You’ve Gotta be Kiddin

 So this happened and concluded here. The judgement didn’t irritate me as much as the reasons given for it. Hence as it is unacceptable for me to take it lying down, I’ll do the next least laziest thing and write why I think it is the other way round and why those reasons are more a demand of conformity rather than one of comedy’s most essential functions like provocation, beginning conversation on tabooed subjects & of course Being Funny. Any artist must be judged by his best creation thus I’ll argue on AIB’s side with sketches that I think were their absolute best.

I am not going to makes a hipster’s claim of knowing AIB before they started being cool. If anything I got to know about them when they took their first big leap and made the sketch – “Scene from an Indian Theatre”.

The sketch takes us on tour of many dark corners of our movie theatres. It makes fun of movies, directors, their styles, actors, censors, theatre owners, ardent fans & casual viewers. It ties up every element of movie watching experience with such exquisite hilarity and sharp observations that you’ll laugh till your belly aches and keep looping & regurgitating its layered jokes. There is lot of swearing, lot of “Non Veg” jokes and lot of crazy wigs. And alongwith that there is the simplicity of humour of the Ashutosh Gowarikar part & halls running RGV & Suraj Badjatiya’s films, the social context of the Bhai Fans & Indian Censors and of course Jeetendra in Pristine White Badminton costume.

Next comes their bravest one till date – “Rahul Vs Modi”. Now drawing room political discussions are India’s favourite pass time, panel discussions are the bread & butter of most news organisations and whispered board room comments on political figures are reliable Ice Breakers in corporate world. But a subject which is so enveloping has very little leg space in Indian comedy because of a very real fear of retribution from people who want atleast a hundred honorary prefixes and suffixes before and after their leaders first, middle and last name when its being uttered in any context.

I’ll concede that this sketch wasn’t commenting on the politicians themselves as much as the troll / bhakt / crazy town banana pants people that defend their respective leaders with breathless praise and admiration but fail to do their given duty as citizens, public servants, employees. The whole conversation slowly but surely degenerates into a mutual heckling contest.

Now imagine saying that but with jokes, really really good jokes. That’s what they accomplished.

Many will think that isn’t so brave, the brave part is that these bhakts (Though some are paid) are mostly normal people irritated by everything who see a publicity backed ray of hope and trivialising their “Passion” may cost the newbie makers some viewers. But going ahead and doing that in my humble requires a set.

The third is in a drastically different format. It is Plea to be open minded, to learn to take a joke, to allow dissent and be real adults. It is – “Humble Plea to Bollywood”.

We Indians are notorious for making sacred cows out of pure bullshit and silencing any argument by the aforementioned sacred title. Dissent of any degree is considered a sign of highest degree of disrespect to these sacred cows. I, like many people who care for their sanity, have not seen many films from Yashraj stable but a look at any of their trailers can give you adequate reason to stay away. But as they have developed into a powerful player in the industry, they have anointed themselves and their work as a Sacred Cow.

The song begins with drinks being withdrawn from people, the visual equivalent of sucking out the fun. The song borrows ‘We Are Young’ tune. And young turks sings to the very powerful grandpa its many sinful flops, its fascist image, its money grabbing ways. It is loud and desperate cry of people who feel cornered over things that are accepted world wide with open arms and belly aching laughter. “Imitation is just Flattery” & Khamba saying “Lighten Up” perfectly sum up what they had to say. I had a smile on my face throughout the song because it equal parts funny, charming and irreverent.

Second to Lastly, there is a finesse in execution even in their worst sketches (and to be sure there are a few stinky ones). It delivers the mood, jokes, subtext in an assured manner; sometimes saving, other times taking forward the writing.

Lastly, the above AIB sketches push the envelope, provoke and do all that jazz but most importantly they also accomplish the hell out of a comedian’s no. 1 goal. Guess what that is?

PS –

I won’t deride TVF’s sketches to make my argument as I also love a few of them. The point of this exercise was not to pull them down but to state why I consider AIB to be superior.

PPS –

I know one of AIB’s member has agreed with TVF’s superiority. It is a matter of his opinion. A parable would be that FFC doesn’t consider Godfather to be one of his great work. And agreeing with him for the sake of agreeing / conforming would be antithesis to the point of these sketches, to begin with.

PPPS –

And yes, this is a paid argument, so I’ll be expecting that “Lauul” T-Shirt @Mojorojo wears in that song thing.