Anuvab Pal

Thetwo nation state theory of Indian comedy

Comedyin urban Indiais going through an unexpected revolution. I say revolution, as if to suggestthat it has come out of necessity (as the above anecdote hopefully reveals) butit didn’t.  Elite Indiaalways asked itself, after watching something humorous and western, why can’twe have an Indian Ali G or Seinfeld or even a mass product like a Hugh Grantromantic comedy?  But no one did much about it, except to watch RussellPeters, the Canadian Indian stand-up comic do Chinese impressions and jokesabout his testicles (sometimes together) or download The Office or Entourage.

Suddenly,across Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore a range of British and Australiancomedians started showing up. Local comedians like Vir Das and Papa CJ (that’snot a restaurant but a person) found release through larger producers andbigger gigs. TheHangover, a Hollywood comedy about the aftermath of a Las Vegas night (tiger inthe bathroom, baby in the closet, lost groom, lost tooth, Mike Tyson, unplannedmarriage to stripper, clearly nothing hugely specific to us) became the highestgrossing English language comedy ever. City hipsters found themselves laughingevery other weekend, in halls previously populated by Naseeruddin Shah in robesand a sword, to Australians making jokes about Varanasi god men (bribes and weed) or Vir Dasranting about the Indian male sexual organ (small).