Going back in time, you can tell that one of the most progressive comedies on Indian TV –no matter the premise– somewhat linear with international standards is The Week That Wasn’t. Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijaykar have been doing some splendid political satire segments on a weekly basis, barring that one defamation case instance against Broacha. Another cast member on the show Kaneez Surka was making her own mark by being one of the few women in the comedy space since 2006. Now, she has become a judge on her very first reality comedy series called Queens of Comedy on TLC.
The concept of Queens of Comedy is simple: the creators made a space where hilarious women compete for the title prize of 1) hosting their own TV show on the channel and 2) a cash prize of rupees ten lakhs. This trajectory really shows how far Surka has come in her career and is contributing towards producing opportunities for other funny women in the country.
The grand finale of the show saw Niveditha Prakasam as the winner, Urooj Ashfaq coming in second. The entire episode was a sort of celebration of women in general because they are finally getting a voice legitimately in the biz. But, are women really the future of Indian comedy?
The answer is– that’s not a question. Comedy is a concept whose success is solely dependent on delivery of the message. Forget connecting with the audience. If a joke strikes a chord with them, you’re definitely going to get more than just giggles.
Now, it’s understood that certain topics that female comedians talk about in this country are unsettling, to put it lightly. Things like casual sex, menstruation and more can go wrong if you’re trying too hard or too little. But it’s how they convey it across to their audiences. So asking if women in particular stand a chance to reign as queens of the comedy business is simply based on their ability to really deliver. Else, everyone in this country have the opportunity to give someone stomach cramps because of the jokes they wrote on the train ride home.
