Bakchodi At The High: AIB Live In Pune
On the 4th day of September, a particularly merry band of travelling jesters popped up at everyone’s favourite watering hole, High Spirits. All India Bakchod, a 4 man ensemble featuring Gursimran Khamba, Ashish Shakya, Rohan Joshi and Tanmay Bhat, had the packed audience in stitches as they tackled everything from the traffic in Navi Mumbai to Gujarati high society and follicular grooming for males.
Originally an unheard of internet podcast featuring Khamba and Bhat, All India Bakchod has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity in recent times. By their own admission, all the credit goes to Mother Teresa. “How did Mother Teresa inspire us? Well, we saw what she did in Calcutta and we were like, ok, we don’t want to do that. What else can we do?,” says Rohan Joshi.
As four guys who manage to eke a living entirely off their funny bones, the members of All India Bakchod are living proof of the newfound success of India’s nascent comedy scene. “We all do other things on the side to make money as long as it’s creatively appealing but the core thing is standup,” says Khamba. The mention of day jobs evokes an instant collective groan as Joshi indignantly asserts, “Do we look like we have day jobs? Our day job is called tweeting. We tweet, sometimes Facebook, aggressively. And now there are a lot of comics like that.”
The challenge of writing, performing and generally being funny all the time is something All India Backhod clearly relish. “A lot of comics will tell you that every joke in the world has already been cracked. It’s not true, but a lot of comics will tell you that,” says Khamba. And given that they operate from the margins of performance art, AIB are unencumbered by the kind of restrictions that mainstream acts must put up with. “I don’t think there’s any space we don’t touch, but… there’s certain areas where if you’re going to make a joke, it better be a really good joke. If you want to talk about cancer, you better have a point to make, as opposed to going ‘Haha, those cancer people’,” says Joshi.
“I should be Prime Minister. I’d be really good at it.” — Rohan Joshi
“I’d agree with Rohan for Prime Minister. Then I’d get a plush cabinet job and I wouldn’t have to do any work.” — Khamba
AIB deserve praise for being one of the few Indian comedy acts that are not afraid to sprinkle a fair few political jokes in between the penis jokes and the Pimpri jokes. Its only natural according to Joshi; “It’s kind of like asking a cow why she gives milk, to ask a comedian why he makes fun of politics. The role of comedians is to fight the power.” AIB’s focus on current affairs gives it the air of a sort of high-brow, socially and politically aware humour -thinking man’s comedy, if you will. And then the coarse swearing quickly brings that brow back down to Earth. Khamba admits that their niche audience is what has probably saved them from having to deal with hostile reactions thus far, an inevitability that their brand of humour openly flirts with and mocks. “It’s about talking about what you believe is right and at the end of the day, sharing an honest worldview. And then its up to the audience whether they agree with you or not,” says Joshi.
As ever, the visiting performers were left dazzled by the High Spirits vibe. They describe High as a “Great audience. The most fun in the country”. Khamba interjects, “I’m not fucking around, everyone’s always really enthusiastic up here. And Khodu always pays us in cash at the end of the night.”
Although the Bakchods managed to grab High Spirits by its proverbial balls, the night wasn’t all about them. Collaborating with AIB for a few numbers and taking centre stage immediately after, were Tough on Tobacco. They describe themselves as a “humour-tinged pop-rock-reggae sextet from Mumbai” and they provided a fitting finish to the night with some groovy tunes. The band doubles as an anti-smoking movement of sorts, that seeks to educate by setting a ridiculously bad example. Sid Coutto, the frontman was in his element as he conjured lyrics and rhythms of out thin air, ad-libbing to anything and everything the audience threw at him. They absolutely rocked the pants off High Spirits for about half an hour. Sadly though, the show was curtailed by the perennially party-pooping antics of Pune Police. Jai Maharashtra.
Originally published by High Spirits’ in-house magazine, ‘High Times’ in October 2013.
