedy show. These are the same shows that have men dress up as women to perform in an exaggerated way that seems to be far from funny.
Even so, some comedians seem to have done something utterly outrageous and beautiful; they have changed perspectives. Even if just a little, and even if it’s not enough, they have put their points across and made people listen, and that’s a small but steady step towards the large goal. They resonate, especially with the youth, without taking extreme political stances or using any aggressive shoving of opinions down our throats.
With political influence and filtering of content, the new age of comedy has done something wonderful in their expression of opinions with hard hitting facts while managing to tickle the funny bone. And while this differs from how comedy in India began, it’s a remarkable movement towards growth as a society.
Writer: Divya Sethu
Editor: Diya Mathew
