Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
NOTHING MUCH TO LAUGH ABOUT?
As the new season of a standup comedy show, judged by actor Akshay Kumar, successfully completes its run, we find out why there are so few such TV shows and why most of them fail to raise a laugh
There’s so much stress in the world, so if you can make someone laugh, it will always work — that’s how Bollywood’s ‘comedy king’ David Dhawan sees Indian viewers’ appetite.
After The Great Indian Laughter Challenge (TGILC) introduced India to stand-up comedy shows in the mid2000s, a number of similar programmes came up. But, as the fifth season of TGILC — with Akshay Kumar as the star judge — successfully completes its run, it’s interesting to note that Hindi entertainment channels no longer attempt many stand-up comedy shows, and when they do, the shows usually fail.
So why can’t stand-up comedians raise a laugh in a country that loves a laugh? Actor and stand-up comedian, Raju Srivastava says, “It’s surprising that in a country of over a billion people, with 500 [TV] channels, there are hardly any comedy shows, especially those featuring stand-up comedians.”
At present, besides TGILC, The Drama Company and Entertainment Ki Raat are also on air. Over the past few years, shows such as Comedy Dangal, Comedy Ka Maha Muqabala, Comedy Classes, Mazaak Mazaak Mein, and Mad In India hit the small screen. But only a few shows have struck the right chord — examples are Comedy Nights With Kapil, The Kapil Sharma Show, Comedy Nights Bachao, and Comedy Circus.
Explaining the hurdles, Bollywood director Sajid Khan, who’s known for his comedy films, says “stand-up comedy is a very strong form of comedy” in which the performer directly addresses the audience, and “it’s a very big challenge to make an entire nation laugh on TV”.
Raju agrees with this view, adding that stand-up comedy “isn’t an easy art”. He says, “Unlike a daily soap actor, a stand-up comedian is totally alone on the stage. So, he [or she] has to be genuinely funny and talented, or else he or she can be written off in a jiffy.”
Sajid also believes that “comedy has, in a way, regressed” — comic material, as seen worldwide, has “become offensive”, he says.
Akshay puts things in perspective: “The world cannot survive without laughter as it’s the essence of life. But it takes guts and great intelligence to hold a crowd’s attention and entertain them.”