Vir Das on Two Indias: If you didn’t laugh, I hope you find something else that gives you joy
Updated on: 24 November, 2021 11:23 AM IST |Vijayalakshmi Narayanan
When Vir Das performed his satirical set, Two Indias, at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, little did he imagine about the massive outrage on social media that he is facing 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." Thereafter, Vir Das issued a statement on social media clarifying his stance.
After the incident, Vir Das had his first media interaction with Mayank Shekhar at New York, where he was present to attend the International Emmy Awards (he was nominated for Best Comedy for his Netflix special, Vir Das: For India). "I come from an India…" from his video even became a popular meme on social media and turned into something larger. Responding to the same, the comedian says, "If I made some people laugh or smile, I’m happy." For a section of the audience who were angry with his Two Indias video, Vir Das says, "There are two responses to a joke — if you laugh, you keep watching. If not, you stop. And if you didn’t laugh, I hope you find something else that gives you joy."
Further reflecting upon how far the idea of people constantly taking offence to everything hurts comedy, Vir Das tells Mayank, "Any joke will have the ‘laughter’ and ‘no laughter’. And there’s the third kind of response as well. But if there are enough people laughing at your joke, feeling good for what you’re doing — keep going. (The third kind of response is) You get angry, etc — in which case, you (should) find something that you wanna laugh with. And focus on that. Focus on what you love, or makes you happy. That’s it."
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.
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