Mumbai : It is a case that deals with the sensitivities of a people who cannot tolerate their icons being abused, on one hand, and the line that comedians need to draw while lampooning celebs, on the other.
The matter came into public domain on the back of a standup comedian Tanmay Bhat’s video of a mock conversation between Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar, which shows both in a rather poor light. The media outcry that ensued has obliged the Mumbai police to ask Facebook and YouTube to block the video, even though by end of the day it had been seen by almost anyone who browses online.
The Shiv Sena, the BJP and the MNS too lost no time in joining the chorus and demanded action against Tanmay and his company AIB. The MNS had a more potent answer — We will thrash Tanmay up whenever we lay hands on him.
By evening the matter had snowballed and MNS activists said they would not allow the stand-up comedian to conduct shows in the city, and that the police should arrest him as quickly as possible.
Bollywood, too, reacted sharply to the comedian’s depiction with many actors slamming the video, saying it was in obnoxious taste.
Under a titillating title — ‘Sachin v/s Lata Civil War’ – the video posted on Facebook and Snapchat on May 26 haad taken jibes at the 86-year-old melody queen and the 43-year-old master blaster. By Sunday, the video had been widely shared and had triggered far more outrage than deserved by such “nonsense”. Filmmaker Pehlaj Nihalani, the Censor Board Chief, told NDTV: “Tanmay Bhat is a repeat offender, he deserves no freedom. He has insulted the mother of music.”
Social media was, however, divided on whether it was fun that went awry or downright offensive. The police did not seem to be sure either and collected a transcript of the video on which they would be seeking legal opinion.
Taking strong exception to the video, the Shiv Sena asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take stringent action against AIB and Bhat for allegedly seeking to vitiate social harmony. Sena leader Neelam Gorhe described those behind the video as people with “deranged mentality”. “Such people try to misuse the popularity of icons for their own publicity,” she said.
Unfazed by the criticism and still not ready to concede that something was amiss in his creation, Bhat in a statement asked those viewers who liked it to email their views to him at a particular ID, stating what they had liked. In tweets that followed the comedian seemed to reach out to his detractors. “Roast wale din yaad aa gaye, by god” (It reminds me of our AIB roast days). “Bharat mata ki jai”, he then added with obvious sarcasm.
Bhat started trending on Twitter immediately with the social media slamming the comedian for his “tasteless” jokes. The thrust of the online sentiment was that “If you let a person like him (Bhat) get away after insulting such icons, it will send a wrong message to the younger generation. They are on social media and we need to follow certain decorum.” Nor could the video be justified under the garb of “freedom of expression.”
The legal experts said Bhat could be booked for defamation, obscenity and targeting women through crude language.
‘‘AIB had done this previously as well, with stars like Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor. We had raised a voice then too. You cannot pass off anything in the name of humour, democracy and freedom of expression. There should be a limit,” a Sena leader said. Censor Board member Ashoke Pandit tweeted, “The video is a classic example of Cultural Terrorism in the name of humour. It’s not only about the icons but about the dignity of every common man which should be protected from these so called jokers.
But Chetan Bhagat begged to differ, “You cannot arrest people for making jokes. Even if the jokes are bad. Really?”
