DO INDIANS HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR?

One of the  noticeable traits of our nation  is our immense ability to laugh—at others that is. Just watch a typical   Bollywood  movie or one of the several soap operas in view these days. There is laughter  and  fun but this  is largely restricted to poking fun at  ‘ people like them’—the Madrasis, Sardarjis,  Parsis, Marwaris, and more recently people from Nepal. These are ‘people like them’ not ‘  people like us’,   not like those who dominate the Bollywood or TV worlds.  If the scriptwriter decides that he will do something different he can always fall  back on the traditional butt  of jokes—the  unfortunate guy who  stammers, the  hunchback, the  mentally ill and  of course the drunk.

                              The recently released film ‘Om Shanti Om’   has brought this topic to centre stage. This film pokes fun at many  film people but Manoj Kumar ,yesteryear star, has been so hurt by the way he has been portrayed  that he has threatened legal  action .The film’s hero  Shah Rukh Khan has apologized to  the veteran ..But the issue   refuses to die down. There is now a serious debate on the  subject of whether Indians  have a sense of  humor.

                              The crux of the issue is –AT WHAT POINT DOES HUMOR TURN INTO INSULT?

                              Manoj  Kumar felt  insulted at the way he has been caricatured. In the past too people from  South India[at least those who saw Hindi films] felt insulted at the way they  have been presented in Bollywood movies. The film  ‘Padosan’ for example poked fun at them. ‘ Om Shanti Om’ itself does the same. Comedian Mehmood  made a  career out of imitating what he felt was the ‘funny’ way South Indians spoke Hindi. Bollywood routinely portrays south Indians as jackasses or villains. Have you ever seen any Hindi movie showing a south Indian  as a normal  guy? If  a  character is a  smart guy, a  ‘ first class first’ or  is the guy who wins the heart  of the beautiful girl then he cannot  be a south Indian .He has to be a Punjabi Hindu or a Kayastha from U.P.

                              A Ph. D thesis by an IAS officer from  Jammu and Kashmir reveals that Tamilians are the most negatively portrayed community in Hindi movies. The study names the Punjabi Hindu and the Kayastha communities  as the least ridiculed groups .It is not a matter of coincidence that these two communities are the dominant ones in Bollywood ---Amitabh, The many Kapoors, Khannas, the Johars, the Chopras etc.

                            The communities that feel insulted are not always in a position  to make their protests heard .Hence the film goes unchallenged unlike in the case of  Manoj  Kumar whose loud rage has been heard by the makers of the film and by the hero himself. But does anyone care of south Indians in general or Tamilians in particular feeling  outraged at their portrayal in any film?

                                      It is easy to say that one most   not  take such jokes personally, that one ought to have a sense of humor. The interesting thing about such statements is that they are usually made by people who will be outraged if their own community is poked fun at.

                                     I recall  that in the 1960’s the film  ‘Party’ by Peter  Sellers raised much consternation in our country when it was released in  India .This film made fun of Indians as a bumbling race uncomfortable in situations calling for finesse. 

                                      50 years later we are still are a touchy people. Just  imagine this scenario. An Indian humourist publishes a book poking fun at any top Indian politician—say the Prime Minister. Let say the author refers the PM as the most powerful idiot in the country.—there can actually be a few candidates for this honor in the history of the occupants of that august office.

                                 All hell  would break lose .The humorist would be dragged to the bar of the  Parliament for an official reprimand and would be sacked from his job and no media house would ever dare to employ him. Contrast this with the situation in the US where books abusing George Bush are best sellers—this genre is called ‘Bushism’! In fact Bush himself  would consider references to him as an idiot as a compliment if not as a  relief from much worse accusations and abuses hurled at him.

                               Am I exaggerating the Indian sensitivity? Not at all. At this very moment  such  a scene  of extra sensitivity is being played out in Parliament House for a much lesser offence.

                               This brings me to some critical issues .Why is it that even as we exhort others to have a  sense of humor and not to take  things personally ,we are upset when we are the object of jokes? I wonder if Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan  will tolerate jokes about their community.

                                  Are all sections of our country ready or prepared to laugh at themselves? Are Muslims for example ready to accept a jibe at some issues  that they are very worked up about routinely ?Will a Christian laugh away a joke about Christ? A recent advertisement  for a beer brand in the US that caricatured the ‘Last Supper’  raised the hackles of Christians in the U.S. To be fair Christians in India have  shown unusual tolerance for the negative portrayal of their community in Hindi movies. Traditionally Hindi movie ‘ bad girls’ like a bar dancer, or a scheming female villain were named ‘Rosie’ or’ Marie’. A  male Christian character frequently named Braganza  or Fernandes  was almost always drunk silly!  

                               Hindu groups in India and elsewhere are  not ready to accept  films that seriously discussed some unsavory aspect of their own community.

                             The point is that we live in tense times. We are not yet a self-confident people. We are  yet to arrive a definition  of our identity. We are a nation with serious divides . Our identity is closely linked to our caste group rather than as Indians.

                                In such a situation it is best that humor dos not hurt any community. The difference between humor and insult is thin and subjective. In such a situation the cardinal rule for scriptwriters and anyone attempting humor  should be ‘WHEN IN DOUBT DON’T’. 

                                In any case when are we likely  to see situational humor in which  a character’s very situation raises a belly laugh? Why cannot our scriptwriters raise laughs in the very issues in our lives that  ALL OF US SHARE? WHY CAN’T WE HAVE HUMOUR THAT MAKES ALL OF US LAUGH?

                                 I recall the film ‘JANE BHI DO YARON’ in which there is a scene showing the Mayor of a big Indian city returning to India after a ‘study tour’ of the U.S. At the airport  the mayor is asked what important  lesson he  had imbibed during  his visit to the  that country.   

                                The mayor replies with a straight face   ‘In the U.S the water pipes are  totally different from the drain pipes’. This is humor in which all of us  can laugh  [ at the  cost of our  health!] irrespective of our caste or creed .

                                  No discussion about humor in India can be complete without  that genre called ‘Sardarji jokes’.  Sikhs are perhaps the only Indian community that can laugh at itself. Most other communities can laugh at only at other communities. In recent months the Sikh community has started showing their irritation at jokes at their expense. Their contention is that such jokes have created a negative stereotype about their community. This is a very critical issue that highlights the need to avoid community based humor . Our audiences are not always able to treat jokes as mere jokes that do not depict the reality. Many people are convinced—after listening to such jokes—that sardarjis are a silly people. Stereotyping of communities  is a major obstacle to   mutual understanding. There is too much hatred, too many communal divides in India.  Jokes merely strengthen  the  negative stereotypes. From childhood if one is fed on such jokes ---by watching Hindi moves  which for millions is the most important  means of entertainment—one cannot be blamed for carrying strong negative feelings about various communities. I have myself been  at the receiving end of statements like -----You speak English so well.. You speak Hindi well. You are not dark skinned.  Yet you say you are a madrassi!

                          The paradox is that after taking pot shots at south Indians  people from elsewhere ask--Why can’t South Indians  learn Hindi in the cause of national integration?

                                   This to my mind  is truly comical. This calls for the last laugh.

K.R.RAVI

USA