I was actually browsing the YouTube for the "Candle in the wind" video. Somehow, well, I do not know how, but the YouTube took me to the stand-up comedy genre. Initially, I was pleasantly surprised to know that there is such a wealth of varied content. Literally countless are the stand-up comics, and each one seems to be getting views at least in lakhs, with crores of subscribers to boot!
That made me wonder why our country is considered to be so low on the happiness quotient. Each video had the attendees uncontrollably howling with non-stop laughter, and each comic seemed to have shows all over the country, not to forget the "phoren"!
Honestly, such stand-up comics seem to compete hard (both in numbers and in inanity) with the chart-busting "bestseller" self-published books that are making authors of everybody who, moreover, pair them with some ''sell-a-" type business! Oh, yes, Alia Bhatt has children's books as her niche (business) now!
To get back to the comedy shows, they prove why our country is not very "high" comedy wise. Yes, every "tuchchee" show has to gloat over the "high" business. One grandee declares that when he goes to stay in the hostel of a famous institute, his mom asks him not to 'smoke or drink'. So the obedient son directly graduates, it seems, to "ganja", "hara patta" to quote him, and the auditorium erupts into appreciative guffaws!
The jokes in these shows are "highly" repetitive. They always mock family, relationships, studies. In one of the comic shows, the lady (why would women trail, right?!?) talks of her siblings as "chudail, bhoot, and dayan". Sorry, I have not managed to quote exactly. Hardly matters though, as actually it is not worth a mention.
Sure, exaggeration IS the need of the genre. Yet all that mocks, and without much wit/sardonic satire, is rather "funny", to say the least!!! And the language that is used is equally "funny", too. Every ugly cussword, mostly with reference to sexual antics, preferably targetting women, including mother and sister, is liberally sprinkled to "raise" the content, absolutely dull otherwise!
Who spares some four hundred buckies for such live shows? It clearly means a certain class. No Marxist prejudices implied, please! Hardly worth it! Could it be an extension of the pub culture? I would not really know, but 3.30 a.m. accidents appear worth an "essay" after such weed, eh, no, feed. Incidentally, better to clarify that 'essay' means not only what most such comics (both performers and listeners) found a horror during their school days, but the word also means 'to try'!
Why has our comic sense reached such a nadir? Being young does not mean spouting the emptiest content in the ugliest language! There are such great comics around. No, I am not going to quote P.G.Wodehouse or the P.L. Deshpande types. Why, just have a look at current cartoons in major dailies. In minimum most words and smartest strokes, they provide the most scathing critique possible.
In brief, if such, such is what makes a huge chunk of the 'young' from a certain class laugh roaringly, indeed it is tragic! Cry, Comedy!
Pratima@'How' we laugh at 'what' defines us!
No comments:
Post a Comment