Well, Kapil Sharma is back and going by the roar of approval, laughter and cheers packed in a Delhi stadium, a large number of folks really did miss him. And if you thought, in this second coming, he would have evolved into a more..well..refined version of himself, don’t hold your breath. He is still referring to just about any woman as the “property” of her husband. He is still mocking the big lips of Sumona Chakravarti and cracking jokes about spendthrift and talkative wives who won’t let their husbands be and is still as ignorant as ever about the world beyond the tip of his nose because he told Shahrukh Khan with a shudder, “Do teach your child Hindi. Imagine Shahrukh’s child speaking South-Indian!” This accompanied by flailing arms and gibberish.
God forbid that he should ever have to learn the difference between Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or Malayalam.
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So not much has changed from his Comedy Nights with Kapil template but well, something has. He made it a point to insert some “political” quips. So we heard jokes about the Delhi CM’s muffler, his cough, his ‘shikayati’ nature, and if my ears were serving me right amid the din, what Mr Kejriwal’s wife calls him at home. “Baby,” he jeered, “despite the paunch.” I still cannot believe that I heard him right. But if you did, maybe you can confirm and get back to me. And ofcourse there were complimentary references to Modi ji (Ek chai wala kya kar sakta hai..sabhi Dilli wale jaante hai!). Really, Mr Sharma. Not that your show ever was genuinely funny or had a smart sense-of-humour. Now it also has a deliberate political slant? Or was it only because the first show was in Delhi?
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The show also made some really crude attempts at double entendre and really how many times, will we see men in drag begging for kisses? And women either being sexualised (Guess why boys in Delhi like summers better than winters? Well, Mr Sharma will tell you that it has something to do with how women dress) or being mocked for the nuisance they create just because they talk? And there was also a spot poll about how may be an odd-even rule can decide which days of the week they can open their mouth or keep it shut.
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And why blame him alone for trapping women in cliches when most Hindi television programming is as bad or worse? So we either have the venomous Vishkanyas and Naagins or the docile bahus who worship the mata rani and battle with other women over men and property. In crime stories, especially the kind you see on Saavdhan India, women are either victims or manipulators with blood on their mind. I saw bits of a recent episode where a man was shown dragging a woman all across the floor to a room where he could force himself on her. Not unlike the Muktsar footage that went viral recently where a woman was dragged out of an office and raped. In most of the stories we see in Saavdhan India on Life Ok (what is with the name, anyway?), whether a woman is a potential victim of a sexual crime or a temptress, the salivating camera lingers on her body as if she was not a thinking, feeling human-being but just a piece of meat.
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In Indian television and advertising, it pays to sell women in certain roles. The bimbo. The scheming witch who breaks up families and wrecks homes. The woman who is only interested in a man for his money and will do anything to get it. Or the all forgiving goddesses who can go to any lengths to nurture their loved ones. The mother who can do no wrong. The bahu who will be tested again and again to prove that she fits in. It is hard to find a woman who is not playing an unfinished prototype anywhere in popular culture so really, why are we so bothered about Kapil Sharma? It all boils down to TRPs and if a critical mass believes that his show just like Yo Yo Honey Singh’s music defines popular culture today, why worry about intangibles like ignorance and misogyny that he injects into the thought streams of millions every time he opens his mouth?
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Laughter is delicious especially if it is at someone else’s expense. And like he would say, “Sab enjoy kar rahein na?” Yup, they seemingly are. And whether that is the bottomline or the bottom of the barrel, what does it matter. The cult of bad taste is here to stay. And will rule us till we decide to get up and walk away.
Reema Moudgil is the editor and co-founder of Unboxed Writers, the author of Perfect Eight, the editor of Chicken Soup for the Soul-Indian Women, a translator who recently interpreted Dominican poet Josefina Baez’s book Comrade Bliss Ain’t Playing in Hindi, an RJ and an artist who has exhibited her work in India and the US and is now retailing some of her art at http://paintcollar.com/reema. She won an award for her writing/book from the Public Relations Council of India in association with Bangalore University, has written for a host of national and international magazines since 1994 on cinema, theatre, music, art, architecture and more. She hopes to travel more and to grow more dimensions as a person. And to be restful, and alive in equal measure.
