So worth sitting down for stand-ups

What according to you was a turning point for Indias reality television if not the starting point as it were No Arnab doesnt count Neither does Rakhi Sawant Well since you cant update this page heres my twocents worthThink it was the singingcontest Antakshari which first aired on Zee TV in 1994 with Annu Kapoor a passable vocalist plus verbally diarrheic longtime host reviving a traditional desi parlour game which had already been introduced into cinema halls with Maine Pyar Kiya 1989 half a decade beforeWhat did that show teach us That in a Bollywoodobsessed country where popular playback singing had been nearly monopolised between all of four to five voices over generations mdash Lata Asha Kishore Mukesh Rafi mdash there resided a decent singer in every home If only you split these families to compete against each other between monikers Deewane Parwane Mastane Also for a TV industry with over 900 channels with combined worth running into several billions of dollars reaching out to hundreds of millions of viewers there is absolutely no reality show I can instantly think of that is originally Indian with a potential of being adapted abroad Antakshari is a worthy exception Of course no one holds a copyright to Antakshari But its so homegrown that we could collectively take pride in its crossover appeal if that ever happened Of course it hasntIndian reality TV on the other hand is essentially an aalsilazy collection of intellectual properties IPs inevitably borrowed from the West mdash from Netherland Bigg Boss Canada Sach Ka Saamna Britain Kun Banega Crorepati Indias Got Talent Jhalak Dikhla Jaa US Indian Idol Khatron Ke Khiladi Kamzor Kadi KaunIn that sense Antakshari was fine precursor to the desi Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 1995 by the same producerdirector Gajendra Singh spawning a series of similar shows continuing to stun us with the depth of singing talent in the country mdash from boondocks to the metrosIn 201819 one could legitimately argue that the millennial standup comic is the new bathroomwannabeprofessional singer How do you gauge that Just look at the number of random videos thrown at you on Facebook on an infinite scroll with short sets from unknown comics cracking you up with uniquely subversive and selfdeprecating humour You can spend weeks just watching that with a new face by the minuteThis phenomenon is quite wellsummarised in Jaideep Vermas documentary I Am Offended available on YouTube Is there a show thats managed to zanily capture this zeitgeist Comicstaan on Amazon Prime without doubt the second season of which took off last week Is it the best Indian reality TV that Ive ever seen Does look like it For one to the best of my knowledge its an original IPformat produced by the eventcomedy conglomerate Only Much Louder The future of comedy is certainly here And if the future of the world was somehow interlinked imagine people globally competing to be funnier rather than deadlier than each other Sounds like the opposite of war to meWith each episode thats as educative as its entertaining and dedicated to a new formgenre of comedy mdash anecdotal observational alternate improv sketch mdash the contestants broaden the traditional definition of an IndianHindi standup which essentially comprised hasya kavita mimicry and deeply rehearsed sequential chutkulajoketelling Aur agla item pesh kar raha hoonhellip Shows like Laughter Challenge were more in line with the latterOne could sense the beginnings of a westernstyle Indian standup scene in 2009 mdash in Mumbais case from open mic nights at Cafeacute Goa in the armpit of Bandra which found theatrical space in Don Wards Comedy Store in Lower Parel where comedians flew down from abroad rubbing shoulders with local acts on occasionIn the interim the mentorjudges you watch on Comicstaan mdash Biswa Kalyan Rath Kanan Gill Kenny Sebastien Zakir Khan Tanmay Bhat and others mdash became cellphonehousehold names The credit for that of course goes solely to YouTube You can see even nonfinalist participants from Comicstaan Season One booking sologroup shows on any given night in Mumbai As do several other hugely popular YouTube sensations mdash Kunal Kamra Varun Grover et alStandup comedy is a proper daynight job Why is this more significant than say the rise of the singing star from reality TV Because singers rely on songs composed by othersStandup comedians perform their own written material with the potential to widen that audience with more and more fresh masalagigs that entirely belong to them rather than a version of an RD Burman song that eventually does very little for the Indian Idol winnerperformerYou know what that stardom can do Just consider the newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whos a frickin fulltime comedian and I dont mean that in the way that politicians unwittingly areAlso comedians worldwide appear to be doing a better job than journalists in speaking truth to power Ive just watched the first four episodes thats dropped of Comicstaan sequel What I find missing so far is an episode that deals with topical which covers political humour It was there in the third episode of Season One Hope it shows up in one of the subsequent episodes of Season Two Really seriously genuinely dont blunt the edge Amazon Just sayingMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates