Now Kapil Sharma may be the nation’s favourite comedian, and while many may hail the news of his imminent return as wonderful tidings, some of us may do so with several reservations. We are reliably informed that Kapil Sharma and his motley crew of men in drag and other assorted oddities will soon be back with The Kapil Sharma Show. The show will air on Sony on 23 April 2016.
The action will shift to something called ‘Shantivan ‘Non’ Cooperative Housing Society’ and usual suspects Kiku Sharda, Sunil Grover, Ali Asgar, Chandan Prabhakar and Sumona Chakravarti will be seen in new avatars as residents of the society. While we are assured that we will see a new, revamped bag of jokes from Sharma, he has unfortunately decided that the wife jokes will continue unabated.
So why do we like Kapil Sharma?
He is genuinely funny
His comic timing, his spontaneous reactions to situations and his inherent ability to make people laugh is undeniable.
He is relatable
Kapil Sharma is Everyman. His attitudes are utterly identifiable as middle class; his humour is very easy to comprehend. He takes everyday occurrences and finds something funny about each of them.
The celebs love him too
He has created a perfect persona that blends familiarity with respectfulness when dealing with top celebs and anyone who is anyone in Indian showbiz has made an appearance on his show.
At times he makes important social comments
He does at times make the effort to comment against certain social issues such as women’s rights; albeit to a very limited and extremely rudimentary extent.
Why do we dislike Kapil Sharma?
He says his jokes are not disrespectful to women
And therein is encapsulated all that is wrong with the attitudes of men towards women in India: men simply do not realise how unconscious their misogyny is; how entrenched their patriarchy. When you’re offensive, derisive and disrespectful and do not even realise this; that is the most insidious kind of malaise. Sharma unfortunately suffers from this malaise and caters to the lowest common denominator that does too.
Married men mooning over other women is not funny
Jeering at his own wife constantly, making fun of certain physical characteristics and rubbishing her family at any given opportunity then making sheep’s eyes at other beautiful and glamorous women who come on to the show is quite simply, distasteful.
His comedy is very low-brow
Making fun of physical quirks or infirmity is not exactly intelligent comedy. It may appeal to a vast majority of the viewing public (and that says a lot about this public) but for the most part the Kapil’s comedy continues to laugh at prejudice, infirmity or disability. Bumbling men in drag people his show… need we say more?
Nevertheless, Kapil Sharma is back – and all of India is waiting to see what he is back with.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
