No mocking please, we are Indians!

Nonika Singh 

MUCH as there have been other bans, humour has not (yet) been banned in India. Not that it is deterring the hypersensitive from retaliating against perceived slights by firing off legal notices, police complaints, or both. 

Our story starts with this year's recently concluded IIFA, which may not be one of the best-organised award shows.  Most heavyweights, except Salman Khan, might have given the show a miss. But never mind the shortcomings, here is a tribe all set to give it an extra shot at fame. 

 Sure when Saif Ali Khan and Karan Johar took to stage as the star anchors of the much-hyped awards show at New York, no one expected the proceedings to be a dull affair. Karan Johar, his fans know all too well, is unstoppable when it comes to throwing barbs in various directions. To be fair to him, not only are his wisecracks sardonically funny, he is equally supportive when darts are aimed at him.  Of course, his spite with the feisty and voluble Kangana Ranaut dates back to his hugely popular show, Koffee with Karan, which sparked the nepotism debate. Since then, the duo has been locked in a verbal duel every now and then. Johar decided to mock her during IIFA as well and alongwith with star sons Varun Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan, shouted “nepotism rocks” with heightened glee. Some laughed, others didn't, some called it in bad taste and others dismissed it as just another joke, neither worth a penny nor a thought. Still many took up cudgels on behalf of Kangana and the gutsy gal was not the one to remain mum.  But if Kangana put the matter to an end with an open letter to Saif Ali Khan, putting things in perspective, our Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani is not the one to be hushed up so easily. 

He has served a legal notice to the IIFA organisers.   Ever since the director of little consequence has been elevated as the Censor Board chief, he has ruffled many feathers, courtesy his rather orthodox stance. In response, he has been called many names. Why the epithet “sanskari” has all but stuck to him. Every once in a while, he vents his ire against his detractors and this time he saw red in the seemingly inoffensive usage of the term "watchman". Had he been the true follower of the masters he purports to serve, he would have turned around the analogy to his advantage.  But he thought it better, certainly not wiser, to cry foul. His now-public legal notice demands an unqualified apology from the organisers.

Over the years, awards functions have acquired a reputation for rubbing many (read the rich and famous) the wrong way.  Back in time, it was Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his super flop Saawariya that goaded Shah Rukh Khan to take potshots at the otherwise acclaimed director.  The result was an extended stalemate between the superstar Khan and the man who directed him in his magnum opus Devdas.  Indeed, until the master of roasts AIB, an Indian comedy group, entered the arena, jokes targeting individuals were deemed off-colour and were all but off the radar.  With the advent of irreverent AIB, jokes suddenly became personal, political and a tad tasteless and vicious too.  The storm that AIB whipped up with its knockout punch featuring celebs such as Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is too well recorded. The nation knows too well what the expletives-laced funride entailed and why it outraged them.  Perhaps, India is not ready for the AIB brand of humour, perhaps roast is too alien a concept for our easily irked and holier-than-thou sensibilities. So an intelligent actor like Tannishtha Chatterjee doesn't find it funny when the joke is on her dark complexion, when AIB targets icons such as Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, viewers give it the thumbs down.

Clearly, it's not religion alone that is a holy cow in this country.  Thin-skinned men and women of varying complexions and sizes are as easily offended, mostly without provocation, and take a high moral ground on issues which are but a laughing matter. AIB tried to rake in the trend of trading insults and make a career out of it with limited success. Ranveer and Arjun may not have taken offence but the rest of India sure does.  No wonder Arunabh Kumar of The Viral Fever says, "India is a funny country without a sense of humour."  

But before we lose all hope, tune in to the good-old radio where modern-day RJs such as Naved go around merrily minting fun at the expense of others, mostly ordinary mortals. Most such interactions between RJs and their unsuspecting prey (murgas and bakras or guinea pigs if you will have) end up with a hearty laugh…a joke is after all a joke. 

Nihalani and his kind need to realise that there is a thin line between to laugh and being laughed at.  Or that laughter and jokes have yet not become illegal in India where other lifestyle choices are fast becoming so.  Oops, have we said it too soon? With Nihalani intimidating us with, "I know when to make others cry…" who knows laughter might be on its way out too. For in the long list of his ludicrous diktats stands this latest one: a ban on smoking and drinking scenes. But then last heard he might be on his way out too. Long live laughter… only if Nihalani and company would develop a funny bone. Till then humorists in India would end up learning it the hard way that the joke invariably turns out to be on them.

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