Ban on the AIB Roast: One for the Overgrown Elitist Babies

Sometimes, it is really important to put yourself in the shoes of others in order to understand what they must be. Well, today I would like to put myself in the shoes of the Indian government and some of these politicians, even though it is something I’m pretty sure I will regret. But, it is all in the name of the game! Now imagine me sitting on the panel of the AIB Roast show, in the shoes of the Indian government and the netas who just love to do their share of moral policing. Well, each joke that would be thrown against me would be like a nail on the cross as I would be painfully crucified in front of a 4,000 strong audience. Yes, it would not be a pretty sight. Maybe, this is exactly how several netas felt when they saw the AIB Roast, owing to which they filed 11 FIRs against the AIB team just because they were too damn funny! Further, they went on the ban the video and blackfaced the entire exercise on social media. And the best part, they were not even part of the audience!

Tripped Out Fact: An FIR was filed against Deepika Padukone and Sonakshi Sinha just for being a part of the crowd and laughing at the jokes. Imagine if we place our trust in these people, they’d someday turn laughing into an illegal activity.

So what exactly is the scene here? Well, for those of you who are not well informed (who live under a rock would be a better way to address you) the AIB Roast was a show where two actors, namely Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh were laughed upon in front of a 4,000 strong audience as several other celebrities and the members of the All India Bakchod team literally “roasted” them alive! Well, a roast basically involves the use of especially derogatory statements, such as insults and leg-pullings to strip away the glorious image of an individual till they are left stark naked and laughing their ass off, in a purely hypothetical sense of course. The best part of a roast is that not a single person is spared, including the main actors, the host, the celebrities in the panel and even the people in the crowd, especially the unsuspecting celebrities. It is essentially a no-holds-barred fest of remarks and digs where everyone is stripped to the core of their image, till they have nothing to lose! Well, it can be pretty intense for the uninitiated.

What happens in a roast can actually be compared to two extremes of a spectrum. If an individual comes in with an open-minded perspective, with nothing to lose, he/she can have the time of their life pulling each other’s legs and intensely venting out without worrying about their celebrity status getting in the way of some fun. On the other hand, if you come into this arena stacked with a large ego as well as a large amount of fodder to fill yourself up like a balloon full of gas, you will soon find yourself in a very uncomfortable place. This immensely fun process will be instantly transformed into an experience where you will feel picked out, outnumbered and crucified in a rhetoric sense, where slowly and painfully all those wonderful acheivements, values, judgments and prejudices that you have built up about yourself will be stripped away one layer at a time. Yes, I am still talking about a comedy show people! If you are ready to be vulnerable enough and subject yourself to the experience completely, these insult-comedy shows can actually be similar to a psychedelic experience, where you may in fact experience ego death! Sounds funny and vague, even bordering on sophistry? Let me explain it a bit more deeply for you people.

For those who have seen the video, you will find some of those well-known actors in there whom you have adored and looked up to. On the other hand, you may feel like you are actually looking at them for the first time and would not see a single sliver of acting going on here (well, maybe a little bit due to habit). What I am trying to say is that it is immensely difficult to put on a straight face when people are hurling intense derogatory remarks about you and your family. And frankly, they are intense for sure! On the other hand, depending on the way you look at them and choose to react, you can actually gain a lot out of the experience. If on one hand, you become completely insulted, the whole point of the exercise becomes void and you will be reduced to a mere observer as everyone around you rips you apart with their “insult-jokes”. On the other hand, if you choose to dissolve your ego and actually learn to laugh at yourself through the process, the exercise becomes much more relatable and one where you can participate in and create situations for people to roast in, quite literally. That is why all, or most of the people on the show, instead of trying to hold on to their civilized, celebrity image, are seen to be bursting out laughing or are seen venting out intense insults without thinking, “How is this going to affect my image in the media?” or “How will I be able to show my face in public again?”

What these overly self-obsessed netas, and celebrities who consider themselves as gods incarnate, need to understand is that you guys are just not worth the hassle! Let me put a bit of perspective in this situation, folks. There are about 7.2 billion on Earth, out of which several million live under the poverty line, hundreds and thousands are killed in wars on a daily basis, there are rainforests being cut down mercilessly and climate change is a reality which we are ignoring through our incessant pollution and lack of environmental heed. And you, a petty politician, celebrity or whoever the damn you consider to be, are insulted because a few people said a few things on a medium which promotes free speech? Well, I am sick and tired of begging you to see the bigger picture and actually telling you to look at how insignificant you are in this world of ours. I haven’t even thrown the cosmos card on you because frankly, you are not even close to comprehending that yet. So, I urge you to ask yourself, if you think it is important to consider your sentiments as being paramount is it really necessary for us to give a shit about them? Do I, being a free individual, have to give a shit about you getting your sentiments hurt like an overgrown baby? Do I, being a free individual, have to compromise on my freedom of expression and creative outlet just because you got your ego hurt?

Well, the answer is, we have a choice to make right now. We can either succumb to the demands of these overgrown babies and relapse into our shells everytime they shit in their diapers or throw a temper tantrum. Or, we can keep expressing ourselves till they realize the simple fact that “We do not give a shit about you!” We are the ones they cannot work without and not the other way around. It’s time we realize reality is ours to create and not to be left at the hands of people who are intoxicated with power, money and fame. Even if they have the power to ban stuff, we have the power to create to a point where banning stuff is just not enough to curb the inherent message. It’s time we showed how perseverant the human spirit actually is!

Image Sources: [1], [2], [3], [4]

Further Tripping…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4or4Ubgkvc4