Locked in for late night with Shekhar Suman?

Shekhar Suman

In the late 1990s, Shekhar Suman's Movers & Shakers (1997-2001) was a cultural monolith. It was the only place on Indian television where political satire felt sharp, witty, and worth appointment viewing.

Fast forward to 2026, and Suman is attempting to conjure that same magic with Shekhar Tonite on YouTube. He's brought back the familiar set style and the late-night format, along with Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, as his first guest.

The image of a veteran satirist sitting across from an Indian minister in a digital studio raises a pressing question: Could this be the revival of the late-night talk show in India?

The late-night format didn't vanish by accident. It was squeezed out by the rigid economics of Indian television. Production is expensive, and the stakes are unforgiving. A writer who worked on Sumeet Raghavan's Jay Hind! - the Internet-only talk show that ran from 2009 to 2014 - points out the brutal reality. "Production is intensive and expensive," the writer says, "You need a massive budget and, more importantly, access. Guests have to be okay with being seen with the host. The cost-benefit just doesn't add up."

Sumeet Raghavan hosted Jay Hind (2009-2014), the Internet-only talk show

That's perhaps why the format died on TV and why it's reappearing on YouTube. This reinvention is not short of challenges though.

The digital barrier to entry is lower, but the audience's attention span is slimmer than ever before. In an age where a tweet lives for two minutes before being buried by a meme, a structured, weekly show feels like an antique.

Comic and host Cyrus Broacha, who also brought satire to TV through shows like The Week That Wasn't (2006-2023), knows this tightrope better than anyone. "Brands and advertisers never wanted to be associated with political comedy," he explains, "Our audience was the educated elite, but the market for English comedy in India has always been small."

Broacha argues that the survival of the format depends on its framing. "Our jokes were never too personal. We used skits to lampoon characters without needing real names, and the audience always knew exactly who we were talking about."

The choice for the first guest on Shekhar Tonite - Union Minister Nitin Gadkari - created just as much buzz as Shekhar Suman's return to late night. Pics/By Special Arrangement

He believes there is still room for a talk show, but it requires a careful touch. "There is some fear now, perhaps. Maybe that's the challenge: To see where you can do some ‘vegetarian' satire and push back slightly. It helps bring down fear when the middle class can look at bigger issues and laugh."

Siddharth Dudeja, stand-up comic and writer, known for his work on On Air with AIB, Comedy Premium League, and others, offers a more sobering perspective. He views the attempt to revive the late-night format as fundamentally disconnected from today's viewing habits.

Idon't think people are looking for intellectual, structured entertainment when they can just unlimited-scroll," he notes, "And in India, everything eventually hits the Bollywood ceiling. Celebrities rarely have a personality, yet shows keep calling them because they're ‘big names'."

"If it's a politician, it feels like propaganda. If it's a Bollywood star, it's the same boring movie promotion. It's hard to see where the satire lives in that," he adds. Dudeja also points to the self-censorship that has permeated the creative scene. "It's subconscious now. You start thinking, ‘This is a line I can't use'."

Perhaps the biggest hurdle that Suman has to cross is the format itself. In the US and the UK, late-night talk shows and their hosts enjoy an institutional status. In India, that has never existed. Suman, by far, has been the only personality to have managed to succeed in the format.

He carries that weight of legitimacy. If Shekhar Tonite can become a genuine satirical space, he might keep the format on life support. But for now, it remains an open question: Does a generation hooked on vertical, creator-driven comedy even want a late-night talk show? Or are we just watching a legend try to revive a ghost?

What Suman says

Addressing his return to the late-night space, in an interview with a leading daily, Shekhar Suman reflects on the evolution of his craft. "Movers & Shakers was instinct. Shekhar Tonite is intent." He positions the show as a remedy for the current digital landscape, adding, "For me, Shekhar Tonite is not about celebrity interviews. It is about human moments. I wanted to return to a space where conversations can breathe again, where emotion matters more than performance, and honesty matters more than presentation."

Comparing himself to one of the iconic observers of society, Suman noted, "I am like RK Laxman's The Common Man, who wants to express himself. I'm raising my voice against what is happening in society, but doing so in the most civilised manner."

The Week That Wasn't

Cyrus Broacha brought satire to TV through shows like The Week That Wasn't, that featured skits on politics and current affairs