Say cheese

All I crave for is a good joke and a chilled beer – Anonymous

And half of it has been almost snatched away from me. Thankfully it’s not the latter half but the jolting pace at which regressive thinking is setting in, I’ll need to already start getting used to ‘orange’ juice. Till then, for what it’s worth let’s exercise our resolve and freedom of speech that our very vibrant democracy gives us.

Today we live in troubled times. As much as Kim Kardashian would have us believe otherwise, there is a lot in this world that is still imperfect. And one of those imperfections is the human desire for perfect order. Any time someone comes along to question/ challenge/ defy that order, all hell breaks loose. The #AIBknockout did just that, in a very small measure. It challenged the basic norms that define a human being’s personal space, social hierarchy and freedom of speech – all of which are at dangerously destructive levels in India anyway. Karan Johar coming out of the closet was the star of the show. The way he threw open his personal space and gave up his place in the hierarchy to be roasted by the panel was enough evidence of the fact that he doesn’t mind being hated for what he is than being judged for what he is not. That in itself is reason enough for a lot of people to be cautiously inspired. Cautiously, because one needs to be comfortable in their own skin before they can bare it.

The only way to really be able to insulate oneself from the offence of the content is to imagine this as a Friday night house party of a group of south Bombay boys – just some beer and friendly banter – because truly that’s what it really was. If one lost sleep because of the noise and called the cops, it’s just unfortunate because it doesn’t mean that it will not happen again! Minus the profanities from Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, everything else had a good dose of intelligence in it. We also need to understand that with the exception of a few actors like Shah Rukh Khan, actors are not the most creative people because they are puppets anyway so in that light the two dudes did a fabulous job.

Nevertheless as we have seen there was more that happened in the aftermath of the roast than in it. The letter from AIB that followed through a couple of days back was very intriguing.

There is no such thing as ‘just a joke’

And comedians of the quality of AIB should know that. A joke is in fact the sincerest form of truth. If it was just a ‘just’ then the folks at AIB wouldn’t dedicate half their lives to it. The letter that was posted on Twitter was a statement of the obvious and said things that we know they stand for and we support them in that. So the only reason it probably was released was to appease the gatekeepers of our culture or to apologize to Virat Kohli! That apology also was unwarranted. While the sarcasm in the letter was evident (that’s what happens when you ask a comedian to write an apology letter) there was no need to say sorry to Virat Kohli even if they really didn’t mean it.

Being offended – a right alright, but not a duty!

The fundamental difference between rights and duties is introduced but not explained to the average Indian school-goer at a very young age. Thankfully, taking offence to almost anything is not just an Indian habit but it’s a human trait, and unfortunately the only one at that, which binds us all human beings. So often we forget our place in the universe as a tiny speck of dust and instead make the mistake of thinking we are stars in a convoluted version of the Truman show mixed with keeping up with the Kardashians. In that vision of grandeur we let our biases take over and instead of arguing with common sense and logic we use force easily available at hand. In true spirit of the roast, I would have loved to see the MNS and all those petitioners come together in a roast version video of their own to get back at AIB in a language that they understand and appreciate– humour (black, white, blue, saffron – anything would have been fine). That would have been very good fun! But pigs will have to fly before that can happen.

This whole episode, and how it’s unfurling right now, is really badly timed. Smack in the middle of the Delhi elections plus the world cup is coming. It may augur well for our friends at AIB because with it’s current form the Indian cricket team is expected to keep the nation distracted at least until the quarter finals. After that another 49 days of live entertainment from Delhi (tax free hopefully) and that will be long enough for this to fade away from public memory.  That is also enough time for Bollywood to pull the right strings and get some cops transferred or moved from this non-case of a case. The videos will sneak back up on to Youtube and free speech will again be back on it’s feet!