Comedian Kanan Gill: We are ready to take criticism on our jokes, but not FIRs and life threats
Kanan Gill
As the country gets polarised over the prevalent joke culture in India, comedians opened up on what it means to be a comedian in the country
Comedian of India feel that there is a growing pressure in the country with respect to jokes and their perception. Some of India’s popular comedians say the negative response doesn’t scare them to adulterate their voice but there is definitely a lot of backlash, trolls and complaints against them.
Speaking to a news agency, Kanan Gill said, “We are definitely a soft target. So yes, backlash makes us conscious. We are ready to take criticism on our jokes, but not FIRs and life threats. But that does not stop us to say what we want to say.”
Agreeing with him, stand-up comedian Kaneez Surka said: “We comedians are the truth tellers, showing life the way it is, is a part of our job. Whether it is sarcasm, finding a lighter note on a serious issue, everything is coming from reality.
“Unfortunately, the (political) climate is so tense and polarised that any truth teller is in trouble — whether it is a comedian, celebrity, journalist… Whichever side you take, the opposite party will put your life in danger.” She says she tried it on social media.
“People called me all kinds of things. It is not only with me, but most of my fellow comedians. We get trolled, humiliated and at times complaints are lodged against us. But you know what? No one can stop us to say what we want to say,” she added.
On whether there are any riskier topics that comedians find the audience might respond to differently, comedian Sumukhi Suresh said: “I think predicting the response of an audience is riskier than writing a joke! So instead of finding the risk factor in a joke, just put it out there. It will find its like-minded audience.”
Comedian Naveen Richard stressed on the need to have confidence to do a political satire. He said, “Take that genre if only you find your voice there. Otherwise, it would be pretentious. There are various topics to make fun of.”
These comedians are now coming together along with Tanmay Bhat, Kenny Sebastian, Sapan Verma and Biswa Kalyan Rath to mentor and judge Amazon Prime Original comedy reality show “Comicstaan” that begins on July 13.