There is a famous adage: ‘When the truth hurts, tell a joke’! But what do you do when humour hurts? What recourse do you have then in order to deal with it?!?
Well, ladies…and…gentlemen, while the country was busy grappling with the inordinate problems of the denizen’s everyday pedestrian lives…trying to fight the drought…trying to fight poverty…trying to find communal violence…trying to fight inflation…trying to fight corruption…and simply trying to just survive one more day of macabre mayhem, a video surfaced online — a morphed image of Tanmay Bhat superimposed/embedded onto the faces of [ace cricketer] Sachin Tendulkar and [singing sensation] Lata Mangeshkar as he goes about on a rambunctious rampage of ridicule and ridiculousness.
To be completely honest with you, being astutely aware of AIB’s [in]famous antics, I was not too surprised on Tanmay Bhat’s latest goof[up] and had not really spared a second thought for even a second to the video in question, let alone subject my senses and sensibilities to the bozo’s senseless shenanigans. However, the fracas over the “funny” video stirred the omnipotent researcher in me and thus, I set about finding the alleged video so that I could first-hand witness what the furore and uproar was over.
As I sat there watching the video, (trying desperately to see the comedy mind you), I knew I wasn’t going to find any. The video is not funny. Period. Although, to be honest, I don’t think that was Tanmay Bhat’s original intention either. He probably was sitting idle…wondering how he could make the video go viral — and Bam! — like a contagious infection, the video succeeded in delivering what his original objective was. Make everyone sick! That’s what such vile viral videos do…they make you sick. [Note: Well, if there is anyone who thinks the video’s funny, he/she probably is in dire need of some time in the ICU [Intensive Comedy Understanding] for the video does not even make you smile, let alone laugh. And if these comics think this is comedy, it is probably time to gift them the quintessential book, ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Comedy’.]
After all, it is one thing to take a dig at someone’s work (Lata’s singing or Tendulkar’s batting) — for ‘being a celebrity’ has its occupational hazards — but comedy does not mean taking a dig at all-things-personal. Those jokes are not just in bad taste, they document a double-standard. For the same people who derogatorily mock the country’s role model would not dare mock “certain” other individuals. For example, do you really think Tanmay Bhat would have mocked his grandmothers, who simply by virtue of age — as Lata Mangeshkar — might also look like a victim of reverse osmosis?!? Do you think the AIB in general and Tanmay Bhat in particular will take a dig at certain individuals, who would respond in unpleasant ways? Well, in case you’re going – oh, but of course — remember this…the sheer fear of Salman Khan was enough to get them to shut up, edit and drop the bit about Salman’s sister [AIB roast]. Then again, they fear Salman Khan! Albeit Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar are gentler souls, and thereby easy targets.
However, having said that…I really don’t think arresting Tanmay Bhat is the solution to a bad comedian telling a bad joke. In a country that is battling real issues, Tanmay Bhat is so inconsequential that you probably will need a microscope (despite his circumference) to see him and a stethoscope (despite his vulgarity) to hear him. Thus, instead of this fracas of biblical proportions, let us deal with the real issues; and leave it up to Batman to kill The Joker…
