Maya Krishna RaoIndia is scripting the growth story in many spheres and so are its women. The new generation of women icons are exploring unchartered territories and those that were always a man’s domain. And, there’s no stopping them!
In the Live Entertainment space, a relatively new field is that of stand-up comedy and here, women are trailblazing, that too on their own terms.
A general definition of live entertainment is any activity or act that offers delight, pleasure, enjoyment, relaxation, entertainment or a similar purpose by one or more individuals and amid the physical presence of an audience or patrons in a designated space.
It includes an array of activities such as live music, play, dance, magic show, musical act (including karaoke), theatrical act that also includes stand-up comedy.
New spaces
Among these, and more recently, stand-up comedy has been entertaining the Indian audiences. Considered to be a male domain primarily, today in India women are slaying stand-up comedy in a big way.
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance in front of a live audience where the performer – also known as a comedian, comic or stand-up – addresses the audience directly from the stage.
An act of stand-up comedy can be anything from one-liners to anecdotes from personal life, observations and more, and it could include props, music, ventriloquism, etc.
While women have been entertaining live audience with comic acts in the West for ages, it’s a relatively new domain for women in India. However, slowly and steadily, Indian women are not just venturing into stand-up comedy, they are acing it too.
One of the earliest female stand-up comediennes in India, Aditi Mittal has been active for more than a decade now. She has been rated among the country’s top ten stand-up comedians and also ranks among the top 30 Indian women to follow on Twitter who are witty, intelligent and incredibly fun.
In 2009, Aditi was one of the first five Indians who were featured in Local Heroes – an Indians-only stand-up show organised by The Comedy Store in United Kingdom. Aditi performs widely in Mumbai, UK, USA, etc.
Feisty and funny
Indian theatre artist, social activist and stand-up comedienne Maya Krishna Rao has been enthralling her audiences for decades now. The 70-year-old artist is well known for her plays such Dafa No. 180, Ravanama, Om Swaha and Heads Are Meant for Walking Into. She was born in New York City and moved to India at an early age.
Maya Krishna Rao has a captivating effect on her audience and she is known to be fearless and humourous at the same time. She says she only wants to make people laugh, so she gets on the stage for protest and performs comedy.
Indian stand-up comedian and environmentalist Vasu Primlani was given the Nari Shakti Puraskar by the government of India in 2015 for her work. The President of India confers the annual award on International Women’s Day (8 March) at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. It is given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the government of India and is the highest civilian honour for women in India.
It is given to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. The award was instituted in 1999 under the title of Stree Shakti Puraskar but was renamed and reorganised in 2015. It is awarded in six institutional and two individual categories, which carry a cash prize of 2,00,000 and 1,00,000 rupees, respectively.
Vasu Primlani is a triathlete, rock climber and is also well-known for her international stand-up comedy with shows done all over the world including in USA, Dubai, etc. Her comedy usually focuses on issues of contemporary relevance including environment, women’s safety, rape, human rights and diversity issues.
In sync with youth
Stand-up comedy is very often used to raise social issues of the time even used as a vent to protest against authoritarian entities and powers. It also closely follows youth culture, trends and icons. In that context, dating and relationships are hot topics in many stand-up comic acts.
The interplay of romance, dating, relationships offer myriad opportunities to the performer and holds great appeal with the audience as well. The economics of the combination are quite favourable too.
Sometimes derived from their own experiences and personal stories and other times from those of their friends, relatives, etc., dating and relationships are great fodder for comic artists. In this regard, many women comedians in India have gained popularity by talking about dating and love.
Originally from Bengaluru, Ramya Ramapriya often talks about her dating experience and dating culture in Mumbai, which she calls is similar to the city’s local train i.e., fleeting and volatile. A mechanical engineer by education, she entered the comedy circuit in 2017 and there’s been no looking back since.
Ramya often talks about her experiences on dating apps such as Tinder and Hinge and says that for her Hinge needs more intellectual input as compared to Tinder and which is why men often fail at the former as they often lack the much-needed communication skills.
From Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, writer, stand-up comic, actor and improviser, Prashasti Singh has successfully incorporated her life and experiences as a girl from a small town into her comic acts. She also loves to talk about her experience of dating in a big city like Mumbai, where she believes romance is dead and casual interaction is in demand.
Feminist and vocal
Many women stand-up comedians in India use comedy as a means to highlight an issue plaguing the contemporary society and to empower the masses, particularly women.
Delhi’s Mallika Dua, an actor, writer and comedian has often done that through her comedy acts. She is the daughter of Padma Shri recipient and noted Indian journalist late Vinod Dua. After dabbling into various fields, she finally chose her calling and moved to Mumbai in 2016 to entertain people, full time.
With a few controversies also under her belt, Mallika has continued to entertain and make her audience laugh. Her acts and videos on her YouTube channel are often satirical highlighting the uncomfortable and difficult realities of life, and society in particular.
Mallika has often used her comedy acts to empower women by being vocal about her ideologies and bold thoughts on issues concerning women. She has often spoken about harassment at workplace, sexism, judging, etc. She has also actively slammed body-shaming for women.
Women activists, across the world, have used diverse means to raise issues, mobilise masses and stir change. They have been using social media, visual media, live performances and more to spark conversations about difficulties and harassment they face in their daily lives.
Many comedians, in India and beyond, are using humour to speak up about serious social issues and call for social change. They have been using comedy to increase awareness about issues such as LGBTQI rights, domestic violence, global warming, climate change, discrimination, gender bias, women safety, immigration, etc.