Why Apologies Won’t Solve The Predatory Problem Of Indian Stand Up Comedy

Yesterday, the sensational story of AIB writer Utsav Chakraborty harassing minor girls online by asking them to send nude pics sent the social media into outrage. After the story came out, initially AIB sought to distance itself from the controversy by issuing a boilerplate condemnation statement with the ensuing knee-jerk reaction of delisting Utsav’s videos from their channels. However, today the comedy channel put out another statement admitting to greater culpability in this harassment and continuing to look the other way years after team members like Tanmay Bhat and collaborators like Kunal Kamra were made aware of the allegations against Chakraborty. Expectedly, everyone concerned, including Utsav, have released grovelling tweets apologising for their behaviour.

It is important to put this issue in its full context and examine the response of each party before taking it on the face value.

Liberal left the world over has fine-tuned its damage control strategy in such cases. Remember Tarun Tejpal’s ‘penance that lacerates’ letter? Whenever the alleged offense cannot be hushed up, a full “confession” with subtle undertones of the mitigating circumstances is the first step. (Read Utsav’s apology thread in this light) The next step is a circle self-flagellation of sorts, where all concerned “accept full responsibility” and “admit their mistake”. They usually ponder on the “need to reflect upon ourselves” before apologising once more.

Yesterday Kunal Kamra and today Swara Bhaskar have talked about the need to re-examine and introspect. I don’t think a normal person would need to do either to understand the profound immorality of sending unsolicited d**k pics or asking teenage girls to send the same. We also saw the usual rhetoric about how parents should teach their sons etc etc, as if Utsav’s parents would have taught him to harass girls for nude photos! The question that the likes of Kunal and Swara should ask, if they are serious about putting a stop to this vicious cycle of exploitation and abuse is this – just how did we allow someone like Utsav in our group? And how did we allow him to continue as long as we did?

In absence of such an examination a “need to introspect” statement sounds being too clever by half, especially coming as it does after being caught.

Entertainment industry worldwide, but more so in India, is an extremely close-knit, incestuous, “members only” type of club where either your birth or your connections determine the fate of your career almost all the time. From my brief foray into stand-up comedy a couple of years ago, I have seen first-hand the enormous power the “made” guys, the big guns, the headliners, wield over the aspirants. With opportunities to get big stages to perform on or even the more elusive live streaming specials almost solely at the discretion of the top dogs, there is no surprise at the amount of grovelling and sycophancy that goes on the scene.

Equally crucially, very similar to the film industry, there are really no immediate punishments for not delivering on the big stage. Just as an Uday Chopra can coast through 3 Dhoom movies based on his surname alone, many guys and girls with mediocre talent at best but good connections, manage to get gigs after gigs. This creates a twofold problem. For one, the kind of people who would not mind the above-mentioned sycophancy to get recognition are unlikely to be self-respecting individuals with a solid moral backbone. And second, because their existence in the ecosystem is dependent upon keeping the top guys happy rather than on the audience feedback loop, the incentive to work hard and improve the craft is all but non-existent.

This has created a culture very similar to the babudom in government jobs where people are extremely subservient to those above them and vicious and exploitative towards those below them. It is not my argument by any stretch of imagination that talent alone would solve this problem, but a system with no meritocracy is more likely to attract people with such predatory tendencies.

The core question and the paradox it raises is this- why is it that the so called “woke” feminist men are some of the most depraved perverts in their private lives?

The obvious hypocrisy of people like Utsav aside, I think this paradox has no easy explanation. Part of this paradox lies in the lack of true ideological foundation in the present day Indian alt-left, which is overwhelmingly represented in the stand-up scene. For many of them, the right position on every issue is defined as “what the majority does not approve of”. As a result, I suspect, making fun of the regular people expressing displeasure at their public demonstrations of decadence has become something of an addiction. In these liberal times, it is difficult to shock people within the norms of socially acceptable behaviour and therefore, the dopamine rush demands that you say more and more outrageous things to continue generating revulsion among the masses. How many of these minimally talented and insanely powerful people would have the maturity to keep their social media character separate from their real one?

The other and possibly simpler explanation is plain entitlement. The left, which is overwhelmingly represented in arts like stand-up, is notorious for normalising predatory behaviour in powerful men on their own side. From making JFK’s escapades sound romantic, to making fun of Bill Clinton’s sordid misadventures in the Oval Office, the left, when it comes to sexual morality, often believes in the maxim of “do as we say not as we do”. What happens at the top, keeps getting replicated at every level and if you are entitled enough, your mind can always come up with a logic as to why there is nothing wrong about sending out woke, righteously outraged tweets on topics like #MeToo on one hand, while engaging in predatory behaviour at the same time on the other.

Lastly, the Indian left cannot escape the political overtones to this issue.

For a long time now, Indian stand-up comics have been the unofficial spokespersons for the left. The powers on the left have built, nurtured, and expanded the platform for these people so that their anti Modi-BJP-RSS-Hindutva rants reach more and more people. An industry already eaten from within by nepotism and favouritism didn’t need this additional firepower brought on by their willingness to play ideological mercenaries. If power corrupts, then absolute power corrupts absolutely. Again, am I saying that if Utsav was apolitical, he would not have engaged in such behaviour? Of course not. But it is never a good idea to confer more power on someone with predatory tendencies. To that extent, I think a larger overhaul of the entertainment industry is in order.

Sometime in the last twenty years or so, we have accepted this illogical notion that the writing/singing/dancing skills of a person automatically entitles him/her a greater say in our political discourse. On stand-up comedy, the impact has been especially devastating in that on one hand the excessive politicisation has taken the fun out of it to a large extent (American stand-up since 2016 is a good case in point) and now as Utsav’s case demonstrates, it has also given birth to the kind of megalomania that has made it a hostile place for all newcomers and especially for women.

Perhaps, both as art fans and as responsible citizens, it is time we ask the entertainers to focus on their core job and leave the political discourse to those willing to make a career of it.