Comedian Kapil Sharma's name has appeared as one of the top five most mentioned TV personalities on Twitter in 2014. The fact that in the last year, his show Comedy Nights With Kapil, has emerged as one of the most popular shows on Indian television, too, is undisputable.
Look around, everyone is talking about "Babaji ka thullu", "Gutthi's introduction style", "Guptaji's ringing mobile", "Raju's plea for salary" and more.
All of us have our favourite jokes from the show, most revolving around Dadi's incessant drinking, Palak's excessive weight, Manju's big lips and Bua's hunt for grooms.
Yes, the show has taught us how to laugh sometimes at the expense of others (male/female) and sometimes, at our own expense. Kapil Sharma, in all fairness, often mocks himself and his team members too.
Yet, the show has left me uncomfortable and cold at times. Here's why I think the show is not quite a comedy and its USP lies in mocking women. It was also recently in the news for making fun of a pregnant woman.
1) The leading female characters of the show (Dadi, Gutthi, Palak and Pankhudi Aunty) are played by male characters who constantly make fun of women. The male characters are good actors, but is there any dearth of female actors for this to be the case?
2) Dadi, the grandmother, is played by a male actor. She is old, needless to say. But she is also lascivious, a drunkard and a gambler. She pounces upon any man who appears as a guest on the show and forcefully plants a kiss on their cheeks. It is called "shagun ki pappi"... a kiss, a blessing...
3) Dadi constantly nags her grandson (Kapil Sharma/Bittu) for a great-grandson, calling him lazy and useless. The joke here is how a "grandson" for her is more desirable than a "grand-daughter" and how bearing a child is supremely significant.
4) Bittu Sharma's wife, Manju, is played by a good looking female actor, who is constantly mocked for her unattractive looks, especially her "full/big lips". She comes from a poor family and is ridiculed because she didn't bring "much" with her when she got married to Bittu Sharma. The joke here is that dowry is important. Poverty is a laughable matter. And so the husband calling his wife "ugly" at every instance is justified.
5) Bittu Sharma openly flirts with all the female guests on the show and expresses his unhappiness both with his wife and marriage. Here, the joke is that Navjot Singh Sidhu supports him on this and remarks how he too lost his freedom ever since he got married. Any male audience member seeking to talk about the same topic is encouraged. While the husband flirts and makes derogatory remarks, the wife isn't encouraged to make a witty repartee.
6) Pinky Bua is a single woman who has crossed the "so-called" age to tie the knot and now eyes and proposes to every man who appears on the show as a guest. Each one ridicules her and rejects her proposal. She seems to be a happy-go-lucky single woman who takes pride in maintaining her "young" age and looks.
7) Palak, another female character played by a male, is constantly compared to looking like a "bulldozer", "water tank", "drum", etc. Sidhu here often refers to the "fat" women on the show as "husth pusht mahila".
8) Gutthi, another female character played by a male, who dresses up like a small town belle, flirts with men coyly (mostly) and is the butt of all jokes for her femininity (read: facial hair). An older female character (played by a male) called Pankhudi is ridiculed for her facial hair, too.
Lately, the show has begun to leave the audience with a social message, which is not a requirement. If the idea is to have a good laugh over the silly bickering and teasing between men and women then why leave the audience with a lame message: auratoon ki izzat karein (respect women)? Men deserve respect too, don't they?
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