Two INDIAS

All hell broke loose when comedian and Actor Vir Das recited a monologue called “Two Indias” at John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington on Nov 2021. 

Here he talks about two India’s, one India which is beautiful and inspiring, another India which is full of uncomfortable reality. Along with the praise for his courageous act he was also criticised for demeaning India’s image. Did he do this only to gain popularity or does he really care about India? 

Why on the International stage?

Whenever there’s any issue at our home, we try to rectify it in the home itself. We don’t go to other houses to discuss internal family matters. 

India is not perfect and we may find hundred things wrong with our country, but we don’t crictize it on the international stage just to get some extra popularity. We all are ambassadors of our country. When we go to a foreign land, our words and actions become a representation of our country. Vir’s act was more to just promote himself and nothing else.

It could be argued that most of the audience on that day were mainly NRIs who are already familiar with the issues Vir was raising. But still some of the audience were US citizens also. In the age of social media and the internet, everything has a worldwide reach. Hence the image of India built through Vir’s poem was not an ideal one.

Like any other country India also has its issues and it needs some serious attention. But the negative portrayal of India on the international stage was not in a good taste.

Colonial Mindset

There’s still a certain kind of colonial hangover in many people, including comedians. Them talking negatively about India in a sarcastic funny way is considered as an eminent intellectual thought process. Some people love to being called a liberal intellectual. This kind of people are always craving for west’s approval. He only said what the western perception of India has been since ages. Indian people have worked very hard to dismantle those perceptions. Lots of sweat and determination has gone into making India a developing nation.

And then comes a fellow who thinks himself as a revolutionary comedian. He recites a poem which degrades India on the international stage. Some argued that his intentions were correct but his methodology was wrong. Whatever it may be, but the outcome was bit bitter.

Smart Articulation

Comedians like Vir Das, and few others are very good orators, smart with words. They are very good at making things sound very correct, funny and sarcastic. Smart and skillful talk is their USP. But people must understand that these comedic acts are not close to absolute reality. And sometimes these acts are manipulated also to suit a particular narration.

Two India’s by Vir Das is one such act. It only sounds very nice to ears. But if we analyse each of the lines logically we will find some gaping holes. 

For instance taking a dig at today’s journalism he mentioned that “Women with laptops on roads are telling the truth”. Was he trying to give Barkha Dutt’s example?

It’s true that today’s journalism is almost dead, but Barkha Dutt is not somebody who sets the journalism standards very high. Her reporting on Kashmiri Pandits exodus, Kargil war coverage and the Radia tapes incidents are some blots in her career.

Similarly in another line he states that “India turns orange when they lose to Pakistan in a cricket match”. Was he trying to give it a political and religious angle with the orange colour analogy?

His entire monologue was to target a particular political party and its supporters rather than addressing the root cause. Whatever issues he mentioned are real, but these issues didn’t just crop up in the last eight years. These issues have been there since ages.

Put your City instead of Country

Will Vir himself enjoy something like this if somebody made a monologue called “Two Mumbai’s”? Will the people of Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad enjoy a similar kind of act about their respective cities?

The uncomfortable reality is in India people are more connected to their states, villages and cities rather than their country. If anything is said against the country, a few protests are made here and there, some social media noise and that’s it. If similar kinds of remarks are made against a particular state or city the ramification would be much higher.

All issues of states and cities are collectively called India’s issue. So, the issues raised in the two India’s monologues are your region’s issues as well. People forget that when someone takes a dig at India, somewhere indirectly their territory’s image is also getting tarnished.

Standup Comedians

Comedians doing social commentary wants to be taken seriously. Sometimes they think that they are setting themselves as a role model against a fascist Govt. This is where they fail to read the pulse of nation and end up doing controversial content. This makes them more prone to receiving criticism. Their jokes are rarely politically and socially correct.

Comedians are often accused of only catering to only one type of political class of people. And sometimes they cross the religious line also. Woke and rebellious people are their primary audiences.

On the pretense of being funny, some comedians content are too left wing in nature. And when they face the backlash they play the freedom of expression card. But they forget that the audience also has freedom of expression. They can also criticize you and your act. They can even file defamation case against you. It’s up to the judiciary to bring justice to the matter.

But on the contrary these comedians also face hooliganism and vandalism for their comedic act. This should not be acceptable at any cost in an ideal society. Crictize them but not terrorize them.

Comedians should also understand that everything cannot be passed off in the name of comedy. India has a very different social structure from the west and the Indian audience is not mature enough to understand these types of content. The Indian audience gets offended very easily. Be it anything, somebody somewhere will get offended. 

Public Reaction

Standup comedy only feels good when your political and religious sentiments are not ridiculed, your land and race is not made fun of. Otherwise we don’t hesitate being a hypocritical audience.

In present day India everything is seen from a political point of view. People have also become very intolerant. For each and every small thing there’s an outrage. That’s why Vir’s act wasn’t spared either. Many accused that Vir Das’ short poem only appeased one type of political class of people.

Those who opposed the BJP supported the act and people who supported the BJP opposed the act. People somehow put a thought in their head that the Two India monologue is against the BJP rather than on India. 

Many refer to today’s India as the BJP’s India. Whatever good or bad is happening is because of the BJP Govt. We need to understand that neither BJP is India nor India is BJP. A country is not made of a few elected MPs or MLAs. A country is made up of its people, its Govt and it’s land. That’s why our reaction to anything should be independent from our political views. But the reality is we tend to relate everything with a political view point. This trend has grown significantly in the past few years.

PR Industry and Controversies

If you want to stay in the eyes of the public then you must create news, create unnecessary controversy. This is what seems to be the trend in the entertainment industry. Entertainers like Vir Das and many others thrive on controversies. Recently another comedian Kunal Kamra came to the limelight only after his controversy with news anchor Arnab Goswami. Similarly after Two India Vir Das came into the limelight even more.

Public relations industry is nothing but an image building tool. Good or bad it doesn’t matter. In fact, the more the controversy, the better. People have made their career by creating unwanted controversies. Was Vir Das trying something similar?

We must remember that Vir Das is just an entertainer who is trying to make a living like everybody else. Did Vir Das do the monologue because of the love of India or to simply grab eyeballs? Today’s entertainment world has become more about the controversy rather than the content itself. To give publicity a controversial content has become important. Vir Das must have known that this particular act could become a watershed moment for him. Hence Two India’s poem was a good profitable deal. 

Understand the Issue

The instances of people criticising their own country at the international stage are extremely rare. Whatever Vir’s intention was is a secondary issue. Even if we criticize Vir Das for portraying India in a bad light, we must understand that the issues Vir Das spoke about are genuine. These are the issues which we already are very familiar with. His act might have been a selfish one, but the issues he has raised are real.

Women issues, poverty issues, journalism, lack of fresh ideas, are the issues which we shouldn’t turn away from. We have every right to criticise Vir Das’ act. But, if we become ignorant of the issues Vir pointed out, then the jokes will be on us for not understanding the seriousness of a joke.