Standup comedian Kunal Kamra was summoned by Khar police after his latest show grabbed attention. In the last 10 years, the world of standup comedy has become the centre of political turmoil.
Political turmoil is being seen after the show of standup comedian Kunal Kamra. The stand-up comedian recently sang a controversial parody of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in his show. After this, there was an uproar on and off social media and Khar police also sent him a summons notice. Standup comedy has become the centre of political turmoil in the last few years. Just before Kamra, another standup comedian Samay Raina was also embroiled in a controversy. In the last 10 years, standup comedians have had to go to jail or were even thrashed after certain sections thought their shows were provocative. Today in this story, we will try to cover how standup comedy has become the reason for political turmoil in India in the last decade.
From TV OTT to live shows
In India, comedy has made a place in the minds of common people in the last 15 years and the last 10 years have been very good for the art of standup comedy. The culture of standup comedy in India started from TV and in the 2000s, many laughter shows were presented to the audience by artists. In the year 2009, a place named ‘The Comedy Store’ was started in Mumbai. In the 2010s, standup comedians like Vir Das and Kenny Sebastian earned more fame abroad than in India. However, before this, many artists including Raju Srivastava used to do standup comedy. After 2010, many new artists including Zakir Khan also started making headlines with their shows. After 2015, the culture of standup comedy started becoming popular in India. Not only were these shows seen on OTT platforms but the trend of watching live stand-up shows has also increased.
When a comedian was beaten up during a live show
In 2012, Tanmay Bhatt and some of his colleagues started a platform called AIB. In 2015, an AIB did a roasting standup comedy show in which almost all the big celebrities of Bollywood participated. This show was also in a lot of controversies because vulgar comedy and abuse were used in it. From here, standup comedy in India remained surrounded by controversies. Munawar Faruqui was once beaten up by some people during a running show in Indore. Not only this, he also had to go to jail for hurting religious sentiments with his jokes.
Standup comedy became the centre of a political stir
Let us tell you that in the last 10 years, standup comedy has become a major reason for political stir. Recently, the OTT show ‘India Got Latent’ made on standup comedy was also in controversies. This show started by standup comedian Samay Raina, gained a lot of popularity and was also surrounded by controversies. Ranveer Allahbadia, who came to this show as a guest, asked controversial questions to the contestants of the show. After the video went viral, there was a political stir. The Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Assam demanded action against this show. Later not only the entire panel was called for questioning by Maharashtra Cyber Cell but the show was also shut down.
Kunal Kamra has a long association with controversies
Let us tell you that standup comedian Kunal Kamra has a long association with controversies. Even before this, Kunal has had to face backlash many times. Recently, he came up with a controversial parody of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde during his standup show. After which a political stir started. Khar Police is also taking action on this matter and has also sent a notice to Kunal Kamra.
What is the history of standup comedy?
The birthplace of standup comedy is America. After World War II, the culture of standup comedy grew in the clubs of Los Angeles and New York, America. In 1940, standup comedians like Milton Barley, Sid Caesar and Jackie Mason started this trend in America. After this, from the 50s to the 70s, this standup comedy continued in clubs and pubs and then after TV, it made its place on the screen. After the 21st century i.e. 2000, this culture started spreading all over the world and it made its place in India too. Today, standup comedy has become a big means of entertainment in our country but our comedians still lack the freedom of speech that other countries provide.
