In this era of oversharing, retweeting and everything-instagramming, the star is not any kind of enigmatic figure of mystery; s/he is one of us, says Raja Sen.
Bloody hell, they pulled it off.
And, to be quite honest, we didn't see it coming.
I've faced my share of growls from a humourless Hindi film industry for over a decade now, which include threats and lawsuits, and thus it was most heartening to see not just two actors sporting enough to proffer their chins for some thumping but to see other stars in the audience egging them on, and one of the country's most prominent (and influential) filmmakers play Roastmaster.
And then they released the whole gloriously foulmouthed thing on YouTube, with nary a bleep in sight.
Wow.
Take a bow, All India Bakchod.
As roasts go, it was pretty solid.
The gang followed the tack of picking one particular thing about each person on the panel, and went after them with politically incorrect gusto.
Karan Johar got gay jokes, Ranveer Singh was ragged on for womanising, Arjun Kapoor was spanked with the nepotism stick, Rajeev Masand was criticised for being a critic, Raghu Ram was sworn at for swearing, Gursimran Khamba was called ugly, Tanmay Bhat was called fat, Ashish Shakya was called dark, Rohan Joshi was teased for dating a Bhatt, while Abish Mathew and Aditi Mittal were singled out for being unknown.
In the audience, Alia got dumb-gags, Sonakshi got fat-gags and Deepika Padukone got how-can-a-girl-like-you-date-Ranveer-gags.
I watched the show surrounded by friends and shotglasses last night, and it resulted in many a high-five and neighbour-waking peals of laughter.
It is, without doubt, a show you need to watch in its entirety online instead of reading 18-gag compilations.
I remember a similar night a few years ago, watching Comedy Central’s Roast of William Shatner and the one of Pamela Anderson back to back, laughing and complaining wistfully that we’d never see anything quite like this in India, well, we have and these AIB lads have really pushed the envelope right from their very first go. Bravo.
The concern, however, is how even a subversive off-centre activity like a roast has to be mainstreamed and Bollywooded in order to really take off.
Out there in Comedy Central land, the roasted are (usually) old and fading, celebrities who haven’t been relevant in a while, people on the fringe… The roasters are usually all stand-up comics plus a mix of handpicked funny friends of the roasted. Plus insult comics known only for being on roasts, like the late Greg Giraldo. There are the usual jabs, sure, but there is also some genuinely vicious invective -- the one thing I found missing in the AIB show, but hey, I’m sure they’ll get there.
Khamba, Rohan, Aditi and Tanmay were particularly good, but everyone did well -- even though the tone was so consistent that it made it too-visible that the whole thing had been scripted together, by committee. No matter.
The thing to remember is that Bollywood, which has way too many sacred cows -- like nepotism, relationships and sex -- that aren’t spoken of outside of gossip columns and the most interesting corners of parties, got itself turned into hamburger meat by these kids.
Go ahead, lick your lips at the thought of what comes next; I’m sure they have something edgier around the corner.
Some of the reactions to the roast, however, have been rather befuddling. Not just the articles taking gags seriously and being outraged that Ranveer Singh took Deepika Padukone’s now-infamous Times Of India 'cleavage' photograph (he didn’t) but the slew of thinkpieces commending Karan Johar for sitting through an evening of gay-themed leg-pulling, and treating it almost like an unofficial coming-out party.
Many salutations to Johar for taking it all on the nose and being a sport, but the truth is that laughing at gags about being gay does not, in any way, indicate that you are gay.
All it says is that you have a sense of humour about the way you’re perceived in public.
James Franco, for example, grinningly takes gay-jokes in his stride so frequently that it’s turned into cliche; similarly with Johar, many of we believe this is one big coming-out party because we already think we know his sexual orientation and have been waiting for confirmation forever. It’s not.
Just because Rajeev Masand laughed when it was said that he charges money for his star-ratings, doesn’t make it true at all. Like Karan, he’s just a man who can laugh at himself.
When did Bollywood suddenly develop a sense of humour?
How is this industry, normally apoplectic with self-importance, laughing out loud?
I’m not sure it is laughing, honestly, but it’s seeing the importance of laughing. And, more importantly, the importance of being seen laughing.
In this era of oversharing, retweeting and everything-instagramming, the star is not any kind of enigmatic figure of mystery; s/he is one of us (except their selfies have better lighting).
Alia Bhatt knocked it out of the park with her AIB video making fun of her own meme-fied ignorance, and now everyone wants a piece of the chilled-out pie. By now, it’s considered uncool to not laugh about oneself. Just ask Parineeti Chopra, who chickened out of the roast.
Anyway, much applause and many cheers, All India Bakchod. (Especially for making Bakchod a word we all use in print now.)
