 Hello and welcome to the Indian Cultural Forum. Today we have with us a much loved stand-up comedy artist, Aditya Mithal. Welcome to Indian Cultural Forum, Aditya. The context in which we are talking is unfortunately quite distressing, which is that of the arrest, the attack on and the subsequent arrest and denial of bail to Munnavar Farukhi who was performing in Indore and it was alleged that his act was offensive to Hindu gods. What is your opinion on this whole event? In the running scheme of things as they have been going for the past few years, this is not entirely surprising. It only has an added element of, I guess fear and apprehension because Munnavar belongs to a minority community and several comedians of majority communities have engaged with and been pinpointed for being sort of cracking jokes that might be considered of color to certain communities. But it has never come to this and the constant denial of bail is what is the thing to watch out for because that is different from what has happened to any other comedian in the past. You know, in the context of comedy, jokes or humor, there's often this idea that there's a fine line between what is funny and what is offensive and some of it is indeed valid because we know as women how sexist jokes have been around for as long as one can remember. In this context, how do we tread that terrain and how does one negotiate this idea of the offensive? I feel like the discussion about what the fine line is is almost disingenuous in this case in particular because this is so blatantly an anti-Muslim move. There is from the proof that has been submitted in this particular case, there seems to be nothing out in the public eye to show that Munawar has been offensive to the 80s and the videos relating can be sort of construed. And so this is sort of, and I think I have to double down on that, is that this is an anti-Muslim and anti-minority move and comedy is just sort of the garb in which it is being wrapped up right now. And because as you very clearly said that comedy is something that, and I mean, this is sort of stems from my personal beliefs as well, so if anyone else doesn't agree, that's, you know, of course, totally free to disagree on one. But I realize that comedy and what entails comedy is the opposite side of every other coin, whether it's fear, whether it's sadness, you know, it's sort of the other end of the spectrum. That's what tragedy plus time is equal to comedy. And that's what it is, is the addition of time to anything can be used comedically. And since we are talking about the Munawar Paruki case in particular, Munawar was a victim in the Gujarat riots. He mentions in his stand-up as well, and he mentioned in some of the videos that are circulating off the show, the offending show, where he mentions that his own house was burnt down in the Gujarat riots as someone who has had to have their life appended by this public incident. Why shouldn't he have the right to speak about it? Because I've been doing this for 10 years now and I think I was also, I started out doing it in a time where it wasn't as precarious as it is. I was always of the belief that if you want to find out if something is palatable or not, you have to first say it out loud. Because you telling a joke into a hand brush into your mirror cannot tell you whether it's offensive or even funny. And so you have to say it out loud in front of somebody in order to gauge their reaction, which is why stand-up is also considered a slightly high-risk profession, especially for women, where sort of the social constructs of what you can and cannot say and how you should and should not project yourself are so wide and so all-encompassing. Stand-up comedy has been considered slightly a more high-risk profession and because you have to say it in order to find out whether it's going to offend someone or not or it's going to make someone laugh or not. And it of course varies greatly from room to room. In the case of Munawar, we saw that his audience was like, you know, what we get when he's coming from. Whereas it was just these three people or these four people who were really offended by it and had come pre-planned that we don't even care what he said, we are going to be offended by it. So in that case, there is nothing that Munawar could have done. There is nothing he could have done that would have made the line or tore the line or been able to gauge a room or anything. And I'm thinking how laughter can go both ways, right? On the one hand, it has the potential of just reinforcing some of the existing values and traditions. On the other hand, it can very productively question and critique. And I want to ask you what your thoughts are and why do you think there's so much, you know, why has laughter suddenly become so threatening to the present regime? Why does laughter can hurt someone? Because there is nothing you can do in response to someone laughing at you. There is, I mean, and you know what? Your job now is to come up with a better joke so that everyone laughs at that person who just laughed at you. But not too many people are equipped with that skill and or that kind of presence of mind. And that is why, because it is not a physical assault. It is not, you know, it's even to a very large extent on the kind of humor it is. It might not even be ideological. Because I think that when someone laughs at you, there is really no response you can give and that really irks people in power. I do believe that, you know, a group of people sitting and laughing at something together is a sign of solidarity. And I mean, you know, when the oppressed take that one moment, even in the situation that they are in to have a laugh, they almost seem defiant and defiance. Very much annoys the oppressor. It very much annoys the oppressor because it makes them feel like they haven't done enough to crush the spirit of someone. So I hope that Munawar comes out of this because, I mean, the other end of the spectrum is of course being caught in something like this means that millions of people are going to look you up. Millions of people are going to look you up. And I really hope that, you know, fingers crossed as soon as he's out of this. I hope he gets a much larger following and I hope that a lot more people listen and, you know, a rising tide will lift all boats. I really hope so. Well, thank you so much Aditi for being with us today and speaking with such courage and clarity about the situation. We really hope Munawar walks out and free soon and gets to celebrate all this solidarity that he has received in this time.