Vir Das on Two Indias: Laughter is a celebration; that`s what happened in that room

By - Team Midday

NOVEMBER 24,2021

In his six-minute long video from his recent performance at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, Vir Das talked about the duality of the country and mentioned some of the most topical issues India is facing. The comedian faced massive outrage on social media ever since he shared the clip last week on his YouTube channel.
A section of audience posted clips and pictures from his monologue on Twitter, specifically the part where the comedian said, 'I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them during the night." Responding to the outrage, the 42-year-old took to Twitter and posted a note, stating that his intention was to sever as a reminder that the country, despite its issues, was "great." "The video is a satire about the duality of two very separate India's that do different things. Like any nation has light and dark, good and evil within it. None of this is a secret. The video appeals for us to never forget that we are great. To never stop focusing on what makes us great. It ends in a gigantic patriotic round of applause for a country we all love, believe in, and are proud of. That there is more to our country than the headlines, a deep beauty. That's the point of the video and the reason for the applause," read his statement.

In an exclusive interaction with Mayank Shekhar in New York, where the comedian was present to attend the International Emmy Awards (he was nominated for Best Comedy for his Netflix special, Vir Das: For India), Vir Das spoke about the ongoing controversy. When asked whether he had foreseen the consequences or likely impact of his video, he said, "Look, laughter is a celebration. And I think any Indian, with a sense of humour, who understands satire, and who watched my entire video mdash which is a large group of people mdash knows that's what happened in that room. That's what I'm focusing on."

At the 49th International Emmy Awards, which concluded at Casa Cipriani in New York City on late Monday night, Vir Das's comic take on Indian history, Vir Das: For India, lost to yet another Netflix title, Call My Agent: Season 4, that won The International Emmy for Comedy.