Comedy of malice

Indian taboos(prohibition) are still too plainly visible for satire( witty language especially use to insult) to be effective. It may take several generations before they become a talking point between diverse groups. Till then, the chasm( A deep opening in the earth's surface) between those who laugh and those who get laughed at only widens

President Nominated: Members of both Houses of Parliament today nominated a stately Eucalyptus tree as the 17th President of India. “Because the President occupies a largely ceremonial position,” said the Lok Sabha Speaker, “it was important to nominate something that looked good and said very little.” Soon after the pleasantly surprised Eucalyptus moved into Rashtrapati Bhavan with a mali and a bag of manure(plant material used to fertilize land ) it left on a state visit to Romania.

People gather together. “I am going to tell a joke,” says someone. “Once there was an American, an Australian and a sardar …” As the joke progresses, the attention focusses on a single line; faces lean in with expectation; finally, the entire group releases a laugh, and everyone goes back to the business of life.

In the land of Sardarji jokes, comedy is a conditioned response working on a set rule.

Such regulation even extends into professional humour. Indian stand-up comedy may have come of age, but its content is still an unfortunate mix of ethnic jokes (Sir, yes, you in the front row, you said you were from Kerala, oh, that’s why I couldn’t see you), and sexual innuendo(An indirect (and usually malicious) implication) (I see your hand is on the lady’s thigh; obviously that’s not your wife). The nature of such standup is not so much to reflect on difficult issues, but to bite into familiar fruit, and spit into the audience. Loud, brash and filled with all the harsher strains of shock value, comedy is just raucous(Unpleasantly loud and harsh) theatre. It builds on the theme of offence — using people’s affluence, their ethnicity or sexuality, their background, the make of their car.

Comedy and content

The recent AIB uploaded videos on YouTube did the trick of getting national attention, not so much for the subjects of its comedic roast, but the foul-mouthed racist rant on caste, genitalia and sexual orientation. Despite serious humour in its content, the delivery came under attack from extremist groups. As charges of obscenity(vulgarism) and bad taste were levelled by the far right’s moral policing, Anand Gandhi, a Mumbai filmmaker sprang to the show’s defence. “I hope our humour gets sharper, our dissent(disagree) more rigorous(strict) and our satire more offensive. Unlikely. In the front line battle between the small Indian urban elite with a copycat mimicry of American television tastes and the more conservative — and increasingly vocal — middle class, the clash of liberal and traditional values is the newer, more visible divide within the culture itself.

With millions writhing on the floor in uncontrollable laughter, comics liberally spray the audience with an undercurrent of Indian foibles(mannerism) — people’s differences, the shrill hot-headed awareness of identity, religious practices, all come loaded with messages of hate. The growing divide in society reflects in the numerous splinter(sliver) groups: good Muslims and bad Muslims, good Hindus and violent ones, Buddhist pacifists and Buddhist extremists, Hindu activists and pious(devotional) ascetics, Muslims with their own political parties and agendas. Today, the slightest provocation will rile(annoy)the most peace-loving of people to charge into public forums. Nationalism, religion and caste, have always been around as convenient ploys for displays of prejudice; they are now joined with gender, class, race and sexuality.

Reality and the stereotype

The important thing is to take offence; even the smallest of indiscretions(injudiciousness) can leap off the media pages and become a matter of national shame. Tennis star Maria Sharapova’s ignorance of Sachin Tendulkar had cricket fans fuming(angry), asking Indians to boycott her matches; a picture of Sania Mirza, tired and stretching after a match showed her feet balanced near a flag. Her Muslim identity was quickly brought into play against her regard for Indian nationhood; people questioned her allegiance to the flag. And, as she found out the hard way, that Muslims of prominence had to wear their nationalism on the sleeve.

“The bite of satire is cloaked in serious intent only in self-confident societies comfortable with each other’s differences.”

Dealing with taboos

In any case, people in India are different in far too many ways, to ever be viewed as a cohesive(united) , homogeneous mass. To be saddled(burdened) by poverty, to be illiterate, to live in a village or a city slum, to be a Muslim or a Christian, or a tribal, to be a woman, unmarried, to be dark, was the ultimate humiliation in 19th century India. Comedy centres light up with these issues only because little has changed. Several lifetimes and good karmas would be needed to rise to India’s 21st century ideal: Hindu, Brahmin, Male, Urban dweller(inhabit) , Young, Fair, and Moneyed.

Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Fair and Handsome’ ad only reinforced(make stronger) the stereotype. Even the search for a fair skinned wife in the Indian kitchen has not wavered since the dark ages. A wheatish complexioned girl must shell out several fridges, colour TVs and washing machines to compensate for her dreadful facial deformity. One tending towards ‘whole wheat’ is already set for a frugal(economical) life of neglect and loneliness — a teacher in a village school, a warden in an orphanage, an ayah for a diplomat’s family. Life is cruel, India only makes it crueller. Skin whitening ads, khap panchayats, newspaper matrimonial classifieds, all fall within a group that only reinforces the traditional stereotype, ideas that can only be countered with comedians taking them to task. Perhaps Indian taboos are harder and come loaded with years of guilt and recrimination. The position of women in society, the preference for white skin, class and caste — more than any other place, a repressed society needs comedy to mirror issues that affect us all. The impulse to cause psychic disturbance through comedy is the more difficult refrain of satire. Certainly, comedy isn’t the relevant medium for serious debate on serious issues, but its ability to bring the subject into the open, and relieve tension is a crucial beginning.