Journalism of Courage
For his latest show The Traveling Pants,Sohrab Pant compiles anecdotes from his travels across the world
People in Kolkata are the laziest people on Earth. South Indians are over educated. Delhiites always use the line Tu jaanta nahi mera baap kaun hai (Don’t you know who my father is) in every argument or conversation. These might seem like gross generalisations to most,but for comedian Sohrab Pant,these are inspirations for his stand-up comedy act–The Travelling Pants.
After getting into a controversy in 2012 for his act where he called the BR Chopra’s version of Mahabharata as the ultimate rave party of 3000 BC,Pant says that the Indian audiences have matured to a level where they can appreciate humour without letting it affect their sentiments. But he still is wary about not messing with the sensitive spots. While he does swear quite often on stage,he does not depend on getting laughs by just using random cuss words. In an experiment to test whether only cuss words can make an audience crack up,he ended a rather bad piece with a string of random cuss words during one of his performances. To his surprise,the audience was roaring with laughter by the end of the act. I am not an anecdotal comedian or someone who would just use filthy language where it is not even needed to get people laughing. I work on my scripts,sort my jokes and hence call myself the best comedian in the country, said Pant,who is currently working on his second book as well as on a film.
