Comedy is Serious Business

Saraswat’s new show on Star One,Hans Baliye,falls in the line of stand-up shows that followed the success of Laughter Challenge. These shows include Comedy Circus and Chote Miyan,which featured children. Hans Baliye,Saraswat claims,is different from the others because here it’s couples who’ll be performing together. “These are real-life showbiz couples who’ll be kidding each other and poking fun at marital life.” None of the actors are seasoned comedians,although some of them do have some background like Tanaz Irani,who’ll appear on the show with her husband Bakhtiyar Irani.

Of course,its not just television that has given a home to stand-up comedians. The opening of leading UK comedy club,The Comedy Store’s first Indian branch in Mumbai is significant.

Founder Don Ward notes the popularity that comics like Russel Peters have enjoyed in India for the past few years and says,“We believe that India is ready for ‘observational comedy’,in addition to what they have now on TV. But live comedy is very different and the interaction with live audiences is really exciting.”

The club will also be introducing new international comics each week alongside developing local talent. Comics Sean Meo,Ian Stone and Paul Tonkinson will be launching the club next week and as Ward points out,“Indian comedy is heavily based on jokes and physical impact,but the great thing is that there seems to be a real enthusiasm for what we are doing.”

Trade analyst Taran Adrash belives that the space of comedy has increased everywhere — television and movies. “It’s not just slapstick humour anymore. Indians are learning to laugh at themselves and that has given rise to other kinds of humour like satire and black humour. Out and out comedy is now being attempted.”

He believes that humour has become an integral part of our lives chiefly because of the rising levels of stress.

However,Bhatti laments that while comedy has evolved in other mediums,newspaper cartoons and comics remain woefully inadequate.

“There was a time when people would wake up to cartoons on the front pages. Now,they’re hard to find and if they are there,the quality has gone down. It could be because the generation of great cartoonists like R K Laxman is passing us. If that is indeed the case,then it’s a sad day for us.”