Vir Das confronts YouTuber for giving platform to someone who called him a ‘coolie’, says ‘It’s incredibly ignorant and racist’

Vir Das was at the centre of a controversy in 2021, after releasing a video titled 'I Come From Two Indias'.

New Delhi | January 7, 2023 10:44 AM IST

4 min read

Vir Das was called a 'coolie' by Abhijit Chavda after he did the video 'I am from two Indias'. (Photo: Vir Das, Abhijit Chavda/Instagram)

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Actor-comedian Vir Das was at the epicentre of a controversy back in November 2021, when he posted a video titled ‘I Come From Two Indias’ — a monologue that he delivered at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC. In the six-minute video, he talked about the contrasting faces of modern India, touching on issues such as the battle against Covid-19, rape, a crackdown against comedians, and the farmers’ protests. The comedian was slapped with police complaints in the aftermath of the controversial video, which a vocal section of the public declared to be anti-India.

He even got called a ‘coolie’ by Abhijit Chavda, a scientist and a self-trained historian, who regularly comments on geopolitics, on The Ranveer Show podcast.

Recently, Vir appeared on the same podcast and discussed Abhijit’s comment about him with the show’s host. He said that after the ‘Two Indias’ video went viral, he received a video clip in which a ‘gentleman’ was calling him a ‘coolie’. He told host Ranveer Allahbadia, “I messaged you in a month in my life where there wasn’t a single member of my family who hadn’t been threatened. With every bit of discourse that did something, added to a situation which I have not spoken about.”

Also read | Vir Das Landing review: Comedian dissects Two Indias and his two identities in sharp and sentimental Netflix standup comedy special

Elaborating on his message to Ranveer, the comedian added, “I hope he (Abhijit) knows when you call an Indian person a coolie, it’s like you are calling a Black person the n-word, or a slave. It’s incredibly ignorant and racist. In my message to you, I never said, ‘Don’t say this about me, I just said I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else on your show.'”

He further stated that he blames nobody but himself for the situation he found himself in. “It was just the circumstance of where I was, that is nobody’s fault but my own. I am responsible for my own circumstance at all times, whether intentionally or unintentionally,” he said. Vir Das opened up about his ‘school of living’ as an artist, which is to accept all the feedback he gets without any opposition. “I am an Indian artist, I have been taught to accept my feedback, mouth shut and head down. It has been my school of living, however you feel about my content, it is valid feedback.

Also read | Vir Das: Made my country laugh for 10 years, will continue writing love letters to India

Despite all the negativity, Vir focussed on one thing, he said, which is to “make people laugh.” He concluded, “Should I learn from your feedback? Absolutely, at all times. Do I acknowledge art is imperfect? Absolutely. Do I feel artists who are evolving should have the freedom to be imperfect without a system coming down at them and being threatened, absolutely, they should. Do I feel what happened to me or my wife being threatened or any of these things, is right or wrong? Buddy, who cares? Nobody cares. I am a comic, and the most question is, ‘Is it funny? Is it an interesting story?’ Yes, it is. So, that becomes my job. ‘Shut up, sit down and write jokes about it.'”

The comedian recently released his standup comedy special, ‘Vir Das Landing‘ on Netflix.

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