Not funny

Actress Tannishtha Chatterjee has slammed a TV comedy show, to which she was invited, for making fun of her skin colour in the name of roast.

As a part of the promotions of her recently released film Parched, Tannishtha along with director Leena Yadav and co-star Radhika Apte went to show Comedy Nights Bachao.

The actress, in a lengthy Facebook post, wrote about the way her dark skin tone was made fun of.

“Something shocked me out of my wits yesterday. I was invited as a guest to a popular comedy show called comedy night bachao to promote my latest release Parched with my director Leena yadav and my co-actor Radhika Apte.”

Tannishtha said when she was told she would be the subject of a roast, the actress thought it would be on the lines of US TV shows like Saturday Night Live and was actually looking forward to it.

“Then this show began. And this was an entirely novel understanding of roast that equates itself with bullying. To my utmost horror, I soon realised that the only quality they found worth roasting about in me was my skin tone. It began with ‘aap ko jamun bahut pasand hoga zaroor! Kitna jamun khaya aapne bachpan se?’ And went on in that direction,” she wrote.

She said she initially tried to go along with the show but could not tolerate the “offensive” jokes after a point.

“I could not believe I was sitting in a nationally televised comedy show in 2016 in Mumbai amid such regressive and blatantly racist content. Though I was feeling suffocated, I decided to give it another chance, and sat through another equally offensive segment.

“Nothing changed. I could not sit there anymore. I had to leave. When I told the organisers what I felt, they said, ‘But we told you it is a roast!’ I explained to them the common perception of roast and how it is different from bullying. That there is no humor value in a joke about some ones physical attributes especially one that stems from deep prejudices.” —PTI