Saturday 21 March 2015

roast again!

ROAST AGAIN!



Chaitali Gursahani | Pune | March 21, 2015


Photo courtesy : timesofindia.indiatimes




In a first of its kind comedy show in India, All India Bakchod released the AIB Roast; starring Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh on YouTube on January 28, 2015. Karan Johar, who was the Roast Master, began the show by saying, "Let the filth begin." At the roast, few AIB comedians made fun of top Bollywood actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. The humor was explicit ranging from the stars' sex lives to loo humor to digs at the not-so-good moments from their careers. No one was spared, be it Roast Master Karan Johar, the stars in the audience (including Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt), or even the comedians themselves! Everyone became a target on the show. The AIB Knockout was a one night event set aside where Bollywood stars Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor got taken down a notch by All India Bakchod and some special guests live on stage. AIB threw the funniest, nastiest and most politically incorrect insults at Ranveer and Arjun, and all they could do was just grin and bear it. While it was great to watch these stars take everything in with a smile on their faces, Karan Johar played a perfect Roast Master. What followed was an entertaining exchange between the stars.



After much debate and critical reviews on the AIB Knockout roast of Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, the three part video has been finally removed from the YouTube. The viral video group received a lot of criticism for using foul language in the roast. The video divided Twitter into two groups with #AIBNationalShame and #WeStandByAIBKnockout. 

Trending on social media






Photo courtesy : Bollywoodlife.com ;trending on social media against AIB


While many argue that the roast was a cheap take at humor and offended many, one has to take into account the fact that those who were being offended, had signed up for it, no pressure. We talk about a country with freedom of speech and expression, and YouTube is a social media where one is permitted to express themselves. Why then should we make such a hoo-ha about the AIB Roast? 
   

The show hosts have given a clear disclaimer about the kind of humor used in the show, so if one is sensitive to such humor, one should avoid watching it at all. It is just like porn. Porn is something that most people including me find offensive and cheap. Which is why I avoid watching it. But at the same time I respect someone else’s right to watch it for whatever purpose it may be. And I wouldn’t say that it should be banned.


My simple argument here is that if I don’t like something, or find it offensive to my values and sentiments, I will stay away from it, which is what everyone who found the roast offensive should have done. Besides, these comedians are known for cooking up this kind of filthy humor. And while I agree that they did pass derogatory remarks towards people and society, I believe so do many other mediums. Many a TV show pokes fun at communities. Take for example the show ‘The Big Bang Theory’ which stars an Indian Rajesh Koothrapalli as one of the leads. Many jokes are constantly made about him being brown and coming from India. On more than one occasion in the show, he is referred to as ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Does that mean the show is offensive? I think not. I believe that people should keep an open mind towards issues such as these. We live in a country of many castes and cultures and everything that someone says is bound to hurt some community or the other. We shouldn’t wear the hat, just because it fits us. As a developing country, we must learn to be open-minded and deal with such issues without creating such an upheaval that sheds bad light on India as an intolerant and backward country. 

 Although a note to the AIB fellas can be found in  " Sensitivity and sensibility in satire ". And to all the other, well its easy to get offended with certain comments but it takes courage and skill to write and make an aundience laugh. Also one must remember that we stay in India, a country so diverse that nobody can please everybody. So how about each Indian taking a pledge to understand where the other is coming from and then judge them according to each's prejudices. 
Photo courtesy: funnyjunk.com 

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