the scene still largely remains the preserve of English- and Hindi-speaking performers. And it is only now that regional comics are starting to find their place under the sun, or before an audience in Bandra, rather
Performers after an earlier show at the same venue
It might seem like an anomaly that a burger joint in the tony neighbourhood of Bandra is hosting a regional comedy night featuring Gujarati and Sindhi stand-up artistes. Yes, the comedy industry in India is growing at a pace that mirrors the speed with which the Lok Sabha speaker cleared a few crucial bills earlier this month. But, the scene still largely remains the preserve of English- and Hindi-speaking performers. And it is only now that regional comics are starting to find their place under the sun, or before an audience in Bandra, rather.
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Rohan Parekh
What sort of advantage or disadvantage does that give these artistes? Rohan Parekh, the Gujarati 23-year-old headlining this weekend's event, tells us, "I think that one of the biggest advantages we have is that there is barely any competition in the market right now. If you choose any language, there are may be only one or two groups of people who are trying to dominate it. So, everybody who is into regional comedy right now has that first-mover advantage, which is no longer there in English. This interview, for instance, is taking place because it's a show in Gujarati and Sindhi."
Aparna Gvalani
He adds, "The disadvantage would be that we perform to a niche audience. Not everyone will be open to attending a performance in Gujarati. But having said that, there are just way too many people in the world, and India specifically, for us to run out of audiences. I mean, I recently heard of a comedy collective go on a tour of Dubai and Australia. And they were doing Gujarati comedy, which you would consider regional. But clearly, people have started going international with it."
Nonetheless, Parekh feels that more of the spotlight needs to be focused on regional comedy. That's what would give the circuit the thrust it needs. "Not many know that it exists. So, giving regional comics a lot more coverage would be a good idea. Now that English and Hindi stand-up have been going on for so many years, people are aware. That awareness needs to be generated for us as well. The market is there. Whenever we tell anybody that there is a Gujarati or Marathi show happening, they are always interested. But the only problem is that they don't usually know about it," he shares.
Aparna Gvalani, who runs the eatery where the performance will be held, corroborates the view that people are interested in such events. "When we decided to host this show, a lot of my Gujarati friends from town and elsewhere asked me, 'Hey, can we book the tickets right away?' So everyone's quite excited about it. And that's a good thing, because the present generation is losing out on entertainment in their mother tongue. The thing is, when it comes to regional languages, we only have plays and films. So, stand-up comedy is something new and it's great that the youngsters are loving it," she says about a genre that, in Parekh's words, "has the same wit, same tone and same attitude as English comedy".
On March 23, 7.30 pm AT Hive at Gostana, Linking Road, Bandra West.
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