Over the years, comedians and content creators have not only provided entertainment but also shaped culture for countries. In India, this industry saw enormous growth in the last decade. This rise coincided with the market penetration of Youtube.
While “The Great Indian laughter challenge” and other daily soap were doing the trick for the traditional Indian families, the user personas of undergrad hostellers were looking for something more relevant. In came All India Bakchod.
During my undergrad days in 2014, AIB was a sensation. They were funny, they were relatable and they were progressive. Oh did I also mention- they were goddamn creative. What we fail to realise, however, is that AIB set the ball rolling. Apart from being the platform from where some exceptional stand-up comedians got their big break, they gave every content creator a ray of hope. They showed the country that it was possible to earn your bread just by creating content.
AIB had created numerous masterpieces. They experimented with new-to-India ideas and brought in bollywood stars that helped them increase reach and penetration. The legendary honest series, the party song with Irfan sir, (not) the PS games with SRK, the roast etc.
By 2016, a flurry of new content creators entered the market. Youtube had picked up and picked up well. A lot of “relatable” videos were doing the rounds. Simultaneously, the era of stand-up comedy began. With Biswa and Kanan as torchbearers in this scene, this industry started gaining traction. Some fantastic comedians like Rahul Subramanian, Zakir Khan, Kaneez Surka broke into the scene. The culture of attending open mikes- especially in the Tier I cities became more prominent- specially in Bangalore and Mumbai.
Just when things were picking up, this industry got its biggest boost yet. The boost came in the form of Instagram. It completely changed the game. Because of Instagram’s reach, tier II and tier III city people started following the comedians. Open mikes became a common phenomenon in cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Jaipur etc. The comedians had now become influencers.
To top it up, Netflix and Prime video came into the picture. It paved the way for one hour specials. The north-star achievement for an artist in this space. It also gave birth to Comicstaan- which brought in some amazing fresh talent into the scene. Nishant Suri, Rahul Dua, Akash Gupta, Prashasti are pioneers in the industry- a direct gift from Comicstaan. It has also made this profession more viable financially.
The consumer and content creator market is growing rapidly after the advent of JIO. Stand-up comedy as an art is now respected and appreciated. Sharmji ka ladka can very well aspire to be a stand-up comedian today. The respect and love that new age comedians like Urooj, Aishwarya, Abhishek Upmanyu get is incredible.
The comedians have also done an amazing job diversifying into online gaming, blogging etc. Everyone loves Samay’s chess streaming.
This art form shapes culture. Today, most comedians take a stand in the ongoing debates and issues within the country. They speak against all forms of discrimination and in favour of our freedom of expression. They raise awareness around mental health issues (looking at you, Rohan) and other current affairs that matter. However, we’re taking that freedom away from them which is a collective loss for society. Recent incidents like the Munawar Faruiqui arrest, Rahul Dua taking down his video because of people getting offended speaks volumes about the direction we’re moving in.
Taking offence on every joke that is based on your community, profession or religion would kill the purpose. Like Rahul Subramanian recently said “He finally cracked a joke that offended no one- because he told it to no one”. The year over year growth of this industry has been unprecedented so far and the artists have been doing an amazing job. However, it is on us as a society to evolve. We don’t want to take offence on everything that the comedians joke about and kill the art form altogether. The entire point of comedy is look at things from a different POV. Allow them the freedom and they’ll empower you with their art. After all, it is just a joke!
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